There are still plenty of Osage Orange rows in the Southland Paul, in particular there is a row at Silver Lake Golf Course along 151st. St. and another on 82nd. Ave. near the entrance. In the south suburbs they may be a little hard to find but for sure you will find some out in the farms of the area. We had friends with a farm in Momence and were told to take some of the fruit home and put it in t
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

I'm plugging this in from an earlier thread- Posted by: b.a.hoarder () Date: November 16, 2010 07:54PM My grandparents had a tavern on the NW corner of 25th & Rockwell during that time and according to my dad their bar became a "tea house". Apparently the locals would gather for a spot of tea, but of course they also had the stuff everyone was really after. There was a Sgt. on
Forum: General Discussion

Mornac Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > b.a.hoarder Wrote: > --Would that be the same "Crane" I have been > seeing for years imprinted on urinals when I have > nothing else to read? Yes, of course. Today the plumbing venture is owned by American Standard. The company has morphed into a world leader in the pump, aerospace and nuclear ind
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http://www.chicagoarchitecture.info/Building/2340/Crane-Company-Building.php My dad retired from Crane in 1977 after 35 years service. He and another gentleman in computer operations were the last two employees at the Kedzie avenue facility. R.T. Crane came here from New Jersey and opened his first foundry at Canal & Fulton in Chicago in 1855. He developed a number of products and innova
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Richard Stachowski Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > 3100 s. california. north wast side of that > intersection. I passed that building many times in my youth, it was not the TB Sanitarium. It was the Chicago Communicable Disease Hospital, they treated things like whooping cough, measles, and polio. TB facility was on the north side.
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Richard, north of 47th and west of Pulaski is the Crawford Industrial District and the streets there that have the Blvd. designation are shown as private streets. I believe that area was annexed by the city many years ago, so I would think the city maintains and plows those streets, but I do not know for sure.
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Today I went to see Canal Origins Park and for sure this was on my "must see" list as I have always had an avid interest in the I & M canal. Now for sure I wish I had made this excursion sooner. The access is convenient, it's right off I-55 and parking was right on Ashland Ave. (free too!). The main pathway into the park is very striking, at least until one gets closer. It was built
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Must be Archer Midland Daniels, a food processing company and a big player in ethanol production for gasohol.
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Strictly a shot in the dark Dave, but here goes. In the 1800's the northern city limit of Chicago was North Ave. Homan Ave. was named for a builder sometime after 1873 and Kimball was named for an early banker, who was a charter officer of what was Chicago's first bank in 1835. Did both have enough clout that the names were kept as originally given? Homan runs from 11600 S to 1600 N, and Kimball f
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Nordsider, is it possible you are thinking of the Midwest Store? The M/W Store is(was?) between Moody and Meade and was the go-to store for back to school clothes, ladies finery, etc. I don't think it had the variety of departments that the Archer Ave. Big Store had.
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I think it may be a question of nomenclature that is preventing you from finding any information. The propulsion was pneumatic, rather than vacuum. Air pressure pushed the capsules, rather than a vacuum pulling them through the tubes. I didn't see any reference to BH or HD, but I can tell you that by 1916 Chicago had 20 miles in it's pneumatic tube system.
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Looks more like an underground electrical vault, maybe a transformer for the condominiums? What words are embossed in the cast iron doors?
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Wow, shocking that White Castle is closed at that location! Pretty cool that they offered Sliders for .25 for old times sake. I guess I'm showing my age but I remember riding the street car on Kedzie from 26th St. and we would get off at Archer for a snack at WC. My grandparents lived on 45th & Sawyer so WC was a typical stop for us when we visited. The street cars were red and had wicker seat
Forum: General Discussion

Second city? I think not, Chicago has much more beauty and character than anywhere else in the US. One other thing, scroll down to the photo of Northerly Island and the skyline; how could anyone think Daley made a mistake with that decision? The lakefront is for all the people to enjoy, not just a few elite pilots and passengers. Nice stuff Dave, thanks for sharing.
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

I found a reference to the building in a 1919 City Comptrollers report under the category "Municipal Street Lighting System Bond Fund". Not street car, ComEd, or railroad related, only local power distribution for street lights. http://books.google.com/books?id=zmEVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA140&lpg=PA140&dq=city+of+chicago+southwest+substation&source=bl&ots=-yieLTWYgl&sig=
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Strictly conjecture on my part but I must ask why would anyone do that? With a bagman in every police precinct and crooked pols all over it surely seems like it would not be necessary. What would a tunnel like that have been, about five blocks long?
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Well I guess I have a different take on things having grown up in the 23rd Ward. We had Normandy Park which was about 2/3rds of a city block with a couple outside basketball hoops and being a tight lot there were only two backstops, cross-corner from each other. The field house was single story, small and had a minimum of equipment, at least back in the late '50's early '60's. It might be better n
Forum: General Discussion

I scanned through the brochure and my first thought is who will pick up the tab for such a huge undertaking? I didn't see any mention of benefactors or city/state/federal funding, although I may have missed it. Of definite concern would be safety. Mentioned are city services, security stations and police presence, all of which are already in dire straits. There are currently not enough police offi
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

Some back issues available here- https://www.mrha.com/store/category.aspx?Category=39&Name=TMR+Back+Issues can you give info on date of publication?
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Today's Chicago Tribune "Chicago Flashback" feature (Sec.1 pg. 19) is WWII war materiel production in the Chicago area.
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

As was previously noted on FC the original purpose of the Ford City complex was to produce radial aircraft engines that would power the B-29 Superfortress. The B-29 was the plane that brought the Japanese to their knees after dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was Chrysler Corporation, not Ford, that was awarded the contract to build the Wright Cyclone radial engines, an 18 cy
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

I think that is a valid claim, it is a Chicago Park District street sign in Douglas Park. CPD signs were a different color at that time and a B&W photo won't show it's true colors of brown and white. The sign reads Sacramento Dr. which was a Park designation, there is also Sacramento Ave. and Blvd. I just noticed the pole with the cement base, and it's motif of milkweed and cat-tails. That
Forum: General Discussion

Jeff, go to www.historicaerials.com and enter 73rd & Lawndale, Chicago, IL. The tank shows in the '38 air survey, but the next done in '51 only shows a circle where the tank stood. You can zoom in for a good look. A later survey shows the spot paved over. After the '43 incident Peoples Gas probably realized that the holders would be obsolete and there was no need to rebuild. That, or the thou
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Richard, look at the photo from this link I see no evidence of any cabins along SW Highway.
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Gas holder from plane crash is here- Good tip tomz, thanks. Click on shadow that is standing tall in upper left for close up.
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See the following for a post about a military airplane crash into a gas holder in 1943. http://forgottenchicago.com/forum/1/1435
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Go to http://forgottenchicago.com/forum/1/1389/1983/re__ford_city#msg-1983 and scroll up to the top of the page and follow the thread.
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

Great find, 222. I looked for that photo but apparently not hard enough. I notice that it was a Patrick sign, not Triangle Outdoor. I guess the passing of a quarter century gave me a foggy memory. Just look at the size of that structure and then go to Historic Aerials to see the whole complex. Hard to believe that so much would be devoted to the marketing of seed.
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I never was there, but wish I had been. Looks pretty cool! http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidwilson1949/5502371808/in/set-72157614049704111
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Sounds like an interesting idea. Personally I would go with #'s 1 & 3, or 2 & 3. To my way of thinking the adventure drama with characters might not be too well received by most interested in this topic.
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