Bill Matteson
Uptown Chicago History Correspondent
On the corner near the home of a Gold Star Mother, a memorial square was place. As I remember, it was a simulated flag pole with a sign at the top with the soldiers name, birth date, rank, branch of service, and where he was killed in action. Seeing the picture of one such memorial at Magnolia and Sunnyside that we recently posted stirred my memory.
My wife remembers one at Lawrence and Kenmore on the S.E. corner. They were all over the neighborhood during WW2.
The Gold Star Mother was the most respected person in the neighborhood during WW2; service flags were in the front windows. A Blue Star for each member of the family serving, and a Gold Star for each one Killed in Action. And yes, there were a few of those with more than one star. The Sullivan family from Davenport, Iowa, had 5 Gold Stars, all brothers.
I am now trying to research where the memorial squares went, how they were erected, and by whom. If my memory is correct, they were placed and maintained by the local precinct captains.
Each ward was broken up into precincts, the number depending on the size of the ward. Then you had Republican and Democratic captains. In those days the precinct captain was both feared and respected; he maintained his area well, and if you needed anything done all you had to to was to contact him.
Please, if any readers have any recollection of war memorials, please write in.
Today I have had a very humbling experience by working with the Illinois Freedom Run, a group started by two bikers that now have a permanent memorial on the Illinois River at Marselles Illinois. Called the Mid East War Memorial, it has the name of every service person killed in defense of this country since the Beruit bombing. Etched in granite, the humbling part is to realize you are surounded by 30,000 bikers, and when "Taps" is played there isn't a dry eye to be found.
One of the founders, Antony Cutrano, passed away a month ago on his bike. RIP, Tony.
June 28, 2012
June 25, 2012
War Memorial at Magnolia and Sunnyside
Photo of a war memorial at the southeast corner of Magnolia and Sunnyside; currently on eBay here: War Memorial
From the original caption: Some may forget the sacrifices of Chicago's war dead, but not Madora Ashley. Again this year her pet project--a tiny war memorial plot at Sunnyside and Magnolia--reflects the tender care of one who remembers.
The flag pole on the plot has been freshly painted and blooming flowers brighten the area, thanks to Miss Ashley, a beautician of 4441 Magnolia.
In part, the plot's well-tended appearance resulted from help last year by friends and neighbors. At that time, Miss Ashley was in a hospital, ill and worried that the memorial would be neglected.
Readers of the Sun Times Briefs--371 of them--assured her with cards and letters that this would not happen. Neighbors tended the plot until she recovered. Then Miss Ashley again took over as the memorial's loving caretakers.
From the original caption: Some may forget the sacrifices of Chicago's war dead, but not Madora Ashley. Again this year her pet project--a tiny war memorial plot at Sunnyside and Magnolia--reflects the tender care of one who remembers.
The flag pole on the plot has been freshly painted and blooming flowers brighten the area, thanks to Miss Ashley, a beautician of 4441 Magnolia.
In part, the plot's well-tended appearance resulted from help last year by friends and neighbors. At that time, Miss Ashley was in a hospital, ill and worried that the memorial would be neglected.
Readers of the Sun Times Briefs--371 of them--assured her with cards and letters that this would not happen. Neighbors tended the plot until she recovered. Then Miss Ashley again took over as the memorial's loving caretakers.
CTA Montrose at Wilson Yard, 1972
June 21, 2012
Hazel and Montrose, 1973
Scenes of a broken water main at Hazel and Montrose in 1973. eBay item 251052879430.
June 20, 2012
Parking Garage on Lawrence, 1956
This is a photo from our own collection of the parking garage built on Lawrence at Broadway in 1956. You can see the Aragon beyond it. Wouldn't it be nice to have a parking garage there again instead of just a parking lot to accommodate the crowds?
June 10, 2012
Lake Front Fishing, Uptown Chicago
We would walk down to Montrose Harbor and buy our bait from "C. Berry for Bait," an old green shack on the northeast side of the harbor. All of our fishing equipment came from there. We could buy a one piece 16 / 18 foot cane pole, a two piece 12/14 foot, or what us professional guys used, a three piece 14/18 footer. One of our prized possessions was an official C. Berrry Bait Can, which was in reality an unused paint can with 6 or 7 nail holes punched in the top.
It cost us a quarter and we had it forever. Styrofoam hadn't been invented yet. A mandatory piece was our Coleman Gas Fired Lantern. For a nickel's worth of white gas at the gas station, we could fish all night. We tied a length of clothesline to the handle of the lantern in order to lower down to the water, usually about two feet above. This helped attract the perch in to our poles, and gave us light when baiting our trolley set ups.
For bait, the Lake Michigan shiner was the best, followed by fat heads, peelers, or softshell crabs, which were really cray fish. We would rip the tail off, peel away the shell, and impale the white meat on the hook. Sometimes we would use small pieces of shrimp. Worms never worked that well on the horseshoe.
I would fish all night, come home in the morning with a stringer of 50- 60 perch. Our tackle box was for the most part an old cigar box.
We would scrounge all of our gear and rarely bought any. I invented a type of hook-dragging device which was an old clothes hanger cut and bent into a circle with 10" lengths of hanger with bent hooks at the end, alternating with one hook up and one hook down until I had 10 lengths. I would throw this out into the lake and let it settle to the bottom, then slowly retrieve it back, snagging anything it came in contact with: hooks, line weights, sun glasses, and a few rods and reels.
A neat old guy named Mr. Service used to come out at sunup with his cart, "HOOOOT COOFFEE," and rolls; then at lunchtime he sold sandwiches and pop. I went to school with his son Jim and always felt sorry for him that his dad had to sell hot coffee for a living. Today I would love to have that concession. When Jim went to high school his dad bought him a car.
The water level on the lake always fluctuated, as far as I can remember, then when Harold Washington was mayor, there was high water and flooding going on along Lake Shore Drive. Some of the lobbies in buildings and LSD was flooded.
The mayor convened a committee to figure out how to keep Lake Michigan from flooding the City. So experts said we had to open the locks and drain the water into the Mississippi; the people down south said if you flood us we'll sue. Another said if we drained a billion gallons a day it would take 10 years to get the level down.
Now mind you, no one was asking the real experts, the Lake Front Fisherman. The following week the water level returned to normal, all the "experts" went home, and no one had an answer as to why.
God and Nature handle things pretty well; all we have to do is stay out of the way. It's a system that has been working up to now.
Bill Matteson
It cost us a quarter and we had it forever. Styrofoam hadn't been invented yet. A mandatory piece was our Coleman Gas Fired Lantern. For a nickel's worth of white gas at the gas station, we could fish all night. We tied a length of clothesline to the handle of the lantern in order to lower down to the water, usually about two feet above. This helped attract the perch in to our poles, and gave us light when baiting our trolley set ups.
For bait, the Lake Michigan shiner was the best, followed by fat heads, peelers, or softshell crabs, which were really cray fish. We would rip the tail off, peel away the shell, and impale the white meat on the hook. Sometimes we would use small pieces of shrimp. Worms never worked that well on the horseshoe.
I would fish all night, come home in the morning with a stringer of 50- 60 perch. Our tackle box was for the most part an old cigar box.
We would scrounge all of our gear and rarely bought any. I invented a type of hook-dragging device which was an old clothes hanger cut and bent into a circle with 10" lengths of hanger with bent hooks at the end, alternating with one hook up and one hook down until I had 10 lengths. I would throw this out into the lake and let it settle to the bottom, then slowly retrieve it back, snagging anything it came in contact with: hooks, line weights, sun glasses, and a few rods and reels.
A neat old guy named Mr. Service used to come out at sunup with his cart, "HOOOOT COOFFEE," and rolls; then at lunchtime he sold sandwiches and pop. I went to school with his son Jim and always felt sorry for him that his dad had to sell hot coffee for a living. Today I would love to have that concession. When Jim went to high school his dad bought him a car.
The water level on the lake always fluctuated, as far as I can remember, then when Harold Washington was mayor, there was high water and flooding going on along Lake Shore Drive. Some of the lobbies in buildings and LSD was flooded.
The mayor convened a committee to figure out how to keep Lake Michigan from flooding the City. So experts said we had to open the locks and drain the water into the Mississippi; the people down south said if you flood us we'll sue. Another said if we drained a billion gallons a day it would take 10 years to get the level down.
Now mind you, no one was asking the real experts, the Lake Front Fisherman. The following week the water level returned to normal, all the "experts" went home, and no one had an answer as to why.
God and Nature handle things pretty well; all we have to do is stay out of the way. It's a system that has been working up to now.
Bill Matteson
June 9, 2012
Father Joseph Hai, Uptown Chicago, 1977
eBay item 251063292910. Original caption in the Daily News read: Father Joseph Hai, a refugee who headed a Catholic High School at Binh-Tuy, is now attached to St. Thomas of Canterbury Church, 4827 N. Kenmore in Uptown.
Alcoholic Living on Clifton, Uptown Chicago, 1966
This image ran in the Daily News as part of the People with Problems series. This unfortunate man lived on the 4500 block of Clifton.
Lay Missionary and Prostitute in Uptown Chicago, 1984
eBay item 261028156122. Caption reads: Roman Catholic lay missionary Edwina Gately talks with a prostitute in Uptown.
906 Sunnyside, Uptown Chicago, 1980
Currently on eBay, item 251039359118. The photo ran in the paper with the caption "The once-elegant Apartments on the 800 and 900
blocks of Sunnyside and 900 block of Agatite in
southeast Uptown have fallen on hard times, but if Uptown Federal
Savings has its way they will be rehabilited for moderate-income
families as partof the proposed development.
Hillbillies Transferring to a Problem City, 1964
June 8, 2012
Oh It's So Hot — Summers in Uptown
Bill Matteson
Uptown Chicago History Corresponent
Oh it's hot out. Oh, my, what will we do?
Oh, turn up the air conditioning.
But back in the day before air conditioning, we had Conditioned Air: a fan and a block of ice. The ice man came through the alley and looked up on the back porch to see if the ice sign was in the window.
Now the amount of ice needed was told to him by the placement of the sign. A 12"-square with a number printed on each edge so the number showing right side up told how much ice to bring. He would chip out a size of ice block to correspond to the price shown.
The ice block was placed in a porcelain tin dishpan with an oscillating fan behind it , usually in front of an open window. This was the Conditioned Air of the Day.
That is if you could afford ice and had a fan.
When it was real hot at night and we couldn't sleep we would all pack up ourt bedrolls and head for the park. Sis, Mom, Dad, and me walked up Leland Ave to the park. We would meet a lot of our neighbors doing the same thing. Nobody was afraid then and the Park District Police patrolled regularly.
I don't even remember any bugs. I used to lie there and watch the rabbits run around, and then as it got later watch some couples wrapped in blankets.
Today I heard on the news that if you get too hot you can call the Fire Dept. and they will take you to a cooling center. (I won't comment on this.)
I am glad that I had the opportunity to grow up in an age where people took care of themselves rather than to rely on others. As our doctor told my wife and I, people from your generation were tougher; you just sucked it up and walked it off. As a kid I might remember one person that took a prescription drug, today I don't know any one who doesn't.
Uptown Chicago History Corresponent
Oh it's hot out. Oh, my, what will we do?
Oh, turn up the air conditioning.
But back in the day before air conditioning, we had Conditioned Air: a fan and a block of ice. The ice man came through the alley and looked up on the back porch to see if the ice sign was in the window.
Now the amount of ice needed was told to him by the placement of the sign. A 12"-square with a number printed on each edge so the number showing right side up told how much ice to bring. He would chip out a size of ice block to correspond to the price shown.
The ice block was placed in a porcelain tin dishpan with an oscillating fan behind it , usually in front of an open window. This was the Conditioned Air of the Day.
That is if you could afford ice and had a fan.
When it was real hot at night and we couldn't sleep we would all pack up ourt bedrolls and head for the park. Sis, Mom, Dad, and me walked up Leland Ave to the park. We would meet a lot of our neighbors doing the same thing. Nobody was afraid then and the Park District Police patrolled regularly.
I don't even remember any bugs. I used to lie there and watch the rabbits run around, and then as it got later watch some couples wrapped in blankets.
Today I heard on the news that if you get too hot you can call the Fire Dept. and they will take you to a cooling center. (I won't comment on this.)
I am glad that I had the opportunity to grow up in an age where people took care of themselves rather than to rely on others. As our doctor told my wife and I, people from your generation were tougher; you just sucked it up and walked it off. As a kid I might remember one person that took a prescription drug, today I don't know any one who doesn't.
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