Questions and Answers (Q&A) Forgotten Chicago Forum
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GOOSE ISLAND
Posted by:
sonny72
()
Date: November 14, 2013 05:30PM
Anyone have any "1st hand knowledge" of Goose Island, on Chicago's near north side??
Re: GOOSE ISLAND
Posted by:
Richard Stachowski
()
Date: November 14, 2013 09:59PM
[b]Only that my dad was raised there. He was born in 1898. I think there are some photos in the Chicago daily news site.[b][/b][/b]
Re: GOOSE ISLAND
Posted by:
querencia
()
Date: November 15, 2013 12:36AM
I tried googling Goose Island then clicking onto Images. Lots of pictures but all very settled and industrial-looking. Any bucolic past of Goose Island is not represented. I should think the Chicago History Museum (former Historical Society) would have old maps and pictures if any exist. Photography dates from, what, about 1850? Or there could be drawings, paintings.
Re: GOOSE ISLAND
Posted by:
sonny72
()
Date: November 15, 2013 01:05AM
I've tried just about everywhere---all to no avail. I was hoping that someone out there just might have some family or personal photos of buildings (or people) which would show just what life was like there; or even know some people who lived there---say in the 1930's. Goose Island was in a sort of time warp wherein it was about 10 years behind the way people lived in the rest of Chicago.
Re: GOOSE ISLAND
Posted by:
Jeff_Weiner
()
Date: November 15, 2013 01:26AM
sonny72 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've tried just about everywhere---all to no
> avail. I was hoping that someone out there just
> might have some family or personal photos of
> buildings (or people) which would show just what
> life was like there; or even know some people who
> lived there---say in the 1930's. Goose Island was
> in a sort of time warp wherein it was about 10
> years behind the way people lived in the rest of
> Chicago.
My cousin has some pictures of her grandfather's house on Goose Island, but the only feature that shows it was on Goose Island was the Ogden Avenue viaduct overhead.
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've tried just about everywhere---all to no
> avail. I was hoping that someone out there just
> might have some family or personal photos of
> buildings (or people) which would show just what
> life was like there; or even know some people who
> lived there---say in the 1930's. Goose Island was
> in a sort of time warp wherein it was about 10
> years behind the way people lived in the rest of
> Chicago.
My cousin has some pictures of her grandfather's house on Goose Island, but the only feature that shows it was on Goose Island was the Ogden Avenue viaduct overhead.
Re: GOOSE ISLAND
Posted by:
nordsider
()
Date: November 15, 2013 06:21AM
deleted
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/2013 09:40PM by nordsider.
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/2013 09:40PM by nordsider.
Re: GOOSE ISLAND
Posted by:
Richard Stachowski
()
Date: November 15, 2013 11:45AM
[b]Photos from the chicago daily news.----Search There are some pictures of houses and different views of Goose Island. GO SEE[/b]
Re: GOOSE ISLAND
Posted by:
Paul Petraitis
()
Date: November 15, 2013 12:16PM
Geologically it may be that Goose Island at one time WAS an island in the North Branch possibly formed by a particularly violet spring freshet (thaw) caused the Des Plaines to rage UP the south branch and poceed up the North creating a separate path in the river bed of the North Branch...when the city of Chicago began dredging the harbor and the chicago River it likely widened a low marshy area that was already there. When the army was building Ft. Dearborn in the fall of 1803 they set up a little saw mill on the north branch, near the woods just north of Goose Island.
Re: GOOSE ISLAND
Posted by:
daveg
()
Date: November 15, 2013 01:27PM
Paul Petraitis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Geologically it may be that Goose Island at one
> time WAS an island in the North Branch possibly
> formed by a particularly violet spring freshet
> (thaw) caused the Des Plaines to rage UP the south
> branch and poceed up the North creating a separate
> path in the river bed of the North Branch...when
> the city of Chicago began dredging the harbor and
> the chicago River it likely widened a low marshy
> area that was already there. When the army was
> building Ft. Dearborn in the fall of 1803 they set
> up a little saw mill on the north branch, near the
> woods just north of Goose Island.
Interesting. Libby Hill, author of the Chicago River book mentions (pg 85-86) that small islands once dotted the original North Branch, but Goose Island was not one of them. Early maps show the river making a lazy, bow-shaped bend to the northwest close to the city between what was to become North Ave on the north and Chicago Ave on the south.
-------------------------------------------------------
> Geologically it may be that Goose Island at one
> time WAS an island in the North Branch possibly
> formed by a particularly violet spring freshet
> (thaw) caused the Des Plaines to rage UP the south
> branch and poceed up the North creating a separate
> path in the river bed of the North Branch...when
> the city of Chicago began dredging the harbor and
> the chicago River it likely widened a low marshy
> area that was already there. When the army was
> building Ft. Dearborn in the fall of 1803 they set
> up a little saw mill on the north branch, near the
> woods just north of Goose Island.
Interesting. Libby Hill, author of the Chicago River book mentions (pg 85-86) that small islands once dotted the original North Branch, but Goose Island was not one of them. Early maps show the river making a lazy, bow-shaped bend to the northwest close to the city between what was to become North Ave on the north and Chicago Ave on the south.
Re: GOOSE ISLAND
Posted by:
Richard Stachowski
()
Date: November 16, 2013 12:13AM
[b]I hope somone can come up with some more information knowing my father was born there. The aeriel views show houses just south of division street.[/b]
Re: GOOSE ISLAND
Posted by:
EricV
()
Date: November 25, 2013 10:32AM
A guy named Lonski was still living on Goose Island well into the 1980s. He had a restaurant/tavern, Lonski's Inn, there-I think he lived upstairs. There was a sign for it on Division on the side of a building in the early 1980s. This Trib story mentions him and his tavern:
[url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1985-12-22/business/8503300241_1_industrial-center-goose-island-industrial-area]Trib Story[/url]
[url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1985-12-22/business/8503300241_1_industrial-center-goose-island-industrial-area]Trib Story[/url]
Re: GOOSE ISLAND
Posted by:
Richard Stachowski
()
Date: November 25, 2013 09:16PM
[b]I couldn't find traces of that tavern or sign on Division on google street view. Can you be more specifc? Like I said it was my Dads birthplace and greww up there.[/b]
Re: GOOSE ISLAND
Posted by:
sonny72
()
Date: November 26, 2013 04:26AM
Lonski moved his "tavern/restauant" to the 1100 block of N. North Branch St.in the 60's. He lived on the NW side of the city. He passed away a few years ago. He was an honorable man..............There are stories of his Father---who owned the original tavern on Divsion St.---In the 1930's (I think)---2 robbers, armed w/guns tried to rob his tavern, but he refused to give them any money & he fled to the basement via a trap door behind the bar & then kept popping up & throwing battles at them until they left in frustration...........
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/2013 04:31AM by sonny72.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/2013 04:31AM by sonny72.
Re: GOOSE ISLAND
Posted by:
sonny72
()
Date: November 26, 2013 04:32AM
Correction: He moved his Tavern to N. North Branch St In the 1960's.
Re: GOOSE ISLAND
Posted by:
EricV
()
Date: November 26, 2013 09:48AM
Here's a bit from the tv show "Wild Chicago" with the sign (on a telephone pole), restaurant and Lonski himself:
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mfJeVFtJGA]Wild Chicago[/url]
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mfJeVFtJGA]Wild Chicago[/url]
Re: GOOSE ISLAND
Posted by:
Paul Petraitis
()
Date: December 17, 2013 02:45PM
John Drury Daily News columnist in the 20's-40's and had a column and published a map of Goose Island once.
Re: GOOSE ISLAND
Posted by:
Jeff_Weiner
()
Date: February 07, 2016 04:55AM
My cousin-in-law's mother lived on Goose Island. They had a frame cottage that was near the old Ogden Avenue viaduct.
