Dr. Kraft's Office


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Dr. Kraft's Office
Posted by: cmysli (---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: February 25, 2011 12:25AM

I hope someone can help! I grew up in Brighton Park. Does anyone remember Dr. Kraft's office? I believe it was somewhere around 63rd and Kedzie. I could be wrong. My grandma used to take me there when I was a little girl. This would have been in the early to middle 1970's. The doctor's office was in a house, a two flat or an apartment above a store. The living room was the waiting room; the kitchen was the office; and the bedrooms were the examination rooms.

Dr. Kraft must have been in his early sixties back then. I'm pretty sure his name is spelled like the cheese.

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Re: Dr. Kraft's Office
Posted by: bowler (---.chipublib.org)
Date: February 25, 2011 01:24PM

Just a thought, these types of questions are usually best answered by posting this question to a Facebook page about the particular neighborhood it was located in. Most Chicago neighborhoods have a Facebook page similiar to "I Grew up in ...." The office you mention is not located in Brighton Park. That area is probably Marquette Manor. Worth a try.

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Re: Dr. Kraft's Office
Posted by: captain54 (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: February 25, 2011 02:12PM

no, can't recall a Dr. Kraft's office, but I do remember Trost Hobby Shop @ 63rd and Albany...man, what a place for a kid!! especially when they installed the slot car tracks....

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Re: Dr. Kraft's Office
Posted by: ski50 (---.dhcp.jcsn.tn.charter.com)
Date: January 27, 2012 04:36PM

Dr Frank Krafts office was at 52nd & Kedie above the drugstore-Remember the long staircase going up-I wondered how cripple or very old could get up there.Dr Kraft was the all round Dr,did it all!Smoked cigars & always drove a Cadillac.His nurses name was Josephine & she was with him forever!He brought Me & my 2 sisters into the world at Holy Cross hospital.He made house calls & would let you pay him later if things were tight.

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Re: Dr. Kraft's Office
Posted by: liz (---.dsl.okcyok.swbell.net)
Date: January 28, 2012 06:13AM

I remember my mom visiting some old doctor that you had to climb some long staircase.did that doctor tell people use herbs and herbal teas.

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Re: Dr. Kraft's Office
Posted by: cld5858 (---.dc.res.rr.com)
Date: April 04, 2012 08:15PM

My grandmother, mother, and the rest of my family went to Dr. Kraft for years and years....from at least the mid 50's until the 80's. He delivered me in 1958. My grandmother seemed to go weekly in the 60's and 70's. You did have to walk up that long staircase and everyone signed in on a big yellow pad at the front of the room....hours before Dr. Kraft began calling names. I remember Josephine well...she was very nice to me. Another nurse too...but I don't remember her name.

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Re: Dr. Kraft's Office
Posted by: Richard Stachowski (---.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net)
Date: April 04, 2012 08:44PM

[b]We had a doctor like that on 47th around Wood street. He was old and made house calls back in the 40's his name wa Dr. Stenn and his sons became doctors and fixed my brocken arm.[/b]

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Re: Dr. Kraft's Office
Posted by: davey7 (---.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net)
Date: April 11, 2012 04:51PM

I had to do a survey of small clinics a few years back and many were obviously the downstairs of the docs home - the upstairs apartment, which was often pretty snazzy, were often local showplaces, total mid-century and are used for offices or storage now. But there were also cases like this, where they lived and worked in the same space (which is still common in Europe) - friends of mine had a great apartment where there was an exam room with vintage tiles, they used it as a laundry room.

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Re: Dr. Kraft's Office
Posted by: Steve B. (74.7.39.---)
Date: April 11, 2012 07:17PM

My family doctor was Lydia Zaleska who had a "garden" office on the north side of Garfield Boulevard (55th Street) between Hermitage and Paulina and lived upstairs. She was a rare female graduate of Northwestern University of Medicine and served mostly the Lithuanian community in the Back of the Yards. I remember her ancient-looking graduation photo on the wall of her waiting room. She brought both me (1947 as a doctor) and my mother (1926 as a midwife) into this world! No record-keeping, no reservations, no insurance claims. Cash only and she dispensed most of the medicine she prescribed right from her office. She died in the early 1970s.

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Re: Dr. Kraft's Office
Posted by: Richard Stachowski (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: April 21, 2012 09:09PM

Steve B. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My family doctor was Lydia Zaleska who had a
> "garden" office on the north side of Garfield
> Boulevard (55th Street) between Hermitage and
> Paulina and lived upstairs. She was a rare female
> graduate of Northwestern University of Medicine
> and served mostly the Lithuanian community in the
> Back of the Yards. I remember her ancient-looking
> graduation photo on the wall of her waiting room.
> She brought both me (1947 as a doctor) and my
> mother (1926 as a midwife) into this world! No
> record-keeping, no reservations, no insurance
> claims. Cash only and she dispensed most of the
> medicine she prescribed right from her office.
> She died in the early 1970s.

My wife and her family when went to her in the 50's. She and the family lived on 53rd and Hermitage.

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Re: Dr. Kraft's Office
Posted by: Mornac (---.dsl.chcgil.ameritech.net)
Date: April 22, 2012 12:46AM

Our family doctor was August J. Durso. He delivered 6 out of 10 of us. (#7 was a cesarean and Ma had to use specialists from there on out). His office was above the General Camera store on Devon and Western and also entailed a long flight of stairs. He was also the team physician for the Loyola Ramblers basketball team – a position he held when they won the 1963 NCAA National Championships. Once in a while we’d see a ballplayer in his waiting room. The nuns in our parish where also clients of his (the knowledge of which triggered some disturbing scenes in my mind).

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Re: Dr. Kraft's Office
Posted by: jak378 (---.dhcp.embarqhsd.net)
Date: April 22, 2012 12:57PM

captain54 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> no, can't recall a Dr. Kraft's office, but I do
> remember Trost Hobby Shop @ 63rd and Albany...man,
> what a place for a kid!! especially when they
> installed the slot car tracks....


Is Trost's no longer there?

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Re: Dr. Kraft's Office
Posted by: Chipast (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: April 22, 2012 03:00PM

Unfortunately, Trost's closed down a few years ago. I guess the factors were area changes & trends plus personal tastes not favoring the hobby enthusiasts. But I somehow think that place could have actually weathered such changes.

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Re: Dr. Kraft's Office
Posted by: Rustymuscle (---.lightspeed.elgnil.sbcglobal.net)
Date: April 22, 2012 08:21PM

Mornac, what parrish are you referring to?

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Re: Dr. Kraft's Office
Posted by: Rustymuscle (---.lightspeed.elgnil.sbcglobal.net)
Date: April 22, 2012 08:22PM

Mornac, what parish are you referring to?

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Re: Dr. Kraft's Office
Posted by: Mornac (---.dsl.chcgil.ameritech.net)
Date: April 22, 2012 09:31PM

St.Gertrude - Edgewater.

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