Mostly about Car Related Stuff
This post is divided in 6 segments. The segments are garages, dealerships, filing stations, brick streets & alleys of
Old Lake View.
1913 Chuckman Collection postcard
First Some Background
Henry Ford arrived in Chicago in 1895 and managed to change the building landscape of Chicago with his first Chicago Ford dealership on South Michigan Avenue. This post is divided in 6 segments. The segments are garages, dealerships, filing stations, brick streets & alleys of
Old Lake View.
First Some Background
According to a 2012 Chicago Tribune article by Jerome O’Connell, Mr. Ford picked a perfect spot to sell his 'horseless carriages'. He picked a location near the mansions and residences of wealthy and influential business folks of Chicago on Prairie Avenue a short distance away from Michigan Avenue. Other dealerships were built during the 1920’s on South Michigan Avenue. This strip of roadway would be later called Chicago’s Motor Row Historical District.
A Story about a Car and a Wagon
map from a 1938 Chicago Tribune article
a zoomed view from above map
Pine Grove, and Grace.
image - Leslies Weekly Illustrated via Ebay
A Chicago Tribune article published in 1975
the design of the winning media - Wikipedia
images - Wikipedia
below the first gas powered horse-less carriage
built by Duryea's company in 1895
built by Duryea's company in 1895
'The Smithsonian Institution states the following
regarding the winning Duryea car. "This car was unfortunately destroyed
through a workman's misunderstanding many years ago." The second-place car
of Hieronymus Mueller is on display in the Mueller Museum in Decatur, Illinois' per Wikipedia.
The Motor Row on Broadway
By the 1910's the horseless carriage would be renamed the automobile and another area of the city would try to duplicate Michigan Avenue’s Motor Row but this time on Broadway Avenue and other singular locations within the old District of Lake View but failed to receive any official local or national recognition - overshadowed by the south loop historical district's popularity and notoriety.
Little Motor Row on Broadway 1920
.
This article link below mentions the second auto show at the Broadway Armory with participating dealers in 1921
before it became the 'Broadway Arena'
image - Chuckman Collection
The Auto Dealership Locations
(click to enlarge image)
(click to enlarge image)
A Buick Dealership on Halsted 1926
While this motor row version was short lived on the north-side as a second ‘motor row district’, the concept of repair or parking garages did consume the building landscape mostly on Broadway Avenue and Clark Street with several others scattered on Lincoln Avenue, Southport, Belmont, Halsted, and other streets within the District of Lake View from 1917 to 1927 - for the purpose of this post. I will focus mostly on dealerships and garages along Broadway Avenue.
I picked this decade of years due to the several articles that provided me with dealership and garages listings from the Chicago Tribune Archives via the Chicago Public Library. According to my research Broadway Avenue, for example, was the location for 27 public, private and repair garages along with 9 dealerships from Diversey to Devon Avenue.
(click to enlarge image)
a 1923 advertisement
To reside near a dealership or a garage in the early years must have been seen as a badge of honor not only due to this new type of transportation ownership but the necessity of having a community or repair garage near your residence; attached private garages did not exist then. It was interesting to me to find a number of the garages still located at the same address or a garage and dealership that was transformed to another business establishment.
For example, Treasure Island on Broadway (near Stratford Place) was the location of the Cornelia Garage while the park building next to the grocery store was called the Stratford Garage. Both garages catered to the wealthy residents of Cornelia Avenue, Stratford Place and Hawthorne Place. The Stratford Garage was listed as 'private' while the others were for general public use. Below is a 1923 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map that indicates the location of the Cornelia and Stratford Garages. Only the former Stratford Garage is still used as a parking garage currently. The Cornelia garage is the location of Treasure Island - closed in 2018 and more than likely used part of the garage .
Cornelia Avenue and Stratford Place garages
1923 Sanborn Fire Insurance map
Cornelia (public) and Stratford Garages (private)
Private garages were built for a particular block or area of car owners while public garages were suited for everyone.
Livery Services had to be refitted to accommodate motor vehicles instead of horses as of 1905.
Livery Services had to be refitted to accommodate motor vehicles instead of horses as of 1905.
- according to this Chicago Daily Newspaper article below
(click to enlarge article)
The below 1894 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
shows a sizable Livery Service
on Halsted Street north of Roscoe
Sebastian Livery (1774 & 1776 N Halsted)
to be address changed in 1909
to 3421 & 3423 Halsted Street
to be address changed in 1909
to 3421 & 3423 Halsted Street
There was a few garages along Halsted per this 1950 Sanborn Fire Map that highlights the Chicago Park District garage - currently Whole Foods the former Center on Halsted Brown Elephant that was on the southeast corner of Halsted Street and Waveland Avenue.
once located at 2937 N Lincoln Avenue
Dealership Posters
The Isaacson Garage and Motor Sales
3020 N Broadway
once located within the once called Bachelor Apartments
photo - TrolleyDodger via Uptown Update
currently the location of Marino's and before that Dominick's
image - Ebay via Uptown Update
and then across the street ....
3020 N Broadway
currently the location of Marino's and before that Dominick's
and then across the street ....
2015 photo - ReJournals
1950 Sanborn Fire Map below
Lake View Motor Sales
a display 1926 ad
Now imagine it is the beginning to a new century and driving
on cobble stone streets on Broadway, Lincoln, Clark, and Halsted while heading
to your private garage, heading to the cemetery or church on Sunday, or a
leisurely drive along the lake on Sheridan Road. The park, Lincoln Park, was beginning to be landfilled north of Diversey and Belmont Harbors toward Melrose Avenue. Driving to Clarendon Municipal Bathing Beach and Wilson's private beach during the summer was popular. Parking would begin to be an issue near Wrigley Field - some things never change.
(click to enlarge image)
dealership was located at 3156 N Sheridan Road
image - 1931 advertisement from the Chicagoan
with 2015 Google view
Automobiles in 1935
(click to enlarge image)
An Auto Show Article 1935
(click to enlarge all segments to this article)
photos - Daily Kros
Some Dealerships in Lake View
Kelly Motor Car Company 3948 N Robey Avenue
Some Dealerships in Lake View
images - Warner Printing Company
Bunning Hudson
5137 N Broadway Avenue
Felz Motor Sales
1132 W Diversey Parkway
Shaps Motors
3737 N Broadway Avenue
Heinemann Motors
1832 W Irving Park Road
Some Garages of Old Lake View:
The garage on 3301-3319 Halsted Street is
currently the home of Sherwin Williams
currently the home of Sherwin Williams
2018 Google Map view
While a lot of the dealerships were located north of Devon Avenue - the northern border of the District of Lake View, there were a few dealerships south of that border as well. Every automobile sold would would need a garage to house it, repair it, wash it. Attached garages to residences was not the norm so large private or public garages were constructed for the any particular local area. The garages mentioned in this post are primarily within the district - a lot along Halsted Street and Broadway Avenue. Some garages would house moving trucks like Keller's Express & Van Company now a parking lot once located on 3127 N Halsted Street.
1920's? photo - Ebay
If you needed to rent an automobile livery services were the way to go. This was the era of the horseless carriage when even livery buildings were converted to a newer age of transportation or new buildings were constructed to suit a more modern age.
Another Sample of an Auto Garage
a car wash/garage at 2823-25 N Halsted Street
... and a dealership by 1934
The Garages on Broadway Avenue
Many of these garages have been recycled or refurbished
to meet a more modern commercial need or in some cases demolished to accommodate new planned development that is highlighted in this edited Sanborn Fire map below.
*Lake View & Surf Garagesunknown garage 2840-44
1950 Sanborn Fire Map
A List on Broadway
*Lake View Garage
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*Surf Service Garage
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Roman Garage
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Cornelia Garage
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Stratford Private Garage Company
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Lester & Stern Company
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Delux Garage
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Windle Garage
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Goodcare Garage
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Pioneer Private Garage
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Terminal Garage
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Riviera Garage
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Henry Harold Garage
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Edgecomb Garage
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Square Deal Garage
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Lakewood Garage
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Kenmore Garage
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Hollywood Garage
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Arrow Garage
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Glenlake Garage
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Silver Beach Garage
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Electric Car Garages in 1916
via Ron Tamulis
Early on, according to Wikipedia, these places along the
road were known to motorists as ‘filling stations’. The first drive-in filling station was built by ‘Gulf Refining Company’
and then opened to the motoring public in Pittsburgh on December 1, 1913. (Prior
to this, automobile drivers pulled into almost any general or hardware store,
or even blacksmith shops in order to fill up their tanks). On its first day,
the station sold 30 gallons of gasoline at 27 cents per gallon. This was also
the first architect-designed station and the first to distribute free road
maps. Chicago based Rand McNally
would be the first to introduce road maps in 1904 but in New York City.
Steve's Gulf Service Station
1950's photo - Robert Krueger Collection
via Explore Chicago Collection
once located on the northeast corner of Addison
and East Ravenswood Avenue
photo - Robert Krueger Collection via Explore Chicago
Below is a 1950 Sanborn Fire Map indicates the station house was divided between the 'greasing area' and the 'filing station' with three gas pumps. The pumps faced East Ravenswood Avenue. According to this map illustration their was a machine shop on the property.
In 1923 a Sanborn Map indicates a much smaller station
at the same location.
Most filling stations are still built in a similar
manner, with most of the fueling installation underground, pump machines in the
forecourt and a point of service inside a building. Single or multiple fuel
tanks are usually deployed underground. Local regulations and environmental
concerns may require a different method, with some stations storing their fuel
in container tanks, entrenched surface tanks or unprotected fuel tanks deployed
on the surface. Fuel is usually offloaded from a tanker truck into the tanks
through a separate valve, located on the filling station's perimeter. Fuel from
the tanks travels to the dispenser pumps through underground pipes. For every
fuel tank, direct access must be available at all times. Most tanks can be
accessed through a service canal directly from the forecourt.
image - Michael Smucker via Pinterest
Older stations tend to use a separate pipe for every kind
of available fuel and for every dispenser. Newer stations may employ a single
pipe for every dispenser. This pipe houses a number of smaller pipes for the
individual fuel types. Fuel tanks, dispenser and nozzles used to fill car tanks
employ vapor recovery systems, which prevents releases of vapor into the
atmosphere with a system of pipes. The exhausts are placed as high as possible.
A vapor recovery system may be employed at the exhaust pipe. This system
collects the vapors, liquefies them and releases them back into the lowest
grade fuel tank available.
The Gulf Oil Filing Station on Clark
owned by the Gulf Refining Company
1935 photo from Addison view towards Clark Street
image - Ebay
Same 1935 photo from Addison view towards Clark Street with insert of the filing station
photo - Brad Cornelius via Forgotten Chicago-Facebook
This 1950 Sanborn Fire Map highlights the filing station that is
still located as of 2015 on the northwest corner of Clark
and Patterson Avenue as of 2015 used currently as storage
This 1950 zoomed Sanborn Fire Map highlights the filing station along with a possible auto car washing structure
an apparent token for a car wash
photo - Ebay
photo - Ebay
Three photos - Roadside Architecture
The forecourt (pump island location) is the part of a
filling station where vehicles are refueled. Fuel dispensers are placed on
concrete plinths, as a precautionary measure. Additional elements may be
employed, including metal barriers. The area around the fuel dispensers must
have a drainage system. Since fuel sometimes spills on the ground, as little of
it as possible should penetrate the soil. Any liquids present on the forecourt
will flow into a channel drain before it enters a petrol interceptor which is
designed to capture any hydrocarbon pollutants and filter these from rainwater
which may then proceed to a foul sewer, storm-water drain or to ground. –
Wikipedia edited
A Filing Station on Roscoe
This 1950 Sanborn Fire Map indicates a filing station just west of Broadway on Roscoe. I always wonder why this rectangular parcel of property was never develop. According to this map two pumps were located on this property.
2009 Google Map view
As of 2009 the garages from the old filling station was still there - look toward the back. Also, there was an '12 flat rooming house' with an address of 623 Roscoe as well.Those Wooden Streets
and Remaining Brick Alleys:
The story to this photo
This narrative is from Forgotten Chicago-Facebook
This narrative is from Forgotten Chicago-Facebook
"I (Jeremy Huyser) is a heavy equipment operator, and we dig trenches all over the city. 99% of the trenches I dig are in city streets.
Usually we come across the old Belgian block pavers and trolley tracks which
the city just paved over. Last month, digging on Lincoln [Avenue] between Cornelia and
Addison, we unearthed untouched sections of Lincoln’s old wooden block surface.
It’s covered in about 8 inches of asphalt and was totally intact until I had to
dig through it."
Background
‘Chicago’s alleys were not always paved with asphalt, or
even brick cobbles. In fact, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, efforts
to find economical materials led to Chicago’s streets being paved with wood.
Paving with wood blocks was developed in the mid-19th century by a Boston
builder, and by 1871 more than 50 miles of Chicago streets were paved with the
material. It was a reasonable solution to the muddy streets that preceded it.
Naturally, when the Great Fire hit in 1871, many of Chicago’s streets where
among the things that burned. While no wood block streets exist in Chicago today,
several wood block alleys remain and provide a valuable glimpse into the past ....
‘When companies are contracted by the city to demolish
and replace structurally unsound vaulted sidewalks, their saw-cutting methods
typically go beyond the curb and well into the street. The work continues with
subsequent digging in and around the street, involving the removal of several
inches of asphalt followed by older concrete and finally, well-preserved 19th
or early 20th century fired red brick or granite pavers that are typically
discarded as "waste." During one of these jobs, when an observant
contractor looked closely at several pavers that had fallen into a vault during
another routine sidewalk upgrade, he realized that the blocks were comprised of
wood, which was a very unusual, considering that he had been doing this work
for several years and had never come across anything like this before. With his
curiosity now piqued, he returned to the street and removed additional debris
and tar from the section he had been working on. There, he discovered, or
rather uncovered many more of these seldom found creosoted or wood-tar cedar
wood pavers, that likely were installed sometime between the late 19th and
early 20th century.’...
Why it's no longer used
Brock Friedman, a commented from Forgotten Chicago-Facebook
brought up a very good point. “Most historic wood blocks with grade
contact/burial are saturated with coal-tar creosote. This stuff is "HORRIBLY
TOXIC. PLEASE DO NOT PULL IT OUT OF DUMPSTERS AND PLEASE DO NO TAKE IT HOME.
PLEASE DO NOT, DO NOT DO NOT STICK IT IN A MITER SAW AND TRY TO CUT IT UP. It
is a powerful skin, eye and lung irritant that WILL cause burns, cornea damage,
lung damage, etc." I do a lot of woodworking and when I inquired about
cutting some timbers I could get for cheap, the reactions were very alarming.
When you use power tools the saw dust is aerosolize and it is highly photo
reactive. So even with long sleeves, gloves and a mask you get burns all over
exposed skin. And God help you if you burn the stuff. And never, ever use it
around vegetables.
Yes, it's historic. But it's toxic. Beware!”
alley at Barry
alley at George
below is the end of the journey view north from Wolfram
The Remaining Brick Alley Tour
2018 Google Map edit
red x's brick/black x's concrete or asphalt
I decided to document in 2019 in what I believe the last
network on brick alleys within a local area of Lake View.
I snipped photos of
this network of alleys before it’s forever lost and forgotten; paved by asphalt
or concrete. Most of the photos I placed in a Facebook album called 'The Catacomb of Brick Alleys' on my Facebook page. This section of this post was inspired by
visitors to my Facebook page. This was the most tedious documentation to date -
virtual mapping on Google Maps (Google maps very few alleys), snipping out
sections & then editing/enhancing using a editing tool called Pic Monkey. I
began my virtual journey at Belmont east of Racine & then continued to
Wolfram with some diversions here and there east toward Seminary Avenue.
Belmont east of Racine
the journey south to Wolfram
selective photos of the journey
alley at Barry
alley at George
School Street to Roscoe
not all are brick
2018 Google Maps
2018 Google Map edit
2018 Google Earth view
The Wooden Alley on Roscoe Street
yards west of Lake Shore Drive
on the south-side of the block
yards west of Lake Shore Drive
on the south-side of the block
an photo artist view below
by Tim M Hickernell
by Tim M Hickernell
photos - Lisa Binkowski via Forgotten Chicago-Facebook
Unearthed in 2021
Hermitage & Lincoln avenues
photo - Jeremy Huyser
and what it actually looks like unearthed
photo - Redmond Tunney McGrath
Post Note:
They don't make streets like they used to
4200 block of Paulina Avenue in the neighborhood of
Ravenswood Southeast
'“As soon as I went in, the tire on the driver’s side went
down. I tried to put the car in reverse, the wheels were spinning. I shut the
car off and got out of the car and that’s when the asphalt around the car
started to collapse.” What started as a small hole quickly turned into a
sinkhole wide enough for the front half of the minivan to fall into. “After I
got out, like two or three minutes later, it just started to cave in,” Yanong
said. Outside of the damage his minivan sustained, Yanong was not injured'.- Block Club of Chicago
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 for the original source - thanks!
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 for the original source - thanks!
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