I grew up on Homan & Cermak and my parents are still there...50 years now. Does anyone have any pics of Homan and Cermak area? Maybe pics or info on businesses, homes, tidbits all the way to Kedzie? There use to be a gas station on Homan & Cermak that was there since 1929 or so until the gentleman retired in the 70's. Unbelievable that all his mechanic work was down outside, he had free air etc. His name was "Laddy" and use to drive a big car from the 50's. Any pics of Kedzie and Cermak? There use to be an old bank building just west of there, a Cigar store on the SW corner, and a liquior store I believe on the NE corner. Can't remember what stood on the other two corners. I know Berwyn Frank you have a WEALTH of info. Does anyone know where I could get old pics of my parents house? My parents are now in their 70's and such historical info would make great gifts.

Hi Abe. Finding old pictures is just luck. I don't know if you have my book on Little Village, but the photos I used (mostly from my own collection) were what I got through the luck of the draw. I used the photos I had and told the story of the neighborhood around them.

Great info otherwise. The bank that was just west of Kedzie was the Lawndale State Bank. Unfortunately it was torn down some years back and replaced with a nondescript "modern" bank. Here is an image of the bank from 1925. The image from my collection also shows the corner of Cermak & Kedzie. This image is in my book by the way.



Finding photos of specific residences is TOTAL luck. Please private message me their address and I will keep an eye out for you.

By the way, are you Bohemian, Polish, or Mexican? It's fascinating that your parents have lived there for so many years. My fathers family moved there 50 years ago as well, but my grandmother only stayed until 1990.

There were two Czech brothers, James and Charles Rusy, who owned and ran a cigar store and tobacco shop at 2411 S. Spaulding in Little Village. Rusy Brothers remained in business until Charles passed away sometime around 1954. The front of the building has since been bricked over and a front entrance to the second floor apartment has been added.

My grandfather lived at 2321 S. Spaulding, not far from that shop. They were there from the teens until the 1950s. The entire 2300 block of S. Spaulding was razed to make way for a Farragut high school expansion.

The brothers were distant relatives on my mother's side, and we rented the apartment above the store until 1963.

During the summer, my friends and I would walk around the original Farragut building and pick up empty soda bottles left by summer school students. We'd usually find enough bottles after lunch to return for deposit that we could buy some candy at the store on 25th & Spaulding.

I just checked the 1929 Polk reverse directory and James Rusy was listed at that address at the time.

I believe this photo was taken in the 2400 block of south Kedzie in Little Village. You can see a sign in the second floor window which says, "22nd Ward Democratic Organization". The date would have been in 1930 or 1931 as Anton Cermak challenged "Big Bill" Thompson for Mayor of Chicago.

There's a Chevrolet dealer in the background, but only part of the name is visible.

A friend asked me to post this here for your viewing. It's in front of 2535 S. Millard, and the boy in the cap standing on the running board is my pal's grandfather, ca. 1912.

[url=http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff185/theincrowdband/scan0017.jpg]2535 S. Millard[/url]

RegularGuy55 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I believe this photo was taken in the 2400 block
> of south Kedzie in Little Village. You can see a
> sign in the second floor window which says, "22nd
> Ward Democratic Organization". The date would
> have been in 1930 or 1931 as Anton Cermak
> challenged "Big Bill" Thompson for Mayor of
> Chicago.
>
> There's a Chevrolet dealer in the background, but
> only part of the name is visible.
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/7592753@N03/711718677
> 9/in/photostream

WOW! Neat photo, Regularguy, do you have the original? It IS indeed the 2400 block of S. Kedzie. Here is the building today:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=2535+s+millard&hl=en&ll=41.847208,-87.705084&spn=0.000016,0.016469&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=64.497063,134.912109&hnear=2535+S+Millard+Ave,+Chicago,+Illinois+60623&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=41.847208,-87.705084&panoid=b9EAL_IZCekcgIy0RBNwKA&cbp=12,236.41,,0,-3.75

Here is a bill folder which is part of my collection. The dealer is Fivek Chevrolet, you can make out the name on the sign in the photo. The bill folder is from the mid 1920s, by 1929 Fivek is located at 2432 S. Kedzie Ave.





Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/2012 04:08AM by Berwyn Frank.

WayOutWardell Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A friend asked me to post this here for your
> viewing. It's in front of 2535 S. Millard, and
> the boy in the cap standing on the running board
> is my pal's grandfather, ca. 1912.
>
> 2535 S. Millard

ANOTHER awesome picture! It is INDEED the front of 2535 S. Kedzie. Here is the scene today:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=2535+s+millard&hl=en&ll=41.845061,-87.716013&spn=0.000016,0.016469&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=64.497063,134.912109&hnear=2535+S+Millard+Ave,+Chicago,+Illinois+60623&t=m&z=17&iwloc=A&layer=c&cbll=41.845162,-87.716016&panoid=Z31vJK0X-O43g52cphNqPA&cbp=12,68.77,,0,-1.76

By the way, the picture dates to 1915. Look at the year on the front of the ILL license plate!

I do have the original photo in a 11 x 17 inch size. I picked it up at a flea market many years ago. After joining this group, I decided to scan it and put it up on Flickr, along with some of my own photos of Berwyn's Troy Store.

I appreciate your help identifying the exact location, Berwyn Frank!

Now I'm trying to picture what was at 2546 S. Homan (Fivek's original location). I'll have to check Google maps.

Good question. I just checked 2546 S. Homan and I found something strange. That location which is on a side street just off of 26th St. is a large building which was the Vojta Naperstek Bohemian School. The address of the school was 2548 S. Homan Ave. The school, which I included in my book on Little Village, was built in 1911 and continued to operate into the 1960s. I am puzzled why my bill folder shows Fivek Chevrolet at 2546-50 S. Homan Ave. That would include the school building. Here is it for viewing:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=2546+s+homan&hl=en&ll=41.845029,-87.709898&spn=0.000016,0.016469&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=64.497063,134.912109&hnear=2546+S+Homan+Ave,+Chicago,+Illinois+60623&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=41.844939,-87.709898&panoid=Xyp_fUoJ65pDosYTwP-pbA&cbp=12,258.55,,0,-13.13

By the way, if you ever want to sell that Cermak photo, I'm your guy!

We lived on 24th and St. Louis back in the 50s and for the life of me, I don't remember a school on 25th and Homan and it was just a few blocks away. Everyone we knew back then either attended Blessed Agnes (27th and Central Park) or Burns Elementary (25th and Cental Park). I saw the building in Frank's link and drew a blank.

Also can't imagine a car dealer on a side street (Homan) as Frank mentioned.

Dave, the Vojta Naperstek school was a Bohemian school, kind of like a "Sunday school" for Bohemians/Czechs to learn their language and culture. The school was NOT a Chicago public school, it was a private school built by the Bohemian Freethinkers.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/2012 02:36PM by Berwyn Frank.

Yeah, Berwyn Frank, you have a genuine mystery there. Chevrolet was started in 1911, the same time your records show the school being built, so it' not too likely the dealership was on that site before the school began.

I suppose it's possible the building housed the dealership for a time, then the school took it over when Fivek moved. Does any of your research indicate the school had moved to the Homan Ave location?

Another possibility is that the school and the dealership were both vying for the property, and the dealership had materials printed anticipating it buying the property.

As for the photo, I really hadn't planned to part with it. If you're interested, we could see about having it reproduced (full size or reduced) for your collection.

I found a Web site which has pages from the 1923 Chicago directory.

http://georgekrejci.com/HTML/1923-Residents-Of-Chicago.html

Rusy Brothers (Chas & James) are listed as 'cigar makers' at my old address.

Berwyn Frank Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dave, the Vojta Naperstek school was a Bohemian
> school, kind of like a "Sunday school" for
> Bohemians/Czechs to learn their language and
> culture. The school was NOT a Chicago public
> school, it was a private school built by the
> Bohemian Freethinkers.

Thanks for the clarification Frank.

RegularGuy55 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yeah, Berwyn Frank, you have a genuine mystery
> there. Chevrolet was started in 1911, the same
> time your records show the school being built, so
> it' not too likely the dealership was on that site
> before the school began.
>
> I suppose it's possible the building housed the
> dealership for a time, then the school took it
> over when Fivek moved. Does any of your research
> indicate the school had moved to the Homan Ave
> location?
>
> Another possibility is that the school and the
> dealership were both vying for the property, and
> the dealership had materials printed anticipating
> it buying the property.
>
> As for the photo, I really hadn't planned to part
> with it. If you're interested, we could see about
> having it reproduced (full size or reduced) for
> your collection.

No, Vojta Naperstek Bohemian school was purpose built by the Bohemian Freethinkers specifically for a school. It was never out of their ownership from when it was built in 1911 until the 1960s when they sold it. The building served a couple of purposes until it was converted to condos.

I will do more research and find out why Fivek had his address listed there. maybe he rented an office in the school building? I will do more research.

I thought about the possibility that Fivek rented an office there, too, but the folder says, "Sales and Service", which at least implies there was a showroom and a shop at that address.

It will be interesting to see if anything turns up.

RegGuy, here is another neat piece of Little Village/Lawndale dealer memorabilia. This is an ink blotter card from my collection that I used in my book about Little Village.



Here is the caption from the book:

Frank Breska emigrated to Chicago from Czechoslovakia in 1885. He worked as a representative for the Atlas Brewing Company for many years before entering into the automobile business in 1915. In 1920 Breska opened his Ford showroom at 2501 Kedzie Avenue, and in 1924 moved his family to Cicero. Interestingly, one could walk into Breska Ford and order a tractor if they desired. (Courtesy of the Frank S. Magallon Collection.)

The building is still there. 24th & 25th & Kedzie must have been a little mini auto row for some of the local Bohemian car dealers in the area. Here is the building today:

*You can totally see that it was an old automotive showroom. Look at the large bricked up windows on the street side.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=2546+s+homan&hl=en&ll=41.846355,-87.705059&spn=0.000016,0.016469&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=64.497063,134.912109&hnear=2546+S+Homan+Ave,+Chicago,+Illinois+60623&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=41.846214,-87.705053&panoid=8qljSRyAS4_cJWDCMsyLmg&cbp=12,110.33,,0,3.67