the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave


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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: Artista (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: April 05, 2010 01:51PM

An update.. As i was passing by the Narragansett building this morning , Monday April 5th, i noticed that there is now a construction crew preparing to rebuild the brickwork on the Narragansett side. Glad to see that happen.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/12/2010 02:30AM by Artista.

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: 222psm (---.br.br.cox.net)
Date: April 05, 2010 02:46PM

Thanks for the update Artista, glad to see they are fixing up the place, if any one has time please post pictures so we can see the before and after.

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: 222psm (---.br.br.cox.net)
Date: April 05, 2010 03:02PM

Johnny Sauganash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The rest of the map is divided into two additional
> sections, Southeast and Southwest:
>
> Let's try this again:



Thanks for fixing the links!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/05/2010 03:05PM by 222psm.

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: Artista (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: April 05, 2010 10:20PM

Hey 222 I just got myself a new digital camera. Now i guess i would have to post the pix on Flickr right? never did it before

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: 222psm (---.br.br.cox.net)
Date: April 06, 2010 10:35AM

Artista Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hey 222 I just got myself a new digital camera.
> Now i guess i would have to post the pix on Flickr
> right? never did it before

Hey Artista, yes you post your pictures on Flickr then you hit the Flickr icon in the reply box. The 1st time you do it there is a link that will give you a code, hit the flickr link, it will take you to flickr and put the code in. once you do that when you hit the Flickr icon in the reply box you will see your pictures pop up click on the picture(s) you want to insert in the message.

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: Artista (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: April 06, 2010 01:54PM

Great ,,thanks 222 will do that.. Sooner than later ~cant wait to start snapping pics

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: shekaago (---.tmodns.net)
Date: April 06, 2010 07:45PM

Happy picture taking, Artista! Thanks for the update on the building. I really need to take a walk over there one of these days. And 222psm is correct in explaining how to use Flickr to post photos. I had never used it until a few weeks ago and it was very easy. If I can do it... you know it has to be easy!

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: scottnchgo27 (---.spiral-helix.com)
Date: May 06, 2010 06:16PM

All the cement work has been completed on the building that faces Narragansett. The few stairs that were horribly crumbled have been repaired or replaced. I didn't go to the side facing School St. but would imagine any damage there was repaired as well. As far as I know, this building has electrical transformers in the back. If you drive down the alley behind the building, you can hear an eery buzzing sound. I think when the city had electric buses, this place was a station for juice. Maybe thats why the CTA has some markings on the walls. Now, I believe it is still operational because when there is a power failure due to a storm, there are always ComEd guys at the back of the location.

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: shekaago (---.49.171.244.swcp.com)
Date: May 06, 2010 08:38PM

Thanks for the update on the state of the repairs to the building, Scott. I remember way back when electric "trolly" busses ran down Belmont Ave., which is nearby, so perhaps the building did function for the CTA as well.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2010 08:39PM by shekaago.

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: Artista (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: June 12, 2010 02:25AM

Hi all,,sorry for the delay and silence..Life gets in the way i suppose. These pics were taken on April 9th. This crew did a great job in repairs and modest renovation.







[img]http://farm5.static.flickr. com/4015/[img]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4071/4691484277_ b8f8cede14. jpg[/img]4691483709_ 4867c09a3d.jpg[/img]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/12/2010 02:29AM by Artista.

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: 222psm (---.br.br.cox.net)
Date: June 12, 2010 10:47AM

Wow! Thanks for the pics Artista, looks like they did a nice job. Did they remove the beam over the door? Or was that a different door?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/12/2010 10:53AM by 222psm.

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: shekaago (---.sub-75-244-104.myvzw.com)
Date: June 13, 2010 12:19AM

Great photos, Artista! A nice document of the renovations they have done.

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: Artista (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: June 13, 2010 03:36AM

Glad you all enjoyed the pics my friends. 222, that isn't the door within the yard area. It is the one in the alley closest to School ave. I have to say that the building looks very good now. I will take updated photos soon.

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: 222psm (---.br.br.cox.net)
Date: June 13, 2010 10:58PM

Artista Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Glad you all enjoyed the pics my friends. 222,
> that isn't the door within the yard area. It is
> the one in the alley closest to School ave. I have
> to say that the building looks very good now. I
> will take updated photos soon.

Thanks for clearing that up Artista.

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: Artista (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: September 15, 2010 03:42PM

Just noticed the other day while passing that some JERK spray painted what seems to be gang graffiti on the black front doors.

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: 222psm (---.br.br.cox.net)
Date: September 15, 2010 05:20PM

Hi, Artista! haven't seen you on the forum for a while, welcome back! When I first saw the black paint on the door, I thought to myself "it's only a mater of time before some punk hits that with spray paint"

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: Artista (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: September 17, 2010 05:05AM

hi 222 and thanks my friend. I did miss the 'place' .. ill try not to be absent anymore..life can get so busy. To update~i passed by the building tonight and someone had already CLEANED UP the graffiti....!

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: ghidorah2003 (---.dsl.mindspring.com)
Date: September 21, 2010 01:37AM

The CTA connection would be this: It was an electrical substation for the electric trolley buses that ran down Narraganset Ave from the early 1930's till the early 1950's when they were replaced by motor buses.

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: Jazzman (---.bankofamerica.com)
Date: June 07, 2011 09:31PM

The Building was INDEED was a CTA sub station for the trolleybus lines.

Narragansett trolleybus started service in the 1930's and operated between North Ave and Irving Park RD. Although Narragansett stopped running trolleybuses in 1953, the poles carrying the heavy black feeder lines remained to power Diversey, Belmont and Irving Park Lines.

The poles and feeder wires were on the west side of Narragansett and ran south to Diversey and north to Irving Park until Belmont and Irving lines were discontinued in 1973. ( I seem to remember that they ran south to Grand Ave, but I may be wrong)

As mentioned the feeder wires ran south to Diversey because the Sub station also powered Diversey Trolleybuses. But in 1955 when Diversey operation was discontinued, the poles and feder lines remained because the feeder lines on the north side of Diversey were retained east to Central to power that Bus line.

Still today… at Narragansett and Barry you can still see a remnant (in the concrete near the curb) of the pole that stood almost in front of the entrance of the public library.

Also a trolleybus pole still remains intact and is used for the traffic signal on the SW corner at Wellington and Narragansett.

On Belmont almost all poles remain from the trolleybus operations. Look for the [b]OLD solid black poles[/b].

East of Narragansett to Mobile on the north side of Belmont Ave, you can still see [b]the clips[/b] near the top of several poles that were used to hold the wire over the street, They were never removed and probably missed by the scrappers because of the trees.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/07/2011 10:27PM by Jazzman.

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: Jazzman (---.bankofamerica.com)
Date: June 07, 2011 10:25PM

Oh yes as for the old freight line about 6500 west ...

This line provided supplies to the State Hospital. It dead-ended within the Hospital property with several switching tracks.

I do have a schedule from [b]1900[/b] that also shows 3 or 4 PASSENGER trains daily - to Dunning State Hospital.

The tracks North of Roscoe were removed in the 60's. You can still see where they crossed at Addison and Irving Park. The tracks still remained in the pavement as late as the early 90's in Roscoe and Cornelia.

The line was discontinued west of Diversey when Kimball Candy Closed late 60's early 70's.

If tracing the line from George to Belmont... It ran just on the west side of Nashville.

The remaining line has been unused for the last 3 or 4 years.

BTW... Try to envision this .....
[b]STEAM ENGINES[/b] were the source of power for this line in the late 1800's and early 1900's.

--------


As for the line that operated along Forest Preserve....
[b]The lines NEVER connected[/b].

That line ran from Franklin Park along Forest Preserve and Sunnyside then
zig-zaged once east of Central, eventually connecting with tracks East of the Sears building at Cicero and Irving.

There is one small remnant of this line at Belmont and River Road.

When looking south from the Belmont Ave bridge, you can see the PILING that once supported the bridge where the tracks crossed the river (on the west river bank). And, looking west you can still make out where the track crossed River Road and proceeded west.

Also one block west or River Road is Elm Street. If you go south from Belmont about 1/2 block just past the car wash, you can easily identify (in the street) where the track once crossed Elm St, and the right of way to the east and west.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/07/2011 10:35PM by Jazzman.

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: 222psm (---.br.br.cox.net)
Date: June 08, 2011 04:46PM

Wow, thanks for the info, I was able to find most of your clues on Google street view! Even the piling on the river bank, very cool.

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: davem60612 (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: June 09, 2011 08:17PM

222,
Those tracks are still owned by the Canadian Pacific. Even when they are left to fall apart they remain property of thier former road unless sold. Several years back the Tribune co. got a big bill from the C.P. for building a small parking lot at Wrigley Field on C.P. right of way.

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: 222psm (---.br.br.cox.net)
Date: June 11, 2011 02:10PM

davem60612 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 222,
> Those tracks are still owned by the Canadian
> Pacific. Even when they are left to fall apart
> they remain property of thier former road unless
> sold. Several years back the Tribune co. got a
> big bill from the C.P. for building a small
> parking lot at Wrigley Field on C.P. right of way.


Thanks for confirming that.

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: shekaago (---.sub-75-211-91.myvzw.com)
Date: August 06, 2011 02:31AM

Thanks, Jazzman, for great clues to these past lines and for lots of questions answered!

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: Dunning1 (---.dhs.gov)
Date: December 15, 2011 04:00PM

I know the building you are mentioning very well. It is a Com Ed substation, and I will bet it was built to serve the Belmont Avenue trolley bus line. It would make sense for both the CTA and Com Ed to share ownership. I believe that the bus was extended from Harlem (Octavia) to Cumberland in the late 1950's concurrent with the purchase of a fleet of new Marmon-Herrington trolley buses. It would make sense for them to upgrade the power distribution system at the same time.

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: tomcat630 (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: December 24, 2011 06:03AM

Ever wonder why Narragansett [6400w] isn't called Ridgeland Av. as the rest of Cook County? [Cicero, Central and Austin are not part of the the K, L, M, N patterns]. It's because there was already a Ridgeland Av. on the city's SE side, and no repeating street names within city limits, per Brennan Street layout.

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Re: the building at approx 3262 N. Narragansett ave
Posted by: jak378 (---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: December 24, 2011 11:45AM

But, remember that there are 2 Exchange Avenues in Chicago. West Exchange Ave. about 4130 South which runs from Halsted to about Racine, and South Exchange Ave. on the southeast side which runs southeast from about 71st and South Shore.

I guess it could be argued that they do not have the same names, since one is south and the other is west, but it is still unusual. I am pretty sure that West Exchange was originally a private street, totally within the Union Stockyards.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/24/2011 11:47AM by jak378.

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