58TH & Prairie


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58TH & Prairie
Posted by: HOLTANEK (---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: January 03, 2011 04:15PM

"Lonigans fireplug" @58th and Prairie as mentioned in the works of James Farrell...

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Re: 58TH & Prairie
Posted by: Berwyn Frank (---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: January 03, 2011 07:10PM

What is the story about "Lonigans fireplug?"

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Re: 58TH & Prairie
Posted by: HOLTANEK (---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: January 03, 2011 08:55PM

Thanks for asking. There was a famous writer, James T. Farrell, that grew up right around 58th and Prairie in the early 1900s. He wrote numerous books regarding his youth,the most famous being "Studs Lonigan" and his "Danny O'Neill pentalogy. In these books he distincly describes the neighborhood,it's apartment buildings, the stores,the "hang-outs",etc. In Studs Lonigan, he mentions the "NE corner of 58th and Prairie" several times, and it's mentioned alot in his other "Washington Park" novels. Not being familiar with the area,and having gotten a virtual "mind picture" from his books, I decided to see what the area looks like today. Today it's a blighted area with block after block of vacant lots where there used to be corner to corner apartment buildings, 95% gone now. I took alot of pictures of the area and noticed something. On the exact NE corner there was a fire hydrant. I'm sure not THE one that's mentioned in the books, but there it was on the mentioned corner. I found it somewhat interesting that something mentioned in books from the 1920s was still here. Actually, is was about ALL that was left. Anyway, I guess you had to be there,as well as be familiar with Farrells work. Here's a pic of the block east of Prairie before and after.

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Re: 58TH & Prairie
Posted by: bowler (---.chipublib.org)
Date: January 04, 2011 02:24PM

[url=http://books.google.com/books?id=mIMm99ZossAC&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17&dq=lonnigans+fireplug&source=bl&ots=pqInjBE9Mm&sig=Zef5dbg0R3rQINFaN-d6hynCHWE&hl=en&ei=YVcjTZGJOIKr8Aby3cTrDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false]Lonnigan's Fireplug[/url]

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Re: 58TH & Prairie
Posted by: HOLTANEK (---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: January 04, 2011 03:16PM

Yes, Edgar Branch is the ultimate farrell authority. His "Studs Lonigans neighborhood" kind of got me interested and I've gone down ther often.

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Re: 58TH & Prairie
Posted by: 222psm (---.br.br.cox.net)
Date: January 04, 2011 03:26PM

I took a look on Google maps, and wow. This place is a urban waste land. About the same way I remember it. It's depressing to see a once vibrant place go to hell like that. I was reading on Sun times.com that Carol Moseley Braun has a 1.9 million house for sale just across Washington Park. what a difference a few blocks make!

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Re: 58TH & Prairie
Posted by: HOLTANEK (---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: January 04, 2011 08:28PM

222psm,you said "About the same way I remember it.". What do you know of this area? Yes, it's sad to see what its' become, but my only experience about how it was is from books and research I've read. I noticed if you look at Google Maps or Google Earth you'll notice that these few square blocks are the worst. A little south or west you'll see more stable areas, (houses vs empty lots) just as old. I feel this is because these buildings were close to the old 58th St. stop on the el and housed hundreds of workers. Then the blacks started to move in, the whites moved out,and the area fell into disrepair, mainly due to the scumbag slum lords who did nothing for their tenants except collect exorbitant rents. Obviously these buildings became so bad they had to be torn down,hence the current state of the neighborhood. If Chicago would have gotten the Olympics this area would have exploded with development, but it's not to be.

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Re: 58TH & Prairie
Posted by: WayOutWardell (63.226.79.---)
Date: January 04, 2011 09:03PM

There's a fantastic book titled Black Metropolis, by St. Clair Drake & Horace Cayton, that deals with the extension of the Black Belt and racial transition, with lots of coverage of the Washington Park neighborhood. It's a huge and dense book, filled with history, information and insight, first published in the 30s but amended through the late 60s.

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Re: 58TH & Prairie
Posted by: HOLTANEK (---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: January 04, 2011 10:14PM

A great book

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Re: 58TH & Prairie
Posted by: 222psm (---.br.br.cox.net)
Date: January 05, 2011 12:17AM

HOLTANEK: My memory of this place is only when we cut through to avoid traffic on the Dan Ryan back in the early 80's. My dad got off near Garfield blvd then down MLK Dr to get to the Bishop Ford. I recall alot of empty lots and abandoned buildings.

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Re: 58TH & Prairie
Posted by: Deejo (---.pools.spcsdns.net)
Date: January 05, 2011 03:53AM

There is a plaque commemorating Farrell on the front of one of his boyhood homes at 5704 S. Indiana (SW corner of 57th and Indiana - from the side of the building looking west, you can see directly to the John Raber house).

Also, Farrell's parish was St. Anselm's, 61st and Michigan, which is still operating as a Catholic church.

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Re: 58TH & Prairie
Posted by: HOLTANEK (---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: January 05, 2011 11:47AM

The "Mr.G's" store on 58th just east of the el tracks used to be "Bathcellars Pool Hall" as mentioned in Farrells books. This area literaly developed overnight. I researched some Sanborn Fire maps, and according to them in 1896 there was absolutely nothing except bare land. The 1915 maps show buildings and stores from corner to corner. There was even a movie theatre on Prairie caled The Prairie Motion Picture Show. This, as well as 98% on the dwellings and stores are gone.

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Re: 58TH & Prairie
Posted by: adgorn (---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: January 12, 2011 06:21PM

James T. Farrell RIP at Calvary:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=12396

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Re: 58TH & Prairie
Posted by: Vern H (---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: January 13, 2011 02:25AM

Holtanek,

Have you viewed the area on historic aerials? You can really see the changes over the years. I would have grabbed a few pics but they request payment for their images. I didn't think it'd be right to post them here. I think historic aerials is one of the coolest sites ever!

[url=http://www.historicaerials.com]www.historicaerials.com[/url]

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Re: 58TH & Prairie
Posted by: HOLTANEK (108.74.212.---)
Date: January 14, 2011 02:27AM

Thanks Vern that site is amazing!! For a historic geek as myself it's like crack!

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