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Turtle Wax Turtle
Posted by:
Jayg
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: June 14, 2011 09:30PM
Does anyone remember the Turtle Wax turtle atop the building at Madison,Ashland and Ogden?
The book "Chicago, Growth of a Metropolis" has 2 pictures without the turtle and states the building stood until the early 1960's
Here is a link to City data.com (scroll down a bit) The poster is Irishtom29,there is a poster with a similar name here,not sure if they are the
same person and hope I am not stepping on anyone's toes.
<a HREF="http://www.city-data.com/forum/chicago/836039-gone-but-not-forgotten-chicago-edition-3.html">TurtleWax</a>
Another link here
<a HREF="http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/unknown-chicago/2011/05/lost-landmarks-part-three.html">TurtleWax</a>
The book "Chicago, Growth of a Metropolis" has 2 pictures without the turtle and states the building stood until the early 1960's
Here is a link to City data.com (scroll down a bit) The poster is Irishtom29,there is a poster with a similar name here,not sure if they are the
same person and hope I am not stepping on anyone's toes.
<a HREF="http://www.city-data.com/forum/chicago/836039-gone-but-not-forgotten-chicago-edition-3.html">TurtleWax</a>
Another link here
<a HREF="http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/unknown-chicago/2011/05/lost-landmarks-part-three.html">TurtleWax</a>
Re: Turtle Wax Turtle
Posted by:
Berwyn Frank
(---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: June 14, 2011 10:31PM
I believe that the building was built in the 1890s and was the tallest building outside of downtown Chicago at the time?
Here is a postcard image of it around 1915 when the Wendell State Bank occupied the lower floor. By 1918 the bank had become the Reliance State Bank.
I have a very neat and rare ca. 1910 real photo postcard of the building in my collection as well.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2011 10:37PM by Berwyn Frank.
Here is a postcard image of it around 1915 when the Wendell State Bank occupied the lower floor. By 1918 the bank had become the Reliance State Bank.
I have a very neat and rare ca. 1910 real photo postcard of the building in my collection as well.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2011 10:37PM by Berwyn Frank.
Re: Turtle Wax Turtle
Posted by:
Chipast
(---.dsl.chcgil.ameritech.net)
Date: June 15, 2011 04:13PM
According to one personal letter I received from Turtle Wax, The sign & building were dismantled in either 1967 or 68.
Re: Turtle Wax Turtle
Posted by:
Jayg
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: June 16, 2011 02:08AM
I wonder if there's a decent color picture of that building with the turtle attached. I'm surprised I've never run across a postcard. I read somewhere that the turtle changed color with the weather.
Re: Turtle Wax Turtle
Posted by:
zorchvalve
(---.hsd1.wa.comcast.net)
Date: November 02, 2011 09:36PM
There is a good black and white photo at the history museum at north and clark.You have to go into the archival section which is either on the second or third floor.
Re: Turtle Wax Turtle
Posted by:
Jayg
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: August 31, 2015 05:39AM
In the August 11 1963 Chicago Tribune Magazine, there is an article of a bookseller trying to save the neighborhood at Ogden, Madison, and Ashland. There are photos of the area taken from the upper floors of the Wendell building. (Referred to as the Flatiron Building.) The online photos are high contrast and hard to see details. The area was fairly dense and lively back then.
Chicago Tribune,Oct 21,1963 pg c8, has a photo with caption showing the turtle being removed and stating the building is to be razed shortly.
The turtle went up in June 1956.
WttW has a color photo and some details here,
http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2015/04/29/ask-geoffrey-429
Chicago Tribune,Oct 21,1963 pg c8, has a photo with caption showing the turtle being removed and stating the building is to be razed shortly.
The turtle went up in June 1956.
WttW has a color photo and some details here,
http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2015/04/29/ask-geoffrey-429
Re: Turtle Wax Turtle
Posted by:
the_mogra
(---.hfc.comcastbusiness.net)
Date: August 31, 2015 12:32PM
how well I recall the image of that old building in the late-'50s & early-'60s with the great turtle figure on its top, and how startled I was when my Mom drove down Ashland Ave there and it was completely gone!
nowadays I look at that triangular plot and can't believe such a large building once stood right there, but things've changed over the years and Madison & ogden aves have been widened to diminish the remaining plot size to a trifle.
nowadays I look at that triangular plot and can't believe such a large building once stood right there, but things've changed over the years and Madison & ogden aves have been widened to diminish the remaining plot size to a trifle.
Re: Turtle Wax Turtle
Posted by:
Jeff_Weiner
(---.sub-70-194-106.myvzw.com)
Date: September 20, 2015 08:49PM
There was a 2-story building on that island in later years after the Wendell Building was torn down. I think it was a City clinic of some sort. I don't know when that building was torn down.
Re: Turtle Wax Turtle
Posted by:
Jayg
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: January 04, 2016 07:24PM
Photo of the Wendell Building 1940s. Calvert Whiskey sign on top.
Re: Turtle Wax Turtle
Posted by:
Richard Stachowski
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: January 04, 2016 08:33PM
[b]interesting post[/b]
Re: Turtle Wax Turtle
Posted by:
Jeff_Weiner
(---.sub-70-194-68.myvzw.com)
Date: January 09, 2016 03:45AM
Yeah, look at those sidewalks around the base of the building. I'll bet they were no more than 8 feet wide, if that. And the building looks like it has load bearing masonry walls, so they couldn't have cut the sidewalks through the building like what you see on Congress Street downtown. Too bad, as it was a classy looking building.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2016 03:45AM by Jeff_Weiner.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/2016 03:45AM by Jeff_Weiner.
Re: Turtle Wax Turtle
Posted by:
Dunning1
(216.81.94.---)
Date: January 13, 2016 12:58PM
I love that picture. Note the tavern with Berghoff Beer, and the Pixley and Ehlers restaurant. I used to run through that intersection years ago and even ten or fifteen years ago it looked nothing like that.
Re: Turtle Wax Turtle
Posted by:
Jeff_Weiner
(---.sub-70-194-73.myvzw.com)
Date: January 18, 2016 03:24AM
Btt.
Re: Turtle Wax Turtle
Posted by:
Richard Stachowski
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: January 18, 2016 08:10PM
btt
Re: Turtle Wax Turtle
Posted by:
Jayg
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: January 19, 2016 02:34PM
This is another angle in the 50s. I think it's Ashland avenue on the left, Ogden Avenue on the right and Madison in the background. Or is it Madison on the left, Ashland on the right or Ogden in back?
The link goes to Calumet 412.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/2016 02:39PM by Jayg.
The link goes to Calumet 412.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/2016 02:39PM by Jayg.
Re: Turtle Wax Turtle
Posted by:
Jeff_Weiner
(---.sub-70-194-98.myvzw.com)
Date: January 30, 2016 03:24AM
Btt!
