January 04, 2024

Why the Blog

 The Road Map to this Blog

with over 70 Topical Posts
Revised and Updated
Winter 2023
always adding & improving
The seal of the 
Township of Lake View 
Researcher and Blogger 
Garry Albrecht 
 (Linkedin)
While my blog is to inform, 
my goal is to inspire further research by others
image - ClickFirst Marketing
Why this
Blog

We are all familiar with Temple Sholom at the corner of Stratford Place and (inner) Lake Shore Drive. But what do we know about the lot immediately south of it, now enclosed by a six-foot tall black ornate metal fence?

 

While living on Stratford Place just a stone-throw from the Temple, I often wondered about this over-sized property before it became a parking lot.  What did it used to be?  Curious, I decided to do a mini research project on the question.


This initial curiosity motivated me to create this blog, and make its focus broader, expanding it to cover the entire Lake View community from its very beginnings.

 

I started with search with Ravenswood-Lake View Historical Association (I am one of several board members) and then branched off from there to include images/photos from contributors from social media pages and countless of other online sources that I have mentioned below, always trying my best to make sure to credit the source. I am constantly updating and editing my work - keeping it as real and authentic as possible. 

 

Now as a substitute teacher with some time on my hands, I welcome comments and constructive criticisms that will be meaningful to my work - to our collective work!

Contact me at lvhistorical@gmail.com

the parking lot at 505 Stratford Place
This blog has over 70 topical posts - adding more information and photo/text all the time. I could have done a better job on formatting and geo-tagging. I am constantly trying to correct this deficit. Some posts are directly related to others and noted at the beginng to each post. I began my research in 2007 in my apartment on Stratford Place and continue my work in Oak Lawn. I will continue until I find a university library willing to adopt this type of online work. 
I have assembled a collection of purchased postcards, press photos, books, and collectibles mostly from Ebay - my offine work. 
Change can be Swift
 and Forgotten
from a 1915 church advertisement booklet
Once located on the corner of Roscoe & Sheffield the Belmont L Overpass has completely change the landscape of this area of Lake View for better or worse. Sven J. Akeson's Home Bakery & Coffee should be remembered by someone.
2021 Google Map view below
I am a Board of Director Member of
Members of Board of the Directors
The Association has a board with directors and three officers elected annually by the membership. 
The 2017 board of directors 
Patrick Butler, President
 Dayle Murphy, Vice President
Leah Steele, Secretary/Treasurer
Dorena Wenger, Program Chairperson
Garry Albrecht, Associate Director
Peter von Buol, Associate Director
Marcella Kane, Associate Director
Carolyn Bull, Associate Director
Ron Roenigk, Associate Director
Jon Stromsta, Associate Director

The Association's Story
 This blog's 
domain name
 is protected by Square Space
and 
on the bottom of every post is the following in bold type:
Important Note: 
These posts are exclusively used for educational purposes. I do not wish to gain monetary profit from this blog nor should 
anyone else without permission from the original source
 me hiding out in Andersonville in 2011
Historical Coverage includes the township of, city of, district of, and finally the Community of Lake View.
According to my readings the integration of the City of Lake View into the City of Chicago took awhile. I guessing almost a decade. This was a period in time that the former city was referred to as the 'District of Lake View' until the City of Chicago adopted the 'community areas' concept we refer to as neighborhoods. The territory covered by this blog is Fullerton Avenue to Devon Avenue, Western Avenue to the existing lakefront at that time in history. My focus narrows when Lake View became one of the 77 official community areas in the City of Chicago.
An Exhibit 
with Discussion in 2018
'I go on the road'
photos from the exhibit - Garry Albrecht
Once a year I exhibit my private collection at 
Sulzer Regional Library 
in the month of October
4455 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625
in the Community of Lincoln Square
Meeting and Exhibit Room
This association 
promoted my exhibit
Donations
are Great!!
For example, Carole Kulger-Brennan who lives in California 
donated her yearbooks to me.
Very thankful!!!
Links to my 
Private Collection
(under construction)
Lake View Press Photos
My Home 
Storage Area
in my computer room for now
My Lake View
Artwork:
minus all the other artifacts in boxes
commerical view of Lake View in 1980's
with some sample zooms
section 1
section 2
section 3
section 4
section 5
section 6
section 7
and below
a hand-painted view
of the 1945 World Series from a photograph
reprint photo of the first boarhouse of Belmont Harbor
Depiction of the initial dredging of Belmont Harbor on rice-paper
and below
a  south view from the Lake View House/Hotel
Illustration of Lake Shore Drive
 north of Brompton Avenue 
prior to 1940's??
and below
Artwork of Lake View Restaurants:
Yoshi's on Halsted
Angelina's on Broadway
The Diner on Halsted
postcard size
Pickard China Dishware
1910's-1940's
plates from the Century of Progress below
Online Access Legend:
(access any post through top right side bar)
Click on the arrow icons
to access a particular post
all the posts to this blog below
 My Various 
Research Sources:
The photos I post in this blog reflect the location found and not the original publication or original distributors of the photo. I did this to encourage others to clean-out their storage units, closets & attics so to discover anything related to this subject. Below are web resources I explored/used for this blog. 
I refer back to these sources from time to time for more information. 
(article with instructional video)
I have incorporated these maps in every post
photo - Wikipedia 
The Sanborn map collection consists of a uniform series of large-scale maps, dating from 1867 to the present and depicting the commercial, industrial, and residential sections of some twelve thousand cities and towns in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Sanborn maps are detailed maps of U.S. cities and towns in the 19th and 20th centuries. Originally published by The Sanborn Map Company (Sanborn), the maps were created to allow fire insurance companies to assess their total liability in urbanized areas of the United States. These maps always have been accepted as the most accurate and detailed building and construction record extant. Sanborn maps are crowded with detail and color. So is their history. Daniel A. Sanborn created these maps for one, very specific reason: to provide insurers a catalogue of city structures that could be fire risks. He was a social scientist, and a memorialist of American transcendentalism who wrote early biographies of many of the movement's key figures. He founded the American Social Science Association, in 1865, "to treat the great social problems of the day".
Online Tools
 Other
Online Sources & 
Resources
*subject to change*
Lake View Saga 1837-1974
(not online yet)
by Pat Butler
(Chicago library card # required)
(registration required)
Maps:
(Rascher's Atlas in sections)
Chicago library card # required
Fullerton to Devon
HIG 1887 - Volume 9
(Rascher's Atlas)
Fullerton to Devon
HIG 1891- Volume 10 
(Rascher's Atlas)
(a revised 1886 map)
South of Irving Park Road
HIG 1894  - Volume 9
HIG 1923  - Volume 9
HIG 1950  - Volume 9
(a revised 1923 map)
North of Irving Park Road
South of Fullerton Avenue
West of Western Avenue
(revised 1913 map)
David Rumsey Historical Map Collection:
(until 1937)
(from 1923)
Industrial History: C&E: 
(story of 4+1's)
DNAinfo Lake View & Wrigleyville
(out of business November 2017)
DNAinfo Boystown
(out of business November 2017)
Some Facebook Pages 
of Great Interest:
photos - Ebay
both editions part of my collection
2nd Edition
by Patrick Butler

 
Pat Bulter died December 2023. He was one of the last of his journalistic breed. Below is an excerpt from an article from the Inside Brooster/an Inside Publication
 that that employed him.
Lake View - Images of America
by Matthew Nickerson

by Matthew Nickerson
 
75th Anniversary
 Special Magazine Edition
published by the 
Lincoln-Booster Newspaper
and part of my collection
Helen Zatterberg 
Manuscript 
This manuscript was written in 1937 
as the first known historical narrative on Lake View
by Ravenswood-Lake View (Society) Association 
Helen Zatterberg  
Ms. Zatterberg help established the 
Ravenswood-Lake View Historical (Society) in 1935 
from the 1984 papers - Ravenswood-Lake View Historical Association
Where the Artifacts was/is Stored:
The Three Homes of the
Ravenswood-Lake View 
Historical Association
this organization collects the information 
on the history of Lake View while the library affilicated with the association maintains the collection 
under the current title of the Northside Collection
the first home - Library Hall
was once located at southeast corner of 
Montrose & Hermitage
1891 Rascher's Atlas of the location
zoomed view below
 the second location of the collection above - Hild Library, once located at 4544 N Lincoln Avenue.
with the third location below - Sulzer Regional Library located
at 4454 N Lincoln Avenue
the collection is housed in its own section of the library
2023 Google Map 
(red marker)
Located in the Lobby 
of the Library
photos below - Garry Albrecht
in library's lobby

About the Library's namesake
Day One 
at Sulzer Library 1985
My First Exhibit 
at Sulzer Library
in 2017
Sulzer (Regional) Library had an 'open house' that year and I was invited to show some of my then private collection. The collection has grown since then. 
My Personal Collection 
at Home in Storage
some of my book collection
some of my album collection
memorabilia stuffed in my closet for future exhibits

Post Notes: 
Explore the countless photography from various contributors of 
Lake View from Flickr, as a starter mosaic to my over seventy blog posts on the history of Lake View. 

A Neighborhood Awaits
poem by Garry Albrecht

A neighborhood can captivate an endless story,

From its' noble beginnings to nondirectionalness ends,

An historical teller is what I do,

For study it well for its substance and tales,

So to learn and thing or two about for its unpredictable zeniths and its foreseeable predictable miscarries of time,

For history repeats so told for those who doesn't 

listens, studies, and learns.


Follow me to my next post called

Important:
These posts are exclusively used for educational purposes. I do not wish to gain monetary profit from this blog nor should anyone else without permission from the original source.
thanks!