crowamonghens Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > those railroad tracks psm and artista were talking > about were INDEED the "Crazy Train" tracks! old > Blanchard's maps from the 1800s to the 20's i.d. > them as the three-mile spur off the Chicago, > Milwaukee & St. Paul. before that, commuters would > have to walk the stretch up
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

Thanks so much shekaago for the link to the map thats really cool, and for confirming my suspicions that the track ran to the Dunning site. If you don't mind me asking, what year did those tracks still extend that far north? It seems from google maps that they now end at Diversey Ave. I'm almost sure that by the 70's they did not cross Irving Park as we used to go to Wood Dale and I don't reca
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

bwalsh Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > In the Chicago Tribune in 1956 the location is > listed as a Com Ed substation. Excellent find bwalsh maybe they keep transformers or other electrical equipment there. and the CTA uses the rear middle as Artista has confirmed with the sign he/she found.
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

Artista Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Oh now i see it 222 I am familiar with those > tracks nearer to where i live (the Brickyard > area/Galewood) Didn't realize it to be the same. > It also goes right past where the old calibration > tower use to be. I miss that monstrosity. A fellow member user name "shekaago" has confirmed t
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

Artista Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > One more thing, > where exactly do you see the old tracks in re to > the Dunning site? It's in the middle of this screen shot If you go to google maps aerial view you can follow it. North where it comes off the main line past the Brickyard, past School St, thought Mt Olive cemetery right to where the Dun
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

The address on School St must be defunct, it will not come up on the Newschicago site. But crowamonghens is right the back half on School was added after 1951 and the back half on the other side was added after 2002 2005 2002 So it seems that the two front buildings belong to ComEd, and the rear middle to the CTA. Then ComEd added to the School side after 1951 and the other side after
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

I also have fond memories of Polk Bros, my dad used to buy all our electronics there. I remember my parents bought my first "boom box" at Polk Bros. I loved going there and play with all the electronics. Like crowamonghens said it started my life long love for electronics, I'd rather go to Polk Bros then the toy store!
Forum: General Discussion

Now that I think of it, could this place have been used to make bus shelters, like the kind you stand in while waiting for the bus? It just seems to small for a bus repair station. Then sold off to ComEd? well the plot thickens seem like the back middle part still belongs to the CTA http://www.newschicago.org/mapserver/index?theme=&show_parcels=on&show_st_lab=on&map.x=218&map.y
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

A bus shelter? wow I'd never guessed that, it looks like you can only fit one or two buses max, at lest from Google maps aerial. That is a cool looking building. I did follow the old railroad from were it splits off the main line and it goes right up to where the old Dunning Institute was. it looks like they have built houses over some parts of the old right-of-way.
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

I noticed a old railroad a few blocks west, I wonder if that was for the "crazy train" that was in the article from your post on the Dunning institute?
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

The building seems to belong to Commonwealth Edison, not sure what it is used for. built in 1938. more info here: http://www.newschicago.org/index.php?menu=chicago&search=single_chicago&search_by=pin&area=13&sc=19&block=434&parcel=47&Find=Find+Property%21 and here http://www.newschicago.org/mapserver/index?theme=&show_parcels=on&show_st_lab=on&map.x=26
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

StrayKitten Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I believe it was part of the Dunning Institution > complex. Dunning covered a huge area between > Irving Park and Montrose. I think your right, found this http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/395.html
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

crowamonghens Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > but man, > did they suck. lots of organ music and an old hag > who said "Bless my stuffing!" a lot. LOL "bless my stuffing"????
Forum: General Discussion

BTW congrats to your lady on her home purchase. It looks like she found a nice neighborhood.
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

LOL that's cool. does it all still light up? That's got to be an older building or is it newer with a old sign?
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

I find it interesting that the north-south streets names are not the same as south of Greenwood and north of Church. In other words, do not follow the grid names from Chicago. I also googled around, thats a cool looking place. It does look like a "Dick Van Dyke" neighborhood.
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

We went to see bulls games in the mid 80's when Michael Jordan was just getting started in his NBA career.
Forum: General Discussion

Richard Stachowski Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Also local taverns almost on every block. That's one thing I remember most, I've been to other cities and never seen bars on almost every corner like in Chicago!
Forum: General Discussion

There was a corner store by my aunt's house, on the SW corner of w 38th Pl and S Francisco in Brighton park.
Forum: General Discussion

The building I used to live in (built in 1922) had the narrow ironing board closets, in one of the upstairs apts. it was converted to a large spice rack "closet". It also had the remnants of the intercom system.
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

I remember the cemeteries, we used to pass them on Foster Rd on the way to La Baugh woods when we "took the day off" from Roosevelt high school.
Forum: General Discussion

WayOutWardell Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > There's a blues compilation record called The New > Bluebloods which came out in '87. The cover has a > photo of the Kenwood Line bridge over the Rock > Island Line tracks adjacent to the Taylor Homes. > I don't have a way to scan the cover, > unfortunately. Is this it? looks like that b
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

Definitely not Coincidence, RJ Daley was NOT going to let his neighborhood go to the crapper. Back to Englewood; I still think that urban decay has no single cause; it results from combinations of inter-related socio-economic conditions. as you stated People moving southwest, jobs drying up, stores closing, expressways and rail bypassing the area. Can Englewood come back? It would take a massive
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

That's a cool picture of the southtown, I wish I could have seen it in person before it was demolished.
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

captain54 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yet, on the north side of Madison street its just > the opposite. Old broken down neighborhoods or > desolate old industrial areas are suddenly > transformed into cool, hip areas, and eventually > prime real estate markets. It doesn't make any > sense. > > I'll give you one possible explana
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

That's a good question, but I think there is no simple answer or has a single cause. I think part of the problem lies that when a new mall, strip mall, or shopping center opens a lot of merchants are quick to move to the next "great thing". so what we get in the old neighborhood is a bunch of vacant shops with no real chance of reopening. Property values drop, people move out to th
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

I remember the one on the smokestack it would flash DAD'S-ROOT-BEER. We used to see it at night all the time, coming home from the south suburbs. I wish I would have taken a picture, as most of the time we had a camera from family functions. Is that plant still open? I also remember the Magic-kiss sign on the Dan Ryan.
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Now that I've thought about it there was a drain outside on the patio, right under the ice door. (we lived in a basement apartment) I remember it had a pipe that lead to our pantry, no water ever came out of it, that I can remember. And a pipe that went to a other drain in the middle of the patio. Maybe the drain next to the door was a clean out. I also remember a cutout in the pantry that was the
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

adgorn Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Thanks for all the followup. I think it would be > cool to hike the old tracks to see what is up > there, but wouldn't do that alone. Yes that would be very cool, I'm alway fascinated with active and abandoned railroads, ever since I was a kid. We used to play on the tracks along Ravenswood Ave and along 37th
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

captain54 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > here's a fairly good explanation of what happened > in Englewood > > http://www.chicagoreporter.com/index.php/c/Sidebar > s/d/A_Brief_History_of_Englewood Thanks, that explains it very well, when a community looses 50,000 residents in 30 years that's what happens.
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings