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Chicago Club: 1906
Circa 1906. "The Chicago Club, Chicago."A number of spectral pedestrians here. 8x10 inch dry plate glass ... View full size. Built as the Art Institute of Chicago This handsome Richardsonian Romanesque building at the southwest ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/07/2012 - 12:26pm -

Circa 1906. "The Chicago Club, Chicago."A number of spectral pedestrians here. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Built as the Art Institute of ChicagoThis handsome Richardsonian Romanesque building at the southwest corner of Michigan Ave. and Van Buren St. was designed by Burnham and Root and built in 1885-1887 for the Art Institute of Chicago. After the Art Institute moved into its present headquarters two blocks up and across Michigan Avenue in 1893, the building was sold to the Chicago Club. As the story goes, the building collapsed during renovations in 1928 (no reasons given), and the present Chicago Club structure was built to replace it in 1929. This photograph shows some interesting details near the top of the gable that I never noticed before: the portraits of three old time Renaissance artists (Leonardo? Michelangelo?) and the headless, armless, and legless torso atop a pile of artistic objects at the apex of the gable. 
Head CountCounting spectral pedestrians, standees, carved faces and drivers I see 25 people and a torso, or so. Hey, it's Chicago!
Intentional?Has the statue at the very top been drawn and quartered?
Two doors downAppears to still be there, the building that replaced the original Chicago Club is pretty nice, but not nearly as ornate:
View Larger Map
Chicago Kindergarten CollegeTo the right of this building on Van Buren Street is a building with a sign that appears to read "Chicago Kindergarten College". That sounded strange, but it turns out to have been a predecessor to today's National Louis University:
https://www.nl.edu/t4/about/history/
White WingLooks like we have a ghost pic of a White Wing (street cleaner) with his broom in the foreground
Michigan Avenue or Boulevard?We see here, from left to right, at #:
203 The Fine Arts Building, also known as the Studebaker Building
202 Chicago Musical College
200 Chicago Club
(I wonder if someone can find the 201 entrance?).
Everywhere is mentioned they are located at Michigan Avenue, but under the entry for Historic Michigan Boulevard District, you may find that prior to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the street was officially known as Michigan Boulevard and often referred to as "Boul Mich". But in the 1900s Ads of the Chicago Musical College, Michigan Boulevard is still mentioned as the address.
Another puzzle for me is that the College was founded in 1867, but the season numbering in all Ads of the College seem to point at 1865 as the year of establishment (and I have seen them in Ads from 1900 till 1925, the 60th year!). Can anyone explain that?
TimeAndAgainPhoto in ChicagoWhat a great run of update-photographs these past few days by TimeAndAgainPhoto (I count 7).  Not only do we get to see his trademark current versions of pictures originally taken a century ago, but we also get to revisit a classic assortment of Chicago posts from the past few years, including the informative comments.  Wonder where he's off to next?
+111Below is the same view from June of 2017.
(The Gallery, Chicago, DPC)

Chicago: 1956
"Chicago, November 1956." 35mm Kodachrome from the Kermy & Janet archive, ... a set of standard viewing locations for photographing Chicago railroading. This isn't one of them, and is thus valuable. It was probably shot from the train. Chicago experts should be able to fill in the details, and the exact location, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/19/2013 - 9:20pm -

"Chicago, November 1956." 35mm Kodachrome from the Kermy & Janet archive, and possibly a train trip from Baltimore to the Windy City. View full size.
Grainy but greatThere were/are a set of standard viewing locations for photographing Chicago railroading. This isn't one of them, and is thus valuable. It was probably shot from the train.
Chicago experts should be able to fill in the details, and the exact location, but 2 small ones pop up. All of the switches in the foreground have self guarded frogs, a once-common cost saving feature for yards. These are the wings sticking up above rail level on the sides of the frogs, allowing omission of the usual guard rails on the outer "stock" rails, to keep wheels from steering down the wrong side of the frog. They are not suitable for high speed main line operations. 
Also, the hood profile of the semi tractor facing us looks like an International (IH), which was based in the general Chicago area. The one facing away lacks mud flaps, was that common for the era?
Indeed the B&OYou can see the tower of Chicago Grand Central on the far left of the picture. This curve is just east of the lift bridge over the Chicago River.
Southside ChicagoThe large building with the pyramidal top is the Board of Trade, and the bright metal, blocky building with the tall antenna is the Prudential Life building.  These were the tallest things in the city from about 1955-1965.
So this puts us on the south side, and I'm pretty sure the low bridge visible in the middle distance is the Roosevelt Road bridge over the river. I'm guessing we are near what's now the 18th street bridge where it crosses the south end of today's Metra (commuter) trainyard.
Prudential BuildingOf the two tallest at the time, Prudential was the tallest, hence it being the location of the TV transmission tower.  I recall my dad taking my brother and me up to the observation deck on a Sunday morning around this time.  I was 6 years old then.
Mud FlapsThat tractor without mudflaps is likely a yard tractor and not used on streets and roads.
Chicago: 2013The Chicago Board of Trade dominates the 1956 skyline.
Today it's barely visible from the same vantage (16th Street).
Dearborn Station The clock tower of the Dearborn Station can be seen to the right of the building with the yellow Lee sign painted on the side.  If you were traveling by rail to or from Los Angeles, you probably transferred at that station in Chicago.  It's where the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe began and ended its passenger trips to and from a number of Western cities.  The tower is still standing and what is left of the station has been converted to office and retail space.  The train shed and tracks were demolished in 1976.  The office, printing and manufacturing businesses around it left and the buildings are now mostly apartments and lofts.
(ShorpyBlog, The Gallery, Chicago, Kermy Kodachromes, Railroads)

Chicago: 1905
Chicago circa 1905. "12th Street Bascule Bridge." Dinosaurs of the ... for this steamer. The permit for its travels between Chicago and Lockport was revoked for the drunken rowdiness of its passengers. From Proceedings of the Chicago Sanitary District Board of Trustees. June 4, 1902 PRESIDENT ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/05/2018 - 1:47pm -

Chicago circa 1905. "12th Street Bascule Bridge." Dinosaurs of the Carboniferous Period. Detroit Publishing Company glass negative. View full size.
Bascule BridgesMore on the bascule ("seesaw") design here. These bridges used a system of counterweights to balance the span.
Today's viewIt looks like this bridge is down, but the 2 in the background are still standing.
View Larger Map
Drainage CanalSomehow, a tour of a drainage canal sounds rather disturbing.
Now that's marketing!Daily Excursions to the Drainage Canal!  How could anyone resist that?
Floaters.Daily Excursions.  Step right up, buy your ticket to see the effluence.  
I.M. WestonDespite being in a canal, there was no smooth sailing for this steamer. The permit for its travels between Chicago and Lockport was revoked for the drunken rowdiness of its passengers.
From Proceedings of the Chicago Sanitary District Board of Trustees. June 4, 1902
PRESIDENT DIRECTED TO REVOKE PERMIT ISSUED TO STEAMER I.M. WESTON FOR NAVIGATING THE DRAINAGE CHANNEL 
Under the head of new business Mr. Braden stated he had been informed that the steamer I.M. Weston plying between this city and Lockport is selling liquors and carrying boisterous crowds on its trips down the Drainage Channel and moved seconded by Mr Jones that the President of the Board be requested to revoke the permit granted said steamer until such time as the proprietors have given assurances that the boat will be properly conducted. The motion prevailed unanimously and it was so ordered.
Steamer Weston: R.I.P. 1902 Port Huron Daily Times, September 6, 1902

The little passenger steamer I.M. WESTON which has been engaged in carrying excursionists down the Chicago Drainage Canal to Lockport for several years caught fire in the canal near Summit on Friday and burned to the water's edge. No one was lost.

The I.M. Weston was built in 1883 as a passenger steamer, she later saw use carrying fruit before reverting back to passenger trade.  95 tons gross; 57 tons net.
Zug IslandIs one of those bridges on Zug Island?
Any kid growing up in Detroit was easily made to study harder by the threat of working on Zug Island.   Cruising by it on the Bob-Lo boat was enough to scare a C-student into a B+ student by the end of the cruise.
Bascule BridgeWe have two of those bridges here in Detroit!
[Chicago wants them back right away. Or else. - Dave]
Re: Today's view12th Street is today's Roosevelt Road (named for Teddy). I'm not sure if either bridge in the Google view is what you see in background of the photo. The top (north) bridge is no longer in use - it served the old Grand Central Station (B&O and others) at Wells and Harrison until the late 60's/early 70's. Follow the old right-of-way going north and you can still see traces of the platforms. The south(bottom) bridge connects Union Station and the BNSF with the Illinois Central mainline.
Bascule Bridges - Zug IslandActually, one is at Fort Street and the other one is on Jefferson. I think there is one on Dix at the Ford-Rouge Plant, also. There might even be one on Zug Island.
Uh, Dave, Chicago is out of luck -- we're not giving them back!
Carboniferous DinosaursCouldn't be a more appropriate caption.  Not only do we have the steamboat and steam switcher locomotive, but a steam-powered dredge in the background.  Impressive!
Dancing About ArchitectureMy wife and I took a two-hour river cruise sponsored by the Chicago Architecture Foundation a couple of weeks ago while visiting the Windy City. The tour was informative and relaxing and the expert commentary was provided by a docent from the CAF. We passed under several of these bascule bridges. We happened to be there during the Chicago Air Show, so we had the added fun of watching fighter jets and vintage aircraft screaming above the city. I highly reccommend the experience.
More on the CAF's tours and activities: www.architecture.org
Goober Pea
Roosevelt Rd. BridgeThis is the "modern" bridge as it appeared in April 2008, view looking north from the river (click to enlarge):

Hey...I used to live thereSo, as far as Chicago's development goes, I would say that this is an area that remains quite similar today.  Until a few months ago I lived nearby in East Pilsen and I loved taking pics in the area.  Here is a night shot of these same bridges from last winter.

Over the RiverThe bridges in this area were all taken down and rebuilt between 1919 and 1921 for the straightening of the river.
Chicago Drainage CanalAt the time of this picture, Chicago had recently reversed the flow of the Chicago River. Previously, the river and all of Chicago's sewage flowed into Lake Michigan, which is also where Chicago got its drinking water. A drainage canal was dug (some claim that more material was moved in the excavation of this canal than during construction of the Panama Canal). The drainage canal, along with a system of locks, caused the Chicago River to flow downward through the Des Plaines and Illinois River systems to the Mississippi. It was an incredible achievement, but maybe not so good for the people and fisheries downstream.
Those bridgesThe two bridges shown prominently are long gone. They did provide access to Grand Central Station but were removed when the South Branch of the Chicago River was straightened in the 1920s. The railroad built a single leaf bascule bridge to replace the double bridge a few blocks to the south. That bridge is seen in the "today's view" and "I used to live there" photos. It is the one that is up.
(The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Chicago, DPC)

Pabst Over Chicago: 1943
... Street freight depot of the Illinois Central Railroad, Chicago." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano. View full size. ... behind the Pabst sign at the right edge of the sign is the Chicago Tribune building, and across from it (underneath the main part of the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/07/2017 - 2:11pm -

May 1, 1943. "South Water Street freight depot of the Illinois Central Railroad, Chicago." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano. View full size.
DirectionalityI believe this photo is facing north.  Quite a few of the skyscrapers are still there.  All the way to the left, the black & gold building is the Carbide & Carbon (or is it Carbon & Carbide?) building on Michigan Ave.  I seem to remember something about it being the "first" skyscraper.  Just to the right, with the little cupola on top, is the original Stone Container Building at Wacker & Michigan Avenues.  Off in the furthest distance in the center of the photo you can see what was originally called the Pamolive building (it became Playboy Towers, and is now a condo building).  I think the building behind the Pabst sign at the right edge of the sign is the Chicago Tribune building, and across from it (underneath the main part of the sign) you can see the white building that is the Wrigley building.  They flank Michigan Ave. just north of the Chicago river.
Fellow (ex-)ChicagoanDefinitely facing North, definitely the Carbon & Carbide building - my dad used to have an office there.  Not sure about the Playboy Towers.... might that be the Drake Hotel? 
33 to 1?Blended 33 to 1? That sounds like a strange formula to me...but of course I'm not informed on the whole beer and beer history thing.
33 to 1Here's a 1940 Pabst ad that explains it.
NorthThere is no question about it, this photo is facing north.
Good Railroad ShotThe blue flags placed on the cars would be a violation of federal regulations today as they now have to be located at the switch providing access to the track. Also, note that several of the cars are on "yard air" in order to test the brakes on each car prior to movement. Finally you can see that this photo provides good images of several different types of car ends all together in one place.
As I am from Milwaukee, I have no clue as to which buildings are which! I do know that the photo is definitely facing north as I now work for the South Shore commuter railroad and am familiar with the lakefront. I also know that the original Santa Fe railroad corporate headquarters was almost directly to the west of this photo and is still there today with the Santa Fe sign on top. It is now an historic landmark.
Bootcamp BeerI went to Navy bootcamp in Great Lakes Il. in 1983 and after spending 10 wks. without beer our first chance to have a brew came. Unfortunatly for me the ONLY beer avaliable to us at the time was Pabst Blue Ribbon. Now, not being a Pabst fan I was very unhappy about that but after 10 tough weeks I said "what the heck" and ordered a couple of beers. I'll tell you what, that was the best beer I've ever had. I got so drunk the rest of the day was blur. I'd like to say "Thanks you Pabst" for the best beer ever and day I don't remember.   
Water Street DepotIt appears we are looking north from either Monroe or Randolph. I want to say we're looking from Monroe and that bridge spanning the width of the pic under the sign is Randolph. The row of low-rise buildings on the left side of the pic that are ~6 stories tall and have the water towers on top of them would then be on the east side of Michigan Ave and sitting directly on the north side of Randolph. I believe these trains are in the area east of Michigan Ave and north of Monroe, but south of Randolph as it used to be a railyard (now Millennium Park, north of the Art Institute).
Furthermore there were never any buildings previously on this spot, as it would have either been a rail yard or part of Grant Park (where no buildings were allowed to be built, except for the Art Institute). This leads me to believe that we are looking north from Monroe towards Randolph and beyond. The vast empty space behind the Pabst sign spanning the whole width of the image would now be occupied by Illinois Center, the Prudential Building and of course the tall white AON Building (3rd largest in Chciago at the moment), or whatever they call it these days.
Pabst SignCan anybody tell me if this sign was was animated and are there any night time shots of it? 
[The nighttime shot of this neon sign is here. - Dave]
AnimationThanks Dave, do you know if the sign was animated in any way?
[The hands on the clock moved! If you mean did various parts of the sign blink on and off, I don't know. - Dave]
ChicagoI see the tallest building to the far left when I'm going to and from school. It's surrounded by a bunch of other buildings now.
Chevrolet SignThis is a film clip of another Chicago sign.  It shows how animated signs were operated.  I can't find any date, but the technology looks like 1940 or so.
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/410104.html
Chevrolet SignAfter viewing this clip of the Chevy sign, I'm fairly convinced that it and the 'Pabst' sign are one and the same. Shown in the clip of the Chevy sign is the same tall building that is located to the left of the Pabst sign in the photo. There are other similarities as well, like the circular design of the sign, the clock at the lower right, etc. It's my guess that Pabst took over the sign after Chevy and made the slight changes to suit their logo.
South Water Street TodayThis photo is facing North on South Water Street and intersecting roughly what is now Columbus Drive. The ground level of this photograph is now covered by an elevated roadway in this area. If you went to this spot today, the Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park designed by Frank Gehry would be just behind you.
The Playboy Building is visible in the background, now once again called the Palmolive Building and converted to condominiums. It sits between the Drake Hotel and John Hancock Tower at the end of the Magnificent Mile. The Drake is not tall enough to be in view here.
The Allerton Hotel and Northwest University Law School in Streeterville are also visible here, which they wouldn't be today from the site, although they are still standing. 
Several of the mid-rise buildings in this photograph are no longer standing, in particular the large red-brick warehouse at the center mid-ground, to the right of the Playboy/Palmolive. This is where the NBC Tower now stands, just north of the river. 
Driving and DrinkingThis was indeed the Chevy sign.  Pabst took it over.  You can still make out the Chevy logo in the superstructure of the sign.  The lower left hand corner of the "B" in Blue and the upper right hand corner of the N in "Ribbon" served as the edges of the classic Chevy "bowtie" logo.
Going to ChicagoIt's interesting to think that Muddy Waters would have just arrived in Chicago when this photo was taken.
Pabst signThe Pabst sign was next to Randolph Street Bridge; refer to the 1922 Zoning map that is available at the University of Chicago library site - the Illinois Central may very well have called the yard the 'Water Street Yard,' but Water Street moved to the South Side when Wacker Drive was created after 1924; the Pabst sign was located nearest the Randolph Street bridge and is the current location of the Prudential Building, not the Pritzker Pavillion.
Warehouse full of booksI believe the red brick warehouse-like building on the right (east) of the photo survived into at least the 1980s, serving as the temporary home of the Chicago Public Library's main branch after it moved from what is now the Cultural Center (location of many shots in DePalma's "The Untouchables" and just out of camera range to the left) and before the opening of the Harold Washington Library Center. I used their manual typewriters and xerox machines to peck out and photocopy my resume.
Why Boxcars are blue-flaggedThese boxcars are blue-flagged because they have both their doors open and gangplanks spanning the openings between cars on adjacent tracks.  This is also why they are all 40-foot cars and are all lined up with each other. 
Less-than-Carload (LCL) freight is being handled here! This something that US railroads have discontinued; for decades, they haven't accepted any shipment less than one car load.  As effective highway trucks were developed, they took this trade away from the RR's for obvious reasons. 
But, back in the 1940's, RR's would handle a single crate!  This required sorting en route, which is what is being done here. There's a large shift of workers shuffling LCL from one car to another by way of the side platforms and the above-mentioned gangplanks.
The LCL required local freight crews to handle this stuff into and out of the freight stations, and required station agents to get the cargo to and from customers, collect charges, etc.  Very labor-intensive, yet somehow the trucking companies do it at a profit. 
From Pabst To Rolling Rock Beer "33"This photograph has also added another “answer” to the question: “What does the “33” on the label of a bottle of Rolling Rock Beer mean?”
http://www.snopes.com/business/hidden/rolling.asp
One person seeing this photograph concluded on a Rolling Rock Beer forum that the Rolling Rock "33" may have referenced the smoothness of blending “33 to 1.”
http://toms.homeunix.net/toms/locFSA-OWIkodachromes/slides/blended33to1....
Makes you feel like a heroEven now, when I get a color transparency (2 1/4x2 1/4 or 4x5)  and look at if for the first time, it is stunning. I can't imagine what it must have looked like to someone seeing it color for the first time ever!
Sign BackgroundIf you look closely at the superstructure of the sign you can see the slogan "Blended 33 to 1" in the framework, which is seen far better in the nighttime shot Dave linked to. As to whether this would be considered animation I don't know, but a typical setup would be to light the Pabst Blue Ribbon sign, then switch to the "Blended" slogan, then light both. Don't know if that was done here. 
Those catwalksThe "down-the-throat" shot of those catwalks atop of the freight cars gives the viewer a good idea of what the brakeman had to deal with while setting the brakes. The uneveness of those platforms, even at a standstill, is enough to make the average person think twice about climbing up and traversing these planks. Before airbrakes became the norm, this had to be one of the most harrowing jobs a railroad worker had to face. And this would be on a nice calm day. With rain, wind or snow, even the most seasoned brakeman must've had second thoughts.
Blue Flags?Mr. Leaman pointed out the blue flags were being displayed incorrectly by todays rules. But not being a train enthusiast, what did they indicate in the first place?
Blue-FlaggedAny rolling stock or engine that is "blue-flagged" cannot be moved unless the person who placed the flag removes it. It's a safety rule, and for the protection of the workers, many of whom are between or under the cars.
The iconic "Santa Fe" sign referred to in earlier posts is now on display at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL - not too far from Chicago and well worth the trip! 
http://www.irm.org
The early brakeman's plightJKoehler, I read somewhere that a conductor remarked about brakemen in the days when cars used link-and-pin couplers, "If they still have their thumbs after three months, they must be really lazy!"
Phantom Memory of a huge Chicago Phillips 66 Sign?For decades I’ve had a childhood memory of seeing a huge Phillips 66 sign atop the Chicago skyline, while driving with my family in the “wayback” of the family station wagon on the way to  visit our grandparents in Iowa. We were coming from Michigan, and driving on Chicago streets because the still-under-construction Interstate Highway System still had gaps. (We were probably driving on/towards westbound US-30.) I remember being in awe of a big neon Phillips 66 sign receding in the distance as my dad drove west. It was a wide straight street, very busy. The sign had lots of neon motion, even in the daylight. This memory (if real), would have been somewhere between about 1963 - 1968. But am I mistaken? Did the Phillips 66 sign never exist, and could this Papst sign be the one I saw? 
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)

The Hump Master: 1942
Chicago, December 1942. "Hump master in a Chicago & North Western railroad yard operating a signal switch system ... March 1940. (Technology, The Gallery, Kodachromes, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/20/2024 - 11:24am -

Chicago, December 1942. "Hump master in a Chicago & North Western railroad yard operating a signal switch system which extends the length of the hump track. He is thus able to control movements of locomotives pushing the train over the hump from his post at the hump office." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size.
After the snickeringRead the Straight Dope.
He's a what?He would have been great on "What's My Line?"
Retarder Controller? I suspect the control the hump master is using is actually the retarder controller-slowing down the car(s) as it rolls down the hump. The clipboard he holds would have the weight/contents of each car (or group of cars, called a 'cut'). His job was to regulate the speed of each, so they rolled just far enough, but not TOO far. His job was probably 55% art, 40% science, and 5% luck back then, given the varied rolling resistance of freight cars from different RR's.
Hump on my signalIn the fourth image down in this posting you'll see this picture and another which explains the operation. The lever he has his hand on does nothing more than control the signal aspects displayed to the engineer of the hump locomotive. There's a second operator, shown in the other photo, who controls both the turnouts and the retarders; they both have a copy of the same list, whose content you can see in the second picture, which gives information on each car, in order, as to weight and destination.
Bar codesBar codes are now used in humping operations.  Computers read the codes as cars begin their roll down the hump (or on the way up), retrieve car information from a database, calculate the necessary momentum the car needs to properly attach to the growing train, and the retarders are applied automatically.  
It's amazing to watch from a distance, with cars moving here and there to their respective destinations, retarders creating screeching noises as they press against the wheel flanges.
RF Railcar IDIn our area, at least, RF (radio frequency) tags replaced bar codes some time ago for railcar identification by the Union Pacific Railroad.
Humping by TelephoneIn the sixties when I worked for Mother Bell in New Haven, I would get called out at least weekly during the late night/early morning hours to fix some trouble in the telephone system in use at "The Hump". The NYNH&H RR (later Penn Central) had some of the oldest telephone equipment in existence, and it was how they coordinated all the hump movements between towers. It was always very cool to stand in one of the towers and watch all the freight cars coming over the hump and descending through "the ladder" to be mixed on one of innumerable tracks in the huge yard. 
I had to find outThe Fast Freight Rides the Hump from Popular Mechanics, March 1940.
(Technology, The Gallery, Kodachromes, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)

The Hump Master: 1942
December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Hump master in a Chicago and North Western Railroad yard operating a signal switch system which ... favorite day of the week.. (Technology, The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/20/2024 - 11:27am -

December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Hump master in a Chicago and North Western Railroad yard operating a signal switch system which extends the length of the hump track. He is thus able to control movements of locomotives pushing the train over the hump from his post at the hump office." Acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size.
If I had that job ...I would definitely get cards printed.
What does a Hump Master Do?Jokes aside, our hump conductor controls the speed of cars that are rolling down the hump using the device in his right hand.  The control is connected to a retarder - a device that squeezes the sides of a car's wheels to slow it down.  His clipboard shows whether each car is a load or an empty.   His experience takes into consideration the weight of each car, the weather (cold temperatures make journal bearings stiffer and winds can propel cars faster and farther) and the distance the car has to travel in its destination track.  Perhaps he is in one of the towers shown in this earlier photograph.
https://www.shorpy.com/node/27310
Alas, today computers and radar perform the same function.
What he *actually* doesThe hump master does not control the retarders -- they are controlled from a tower where the speed of the cars can be observed; or, in more sophisticated systems, by radar equipment to measure the speed of the cars and automatically make adjustments.
This person controls the speed of the switching engine pushing the cars over the "hump." It would be hard for a retarder to "back" cars!
Dang kidsThe chalked words "Conductor Only" suggests that someone in the past was playing around with the controls who shouldn't have.
The Way We Weren'tI had aspirations to become a hump master, but, alas ...
I betWednesday was his favorite day of the week..
(Technology, The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)

Forest Brook: 1956
... I was in 5th grade at the time, in a far western suburb of Chicago. What I remember was the enormous spending on shiny new schools back ... in 1st grade at that time and our classroom in suburban Chicago looked very much like this one. Someone mentioned getting called down ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/14/2013 - 7:14am -

November 8, 1956. "Forest Brook Elementary School, Hauppauge, Long Island. Classroom and teacher." For those of a certain demographic, this may strike a chord. Large-format negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size.
We never did that.I grew up in the suburbs around Akron, Ohio, and we never had a bomb drill or duck-and-cover drill ever. All of my peers that grew up in other places had those drills, which has led me to a couple of possible theories. One, that we had some sort of pacifists in our local administration that refused to take part in the Cold War(unlikely). Or two, that we were so close to potential industrial targets that there was simply no point in hoping for survival... Better to go out in the first flash.
[Never had them in my grade school years 1952-1960 in Larkspur, California, either, nor was I aware at the time that they were going on anywhere. -tterrace] 
Lighting fixturesWe had very similar fixtures in my Elementary School about ten years after this, ours had a large bulb with the bottom painted silver sticking through the center though. 
They were probably ancient even in 1966.
X marks the spotI'm not sure if it looked that way in 1956, but Forest Brook today has a strange shape, what you might get if Picasso or Dali had been asked to draw the letter X.  
Hauppague today is a densely populated community, home to most of Suffolk County's government (though Riverhead is the actual county seat) and a huge industrial park, but back in 1956 it was on the frontier of suburbanization.  I wouldn't be surprised if some of the students in this picture were the children of farmers.
You will not leave this  house dressed like thatIt would be three years before I entered first grade about 20 miles west of Hauppauge. The New York City Board of Education had a much less relaxed dress code. Boys from first grade on had to wear ties. Jeans and sneakers were not permitted. On school assembly day everyone was required to wear a white shirt or blouse and the boys had to wear  red ties. Of course by the time we were graduating from high school there were still strict dress standards, but they only applied to the teachers.
Smelementary SchoolThose wooden desks were washed and cleaned before classes three months ago, and the floors are waxed weekly.
All the girls are in skirts or dresses, and the boys are well groomed and always polite. After all, no one wants to get called down to the school office! 
Plus, there's a great lineup of cars out the window, in case a little daydreaming is in order, but only for a few seconds at a time. By the way, you can smell today's newfangled hot lunch almost ready to serve, down the hall.
Let there be photonsMy elementary school (Horace Mann in Burbank, Calif.) had the same light fixtures, although we had four to a room. Each contained one ≈500 watt bulb; the bottom of the bulb was obscured by a silver coating. When a bulb was nearing the end of its service life, it would usually emit a high-pitched squeal. The teacher would then cycle the light switch off and on several times, killing the bulb and throttling the distracting squeal.
Reading MaterialMost of the children have notebooks, many children seem to have the Spell and Write workbook, and the young man in the lower left (just behind the girl in the foreground) has the Air Raid Instruction booklet on his desk.
My First Year of School1956 was my first year of school in Houston. Would have loved to have been able to wear blue jeans and shirt tails out but HISD rules at the time (and almost all the way through my HS years) said no blue jeans, no t-shirts, no shirt tails out for boys and skirts/dresses only for girls.
Hard to believe especially since the schools weren't air conditioned in HISD except for offices and a few other classrooms (science for one)until after I graduated in 1968.
No duck and cover drills for us until the Cuban missile crisis when we were told Houston would be a first strike target due the refineries throughout the Houston area. We had an air raid siren right next to the window in my 5th grade class that went off each Friday at noon. I also thought to myself that if the Russians were smart they would attack at noon on Friday!
Star pupils or problem children?Teacher has all that space in front of the classroom for her desk but it's right up close to those pupils at the far end of the classroom. Even with the photographer present, the kids appear to be gazing out the window. Maybe she needed to be that close to keep their attention for any length of time. I wonder if modern medicine is overused in favor of such simple solutions.
Maybe I'll send the first grade picture (1960) from my Catholic school in New Jersey. It's a bright, clean classroom like the one shown here but it's packed tight with baby boomers, all in navy blue and white uniforms, with Sister in her black and white habit up front.
1956 RebelAlright, who's the non-conformist on staff who just had to park facing the wrong way?
Sturdy Desks and the "Good Old Days"Those sturdy desks are perfect for the inevitable "Flash Drills" of the era, in which the principal would come into the room unannounced and write "FLASH" on the blackboard, causing all of us students to "duck and cover" to avoid instant nuclear incineration. I'm not sure how much good it would have done in a real attack, but it was the only tool in the drawer.
Also, I'm surprised the windows don't have the standard heavy blackout curtains, which were handy not only for viewing nmovies but to keep enemy bombers from spotting stray lights at night. 
And a decade laterI started public school a decade later, in a building constructed in 1961. And it was exactly like this, light fixtures, desks, and all. Most of the teachers were young then (and exactly one man, who I got in fifth grade) but I started out with Mrs. Lord, the white-haired wife of the principal, who could have stepped out of any 1910 school administrator picture with naught more than a change of collar. However in my day the fellow with the open shirt front there would have been made to neaten himself up.
Beautiful Schools but the Russians are coming!I began my second semester of kindergarden in January of 1953 in newly built grade school on the west side of Detroit.  We immediately began having fire and air raid drills. For air raids we descended into the basement of the school which was actually the main tunnel of the air circulation system. Some times when we went down the stairs during a drill, the big fan would still be rotating after being shut down.  We had to sit along the walls and cover our heads. To condition us further the lights would be turned off for a short period of time. I switched to a newly built parochial grade school for the fourth grade on. No basement, so we sat in the main hallway between the class rooms and covered our heads. Both schools had class rooms identical to Forest Brook. To add to the tension, the nearby Rouge Park had a Nike missile battery. The missiles were normally hidden behind a high earth berm, but they were visible when frequently pointed skyward for testing. The AM radio frequencies of 640 and 1240 were permanently etched into our memory.     
DrillsI'm exactly the right age for these memories, but except for a few very early instances that were termed "air raid," all our drills were of the fire kind. No duck, no cover - and this just north of San Francisco, with its own battery of Nike missiles by the Golden Gate - in plain view if you took a spin along the Marin Headlands. We all just marched outside. The only time we had to put our practice to use was for a 1957 earthquake centered just south of SF but sharp enough in Larkspur to get us squealing in our fifth grade classroom before the alarm sounded and we made our orderly exit.
"Silver Tooth"I was in the ninth grade in fall of 56. All of the new schools I attended in the late 40's and 50's had those windows and the 9 inch floor tiles. I believe the teacher's desk was in that position only for this pic. One memory came to me in a flash when I saw the tiles. In the 4th grade on the last day of school as I was swinging between desks I did a face plant on the green floor tiles. The impact broke off two of my front teeth below the nerves and the family dentist fixed them with silver caps that stayed that way until I turned 21. 
Blue Jeans?I was in 5th grade at the time, in a far western suburb of Chicago. What I remember was the enormous spending on shiny new schools back then. My mom was a teacher, back when teaching was a respected profession, teachers were proud of what they did for a living and grateful for the $6,000 a year they were paid.
That and the rule against blue jeans. Strictly verboten in my school system. They looked "hoo-dy", pronounced with "hoo" as the first syllable, and were a a well known precursor for the dreaded juvenile delinquency during adolescence and a life of crime and depravity later on. Without that rule, thank goodness and a vigilant school board, I probably would have a criminal record by now.
Good Ol' '56I was in third grade in Hempstead, Long Island then. Ike was president and the world 'champeen' Brooklyn Dodgers would win another pennant only to lose once more to the Yanks. Anybody who wore dungarees (as jeans were called then) in my school district would have been sent home to change to proper attire and an open shirt would catch you a stiff reprimand. Nobody knew what a school bus was and schools were not in the restaurant business for anybody. There was a lot to like about those days. 
Fond MemoriesI was in 1st grade at that time and our classroom in suburban Chicago looked very much like this one.  Someone mentioned getting called down to the office.  There was nothing worse than hearing your name on the PA system to report to the principal.  Every kid in school knew you were probably in deep doo doo.  As for the non-conformist staff member who backed into his spot, these types have always been around and still are today.  They'd rather waste extra time and endure the hassle of backing into a parking spot just so they can pull out with ease at the end of the day.  Never understood that logic.   
The Joys of childhoodI would have been 9 years old when this photo was taken. I was attending "Summer Avenue School" at that time. It was an old three story brick building. We had the kind of desks that bolted to the floor so they couldn't be moved even if you wanted to do so. The seat was actually part of the desk behind you and folded up automatically when you stood up. The top of the desk was hinged at the front so that you could lift it up and put you books and such inside. Oh Yes, they had the obligatory inkwell hole in them as well, but never any ink.
Summer Avenue School still stands but is now known as Roberto Clemente Elementary School. 
The desksStarting I guess in the late 40s that blonde style of wood came very much into vogue for furniture.  Notice, they're the first generation of school desk withOUT a hole for an inkwell.  We had ball point pens by then, no more dipping a nub into india ink.  And no more opportunities for dunking the pigtail of the little girl in front of you into the ink!
The furthest cornersAh, those desks.  In the later grades of elementary school we ate our lunches in the classroom, and the kid in front of me used to stuff the parts of his lunch he didn’t want into the deepest recesses, behind books and other trash.  It got very ripe, and one day the teacher followed her nose to Robert G.’s desk and made him excavate the smelly mess.  I will leave the rest to everyone’s imaginations.
4th grade for meDecatur Street elementary.  I think the building was probably built at the turn of the last century.  And probably the teachers. We had the well worn student desks that you find in the antique shops now for a pretty penny.  The one with the ink well and indentation for a pencil with the seat back and foldup seat on the front of your desk.  We had 12' ceilings, oiled wood floors that the janitor put sawdust down on daily to use his pushbroom on, kept the dust down.
Old School, New SchoolI started the first grade in 1954 in rural Kansas. We were in a building that had been built in 1911 and only housed six grades. The 7th and 8th grades were in the high school. The bathrooms, the lunchroom, and the art room were all in the basement, and we had music in a one-teacher school building that had been moved into town and put behind the school. The 1911 building was probably a horrible firetrap, although there was a metal fire escape on the back from the second floor down. The district built a new school in 1956, and we moved in in February 1957, when I was in the third grade. It looked much like the one in the photo, except that we had metal desks. No dress code--nearly all the boys wore jeans. That 1956 building is still in use, along with the 1923 high school. Of ocurse, they house far fewer kids than they did then.
Several years laterI was attending a Catholic school in a much older building further west on Long Island -- still vividly remember our "duck & cover" drills as I was the smart-alack who asked how a wooden desk would keep us from burning to a cinder.
As for the cafeteria, no hot lunch then; if you forgot your brown bag (no lunch money; you were not permitted to leave the premises) you might have been lucky enough to be escorted across the street to the convent for a PB&J sandwich.
The uniforms were ghastly -- white shirt, dark maroon tie with the school shield on it, and dark grey slacks with black piping down the outside seam. Girls wore a white blouse with a snap tie, grey plaid skirt (that was always rolled up at the waist after leaving the house, and a matching bolero. Once out of sixth grade boys wore a blue plaid tie & girls could wear a -- *gasp* -- blouse of color.
Reminds me of another picture here of young girls wearing skirts in the dead of winter; evil little Catholic boys that we were, we'd spend the lunch hour in the schoolyard assaulting the bare-legged victims by snapping rubber-bands on their frozen legs.
Not non-conformism. Safety!I've worked at a school for years and even though I'm not much of a rebel, I've always backed into the parking space. The logic is simple: you have to back up when you arrive or when you leave, and it's safer to back *in* to a space when there are few or no children around (an hour or two before school starts) than to back *out* of a space when children are running all around at the end of the school day (of course, one should triple-check either time). I often back into shopping center parking spaces using the same reasoning: if there's no one around when I arrive, it's safer to back up then than later when there might be a lot of people about. I knew a man many years ago who fatally backed over his 4-year-old daughter in their driveway and that tragedy changed my thinking on this permanently.
Reminds me of...Sutton Elementary School, southwest Houston, 1971 to 1973. The building was built in the late 50s and had those same big windows, but by that time we had the one piece metal desks with the big opening beneath for your books.
Few years laterI was in the first grade in a Catholic school in NYC. We had fire drills but no under the desk kiss your butt goodbye stuff. Nuns ruled the roost in those days. Midget Gestapo agents all in black with a yardstick bigger than them which was used to get you back in line if you misbehaved. I remember the first day of 2nd grade while us kids were waiting for school to open and my mom approached me to wipe my nose and the nun smacked her hand saying "he belongs to us now!" Ah memories...
Patty Duke, Ben Gazzara, Gene Hackman were some of the actors who lived in the area, Kips Bay, and might have even attended my school at one time.
"Snaggletooth"I can sympathize with jimmylee42. I broke a front tooth in much the same way at my school in the fourth grade. It was the winter of '63-'64.
When the weather was exceptionally cold, they would open the gym for the early kids to come inside before classes started. Although the details are vague now, someone said I was tripped by a bully while I was running around. In a family of four siblings my folks couldn't afford to get my missing tooth capped for years. So one of my nicknames throughout grade school was "Snaggletooth"... not one of my fonder memories. I finally got a white tooth cap just before I started senior high after we moved to Florida.
I wonder how my Alabama classmates would remember me now?
Yes, the Memories!I would have been right in this age range, near as I can tell from looking at the kids. That would have made it my first year out of parochial school, escaped from 4th grade under the rule(r)Sister Rita Jean, she who was Evil Incarnate.
Best memory was teacher telling me, "David! Stop moving your desk around. It makes me think we're having an earthqu... Everyone - outside!!"
DaveB
WonderfulGrade school in Alexandria, Louisiana.  Very familiar classrooms, with the good Nun up front to keep [or try to keep] us on the right path. 
Bayou View SchoolThis reminds me of Mrs Powell's 2nd grade class at Bayou View School in Gulfport, Ms, c.1955.
Fast ForwardTwenty years later I attended a school built in the early 1940s.  This reminds me of those old classrooms in some respects with the desks all lined up in rows, large windows and undoubtedly a large slate chalkboard just out of view.  I notice that the teacher's chair is a sturdy wooden straight back chair - no comfortable office chairs here!  Also, only a two drawer filing cabinet?  I don't think I've ever seen one that small in a classroom.  I teach school now and while this brings back memories (even the light fixtures), it's amazingly different today.  
Green ThumbThe teacher has quite a spartan setup, but I love the line of flowers along the windowsill! What a lovely touch that would be in a classroom.
This was a fun photo and I enjoyed the comments. My parents were born in 1954 and I really like seeing and reading about what that might have been like.
I grew up in that town!I didn't go to this school, but grew up in Smithtown--where this school actually was; not Hauppauge. I was in elementary from 1990-1995, when times were much different. As a teacher I love seeing how it was then.
Love this photo but makes me sadIf I could push a button and go back in time and be someone someplace in the past, I'd be on my way to being one of the kids in that classroom. This is public school education when it was about education.
(The Gallery, Education, Schools, Gottscho-Schleisner, Kids)

Hybrid EV: 1942
December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. One of the Chicago and North Western Railroad streamliner diesel electric locomotives. ... water in the air hoses. (Just a guess!!) (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/10/2024 - 2:58pm -

December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. One of the Chicago and North Western Railroad streamliner diesel electric locomotives. These trains are operated jointly with the Union Pacific Railroad to the West Coast." Acetate negative by Jack Delano, Office of War Information. View full size.
Not hybrid or EV.Locomotives are diesel-electric, not hybrid. The electric part is the method of power transmission between the engine and wheels because they have a 250-950rpm operating range. A gearbox would be too large and complex to be practical, especially when synchronizing multiple units. They don't charge or operate on batteries (except some at low yard speeds for shuttling).
[You're thinking about this much too narrowly. Hybrid: "Of mixed character; a thing made by combining two different elements." - Dave]
Ice BeardJust like old man winter.
Chug and playShorpy is certainly correct - but then almost all (North American) "diesels" are such: a diesel engine drives a generator that powers the traction motors. But the U.P. was strictly an amateur about combining powering methods

The SBB lok is still around - ! - but converted back to free-range capabilities.
EMD E6It looks like the EMD E-series, guessing E6, built from 1938 to 1942.
I take it backThe E-series didn't have the radiator.  Lionel offered two streamliners, the M10000 and this thing.  I can't find pictures of this thing that also give the model number.
Achoo-choo!It looks like its nose is running!  I love that streamlined look, though.  I'll bet it's sporting that striking Union Pacific armour yellow and gray paint scheme, too! 
Re: Achoo-choo!You are absolutely correct!
Not an E-unit. It's an M-10000!I think that the "runny nose" comes from water in the air hoses. (Just a guess!!)
(The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)

Hump Office: 1942
December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Train clerk working on his lists in the hump office at a Chicago and North Western railyard." Acetate negative by Jack Delano. View ... survive tropical or desert conditions. (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads, The Office) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/20/2024 - 11:19am -

December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Train clerk working on his lists in the hump office at a Chicago and North Western railyard." Acetate negative by Jack Delano. View full size.
Nutritious Snack!I've never seen raisins in a vending machine, but there she is:  Sun Maid.

MmmI'll grab a Hershey's for 5 cents.
Wages & PricesPer the poster on the wall, minimum wage was 40 cents per hour. 
According to this statistical abstract, at the end of 1942 milk was about 15 cents a quart (about 22 minutes of work),  eggs were about 59 cents a dozen (about 90 minutes' work) and bacon about 41 cents a pound (about an hour's work).

Why Change?Most consumer packaged goods are always getting updated packaging. But 80-year old labels on Hershey and Sun-Maid products look right at home in 2024. 
Grab that Hershey before it's emptyBy November 1942, sugar was already being rationed on the home front, and chocolate bars were  being rationed in Great Britain. Hershey was already in the process of converting its output of chocolate bars to the exclusive distribution to those in uniform. They were not literally "rationed" like gas, but the producing companies created less-tasty varieties that would appear in soldiers' D-ration kits, after being reformulated to survive tropical or desert conditions. 
(The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads, The Office)

Office Cubicle: 1911
... personal injury lawsuits were invented. At home in Chicago This style is from the Chicago School of architecture, which emphasizes the building's structural ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/13/2023 - 2:36pm -

Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1911. "Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Bldg., St. Clair Avenue and Ontario Street." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
The whole building?B of LE Building ... does that mean the brotherhood used the whole building?
[They owned the whole building. - Dave]
Full frontalSo we get the glamour shot of what we only had a tantalizing glimpse of a half-year ago. Still around, and still durned impressive ... or incredibly monotonous, depending on your preferences.
[Er, no. That "tantalizing glimpse" was of a different building. - Dave]
We can take comfort in being wrong together: you're pointing to the building across the street - which wasn't built until a decade after this picture,  and I was mistaken that this is extant ... sadly
StaredownIs that a Studebaker electric facing off with that horse?
No Safety BarriersThe unfinished streetcar tracks catch my eye and how it is not surrounded by any sort of safety barriers - another reminder of how it was a different time back then.  Also, wonder what the BoLE Auditorium looked like.  Probably not as ornate as what would be created in another 10-15 years.
Safety lastA torn up street and no barricades or traffic cones. Must have been before personal injury lawsuits were invented. 
At home in ChicagoThis style is from the Chicago School of architecture, which emphasizes the building's structural grid, uses relatively little ornamentation, and has large plate-glass window areas.  I think it's a good look, especially considering that buildings would eventually be clad in only glass curtain walls.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Cleveland, DPC, Railroads, Streetcars)

Boilermakers: 1942
December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Boiler makers inside the firebox of a locomotive on which they have been working in the roundhouse at a yard of the Chicago and North Western Railroad." Acetate negative by Jack Delano for the ... Asbestos got them, he'd say. Who knew? (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/17/2024 - 3:57pm -

December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Boiler makers inside the firebox of a locomotive on which they have been working in the roundhouse at a yard of the Chicago and North Western Railroad." Acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size.
BOILER UP!Thank you, Dave.
Zebra Man
Purdue University
Class of '88
Re: BOILER UP!My dad was also Purdue, Class of '32 (delayed due to WWI).
A few years later worked for Baldwin as a delivery agent, deadheading in the cab as new locos were rolled out to customers.
Pretty amazing Century, over all!
Dangerous JobMy father worked in the railyards back in the Thirties. He used to say that a lot of the guys working in the boilers were gone by the 1950s. Asbestos got them, he'd say. Who knew?
(The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)

Chicago: 1915
Chicago circa 1915. "Van Buren Street Station. View north along Michigan ... Jackson Drive would become the very start of Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles! The next two buildings are today known as the Sante Fe Building and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. And of course the Art Institute overlooks the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 10:07pm -

Chicago circa 1915. "Van Buren Street Station. View north along Michigan Avenue." 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Route 66!On our left, the first two large buildings and that interesting tiny one have been replaced.  
Next, the intersection of Michigan and Jackson Drive. In the summer of 1926 Jackson Drive would become the very start of Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles! 
The next two buildings are today known as the Sante Fe Building and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
And of course the Art Institute overlooks the train station.
The Art Institute of ChicagoI was just thinking of this place the other day. The building in the foreground background is the Art Institute of Chicago. Every year after Thanksgiving, they put the wreaths around the necks of the lions that stand in front of the building. 
The area still looks fairly similar to what it looked like back in 1915. The train tracks are still there, and most of the buildings along Michigan Avenue are still there.
The Spirit of ProgressThe statue atop the Montgomery Ward building was later moved a couple of miles to Ward's Chicago Avenue building, where she still resides. She is depicted on many Ward's stores around the country.
Daniel Burnham's Big BuildingsThe two largest buildings in this photo are both works of the office of D. H. Burnham & Co.: the Railway Exchange (now the Santa Fe Center) at left, built 1903-1904, and the People's Gas Building at right, built 1910-1911. The two-bay "penthouse" perched atop the cornice of the Railway Exchange was originally occupied by part of the Burnham architectural office; it was cut back during the building's restoration in the 1980s so that it is no longer visible from the street. This small change made a distinct improvement in the building's appearance.
Van Buren Street StationThis is the Illinois Central disgorging passengers at Van Buren Street station. The rail yards on the far right have now been covered over by Grant Park.
The building at the northwest corner of Jackson and Michigan is the Railway Exchange (later the Santa Fe building). My father-in-law's office, 40 years later, was on the 15th floor, northeast corner, visible in this pic.
The Glass Gas CeilingThe big white building in front of the Art Institute is the Peoples Gas Co. building, completed in 1910.
Here are two shots (date unknown) of the interior showing the gorgeous glass ceiling.  I wish I could find more photos of the interior of the building.
A similar view in 2018. Taken from the East Congressional Parkway, Van Buren Metra station in the foreground. The building with the circular windows on top now has a Motorola sign.

(The Gallery, Chicago, DPC, Railroads)

Winter Light: 1942
December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. In the roundhouse at a Chicago and North Western railyard." Acetate negative by Jack Delano for the ... and silhouette better than Jack Delano. (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/18/2024 - 3:39pm -

December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. In the roundhouse at a Chicago and North Western railyard." Acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Edward Steichen could not have done this better.A very painterly image from the talented Mr. Delano.
Beautiful shot!Great composition and contrasts. No one did light, shadow, and silhouette better than Jack Delano.
(The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)

Feeding Station: 1942
December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Chicago & North Western Railroad switching and classification freight ... trembles when he rushes by. Engine mislabeled The Chicago and North Western Class E-4 was a class of nine streamlined 4-6-4 ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/11/2024 - 11:06am -

December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Chicago & North Western Railroad switching and classification freight yards. Locomotives at the coaling station." Acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Snorting beasts“A Modern Dragon,” by Rowena Bennett:
A train is a dragon that roars through the dark
He wriggles his tail as he sends up a spark.
He pierces the night with his one yellow eye,
And all the earth trembles when he rushes by.
Engine mislabeledThe Chicago and North Western Class E-4 was a class of nine streamlined 4-6-4 "Hudson" steam locomotives built in 1937 by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO). 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_and_North_Western_E-4_Class
A C&NW E-4 waiting to be refueled at a Chicago-area coaling station in December 1942
WowThat's how a powerful train should look.
(The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)

Icy Loco: 1942
December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Switching and classification freight yards. Engineer and fireman thawing out air compressors on a cold morning at a Chicago and North Western railyard." Acetate negative by Jack Delano for the ... at the left edge of the photograph. (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/15/2024 - 4:48pm -

December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Switching and classification freight yards. Engineer and fireman thawing out air compressors on a cold morning at a Chicago and North Western railyard." Acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Low Air PressureThese two steam-powered compressors (steam cylinders on top, air cylinders on the bottom) supply compressed air to operate the air brakes; the air is stored in the riveted cylinder at the left edge of the photograph.  
(The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)

Ebby's Diner: 1942
... The Lancaster Stockyards, the largest stockyard east of Chicago, was located about a mile north of here along the PRR mainline between ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/25/2024 - 3:47pm -

February 1942. "Lancaster, Pennsylvania." Ebby's Diner and the Corine Hotel at Queen and Chestnut streets. Photo by John Vachon for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Trolley 236 still runningLancaster had a city streetcar system and an extensive electric interurban railway service in the area. It lasted until 1947 when buses replaced the trolleys. Birney car 236 still runs in nearby Manheim, and you can learn all about it in this video. John Vachon's street views from above really capture that moment in time.
Delicious geometriesCertain photos on this website work their magic immediately and then leave me to try to figure out where the power comes from.  First to spring out at me are the pleasing geometric planes, forming a big Z in the middle, with the streetcar tracks acting as the central diagonal.  Then there’s Ebby’s Diner, which appears like a larger version of those two streetcars.  And the allure of those cozy establishments -– how I wish I could go to eat at that diner or The Village restaurant or even Sprenger’s, whatever kind of place that is.  And winter!  Bravo, John Vachon.
Here and GoneThe diner is gone. It would have been to the far right facing Chestnut. The hotel is gone too. It would have been where the parking lot is now. The three-story brick building remains with some modifications. The commercial ground-floor space was removed.

Great photo!What a great photo!
WowEchoing @davidK, this photograph is a masterpiece.
Whazzat?Is that a lumberyard in the upper right? It’s an unusual open-sided structure
The Old PRR Main LineThe original Pennsylvania Railroad main line passed through Lancaster right through the downtown area. The depot was located at Queen and Chestnut Streets. You can see a boxcar under the roof where the original depot once stood. Apparently by this time the track had been terminated here and that boxcar is now sitting in what would probably be a covered team track. A study of satellite views will reveal parts of the old right-of-way and some buildings cropped at odd angles or others that were once parallel to the tracks.
[update]
Upon finding maps of Lancaster circa 1900 I have concluded that the actual PRR trackage passed right across the lower portion of the photograph frame and, indeed, Ebby's Diner is perched directly on the former right-of-way. The box car further down E. Queen St. is actually on a stub-end siding that once served a business there or could have been a freight house.
Ebby's Was The Old Pennsy RR StationI could be turned around, but I think the view faces northwest, in which case the train station was on the lot where Ebby's stands in this photo.  The tracks came into Lancaster from the N.W. and crossed the empty lot next to (left of) the Hotel Corine, then across Queen Street to the passenger station.  The beginning of these tracks are visible from Dillerville Road (or on Google Maps) near the western end of the Norfolk Southern Lancaster yard.  The tracks crossed Harrisburg Avenue west of the new stadium and ran into the center of town.  The boxcar under the shed was one of many stub tracks that branched into small sidings.  Bits of the right of way were turned into parkland or create strange property lines that are still visible, as G of V noted.   The tracks then continued east and north to rejoin the main line. 
Also goneis the building from where John Vachon took this photograph.  If you swing around in the Street View supplied by kozel, there's a Holiday Inn there now.  No doubt it was a cold February day in Lancaster, yet two windows at the corner hotel (I can't read the name) are open.  On the top floor one is open a little.  The window directly below it is wide open.  Brrrrrr.
This Photo Smells So GoodMy mouth is watering, what with the cooking smell coming from the diner and the cold frigid air that carries the smells of the bacon and eggs, or steak and potatoes to your olfactory senses. 
The hotel might have a place to eat as well, if so, that would overload the senses with its waft of whatever is non the grill.
Another odor would be the scent of freshly laundered sheets and/or towels from the Laundry at the top left of the picture. 
A-lone survivorBuilt like a brick shi... er, well, solid as a rock. Probably good for another coupla hundred years. 

About those open windowsDoug (see below) pointed out that on an obviously chilly day, a couple of the windows in the hotel are open. Back in the day it was a routine practice for housekeeping to throw open windows in recently vacated rooms to air them out. This would have been especially desirable in an era when smoking was so common, even in hotel rooms. Also, most hotels did not have individual thermostats in rooms to control the heat. The heat was typically from radiators or from ventilation grates in the floor connected to an often coal fired furnace. In either case, the heat was usually controlled by the hotel staff. Sometimes rooms could get a bit stuffy or just plain hot, to the point where even on a nippy day, cracking a window for a few minutes might be the only way to get some fresh air and cool off. 
Lancaster's Pennsy StationI found this early view of the Pennsylvania Railroad Station courtesy of the Lancaster County Historical Society.
Sometimes It May Not Have Smelled So GoodThe Lancaster Stockyards, the largest stockyard east of Chicago, was located about a mile north of here along the PRR mainline between Philadelphia and points west. It handled 10,000 cattle a day, along with pigs, sheep and other animals arriving by rail from the west. After a layover, the doomed animals boarded connecting trains and were distributed to other cities to meet their fates.  If the wind was just right the scent of bacon and steak on the hoof may have tainted the wonderful odors emanating from Ebby’s and The Village.
142 units, 12 stories, $7,556 per mo.The site of the former Corine Hotel, shown as a parking lot on Google Street View, is currently a construction site for a market-rate rental development, scheduled to be finished by late spring 2024.
[$7556 is the rental rate for the first-floor retail/restaurant space. - Dave]
More Open WindowsI can definitely related to Ad Orientem's comments on heated hotel rooms.
To paraphrase Mark Twain, the hottest Summer I ever spent was a Winter's night in Moscow!
We spent several nights in Moscow's Hotel Ukraina back in January, 1998. Imagine sleeping in underwear, on top of the bed, with the floor-to-ceiling (unscreened!) windows open to try to catch a breath of breeze. Under 10F outside, and over 80F inside, with no way to regulate the steam heat!
The downside of free city-wide steam.
Closed?The diner shows no signs of life that I can see.  Can anyone read the sign on the door?
[All those footprints would seem to indicate otherwise. - Dave]
Man in BlackExceptionally composed photograph. To my eye the man in black along the roadway is the focal point. The angles lead to him. I am always amazed by snow scenes, the intensity of reflected light, which even on a cloudy day usually requires a small aperture with attendant great depth of field and sharpness.
(The Gallery, Eateries & Bars, John Vachon, Streetcars)

Checkin Tender: 1942
December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Engineer taking a last look at the tender before going out on the road from a Chicago and North Western railyard." Medium format acetate negative by Jack ... of War Information. View full size. (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/18/2024 - 10:36am -

December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Engineer taking a last look at the tender before going out on the road from a Chicago and North Western railyard." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size.
(The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)

Frosty Freight: 1942
December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Switching and classification freight yards. Looking out toward the icehouse from the freighthouse at a yard of the Chicago and North Western Railroad." Acetate negative by Jack Delano for the ... of War Information. View full size. (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/16/2024 - 8:56pm -

December 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Switching and classification freight yards. Looking out toward the icehouse from the freighthouse at a yard of the Chicago and North Western Railroad." Acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size.
(The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)

Chicago Bound: 1960
... sunny Saturday afternoon at the Lake Bluff stop of the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee interurban railroad. The North Shore was one ... train for a weekend of fun and relaxation in downtown Chicago. The attentive motorman is keeping an eye on the conductor for the ... 
 
Posted by prrvet - 03/28/2018 - 8:33pm -

January 16, 1960. It was about 1 o'clock on a cool, crisp, sunny Saturday afternoon at the Lake Bluff stop of the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee interurban railroad. The North Shore was one of America's very last operating interurbans when I photographed a group of cadets from the nearby Great Lakes Naval Training Center climbing aboard a southbound train for a weekend of fun and relaxation in downtown Chicago. The  attentive motorman is keeping an eye on the conductor for the two-bell start signal while at the same time observing what I was doing with my camera.  The once busy line was abandoned three years later, almost to the day. 35mm Kodachrome by William D. Volkmer. View full size.
Still Chicago bound from elsewhereThe other interurban that ran into Chicago, The South Shore, is still doing service between Chicago, Illinois and South Bend, Indiana. New rolling stock, to replace the ancient, cobbled together, relics of earlier service , was introduced on the line in 1985/86.
Liberty CallThe sailors seem to be enlisted men not cadets. White hat and peacoat the uniform of the day.
South ShoreSince a lot of the neighborhoods it goes through haven't been significantly updated in the past 80 years (no kidding), a ride on the South Shore resembles a moving, full color version of Shorpy's.  Just sayin'.  One of the big things missing is the old Pullman works in Michigan City, which was torn down to make Lighthouse Place. 
Old rolling stock was from 1926, I believe--you can still see a few of the cars in downtown Chesterton/Porter--and quite frankly the "new" rolling stock has an old time feel now as well.  They try, but it's hard.
Big scandal was that the new cars were made in Japan, which was bad considering that the line goes by several steel mills and what had been the Pullman works.  Lots of people would have liked a chance to make them here, but it didn't work out.
The Roarin' ElginI rode the North Shore in my youth; and rode the South Shore, too. Only occasionally on both.
But don't forget the Chicago, Aurora and Elgin, which ran from Chicago's Loop west to (wait for it...) Elgin and Aurora. It closed in the '50's, but a number of cars have been preserved, and a few still operate at museums.
Incidentally, both the North Shore and the Roarin' Elgin used the Chicago Rapid Transit (now the CTA) to get into the city. The tight curves and third rail affected the design of the cars.
Wheels But No RailsThat portion of the North Shore still exists, in a different way. The curving turn into the station is now part of the North Shore Bike Path through Lake Bluff, and heavily treed. Still helping people get from one spot to another, only this time under their own power.
The day I left ChicagoQuite a coincidence - this was taken the day I (and my family) left Chicago for California. My brother celebrated his 6th birthday on the train on the way west. Interesting (but not surprising) to see snow on the ground; I have no memory of that from my time living there, just pictures I'm in.
(ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)

Southside Easter: 1941
        Happy Easter from Chicago, and from Shorpy. April 1941. "Negro boys on Easter morning, Southside Chicago." Medium format acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/17/2022 - 8:16am -

        Happy Easter from Chicago, and from Shorpy.
April 1941. "Negro boys on Easter morning, Southside Chicago." Medium format acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
That is a great picWonderful ... the clothes, the car. Brilliant.
[I agree. There is definitely something to be said for dressing up. - Dave]
It's my favoriteIt's my favorite (Blue Thunder -Chicago)
Have these boys ever been recognized?Does anyone know who these boys are and whatever happened to them? 
On my wallThis great picture is one of the most prominent on my wall right now!
Love thisThis is definitely a classic picture. Love it :-)
I love it tooOne year ago I was wisiting in Stockholm and I see this picture in Old Picture store in very big print and I was amazing! At last weekend I go to the same store again, just to see this photo again...I looked it very long time, thinking about these boys, the time...wau! It tells more than thousand words! 
Peik Salonen/Finland
love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Got this picture for a steal framed (huge size, not sure of dimensions) for $30.00 in downtown Detroit at our farmer's market. I had walked by it monthes before and was sorry I didn't get it then.  Now it is in my home...I call them "my boys". 
MasterpieceThe boy in the center is a rebel and a leader. His coat is unbuttoned, the small boys know how to behave. What a style. I have a copy of this picture in my wall. 
Hats?!?Great! You don't even see grown men these days with classic hats and these kids have snappy fedoras... love this shot.
Southside Boys, Chicago 1941The boy in the center in Congressman Bobby Rush of Chicago.
[I don't think so. Bobby Rush was born in 1946, five years after this photo was taken. - Dave]
Chicago EasterI have this picture on my wall - and it tells a story of a million words, every time I look at this picture, I always have something different to say.  It melts my heart, this picture is truly a classic, I love it ... my whole living room is focused around this pic. I wish I knew what happened to these boys.
CarnationThe boy on the left, with the glasses: what is the wire that seems to be coming from his hat to his lapel, and what is that thing on his lapel?

Hat PreserverI believe it was called a hat preserver. I've seen pictures of Edwardian gents wearing roughly the same thing. It's a lanyard to catch your hat if it's blown off, thus keeping it from getting filthy in the street.
South Side BoysI fell in love with this picture as soon as I saw it.  I have it on my wall centered with a black and white of Miles Davis on one side and John Coltrane on the other (both back in the day)  I would love nothing more than to find out who these boys are.  Everytime someone comes into my home that is the first thing I am asked.  If anyone has information relating to the identity of these boys who are now MEN, please forward to thattallnsexy1@yahoo.com!  Thanks!
Southside EasterI saw this in a photo gallery this past weekend. It was with an article called "WVON Bronzeville Mystery Photo," referencing a contest by a radio station to identify the boys. I don't remember everything it said, but seems like it mentioned there is only one of them still alive.
Buttoning customI noticed the two boys with the patterned suits (No. 2 & 4 from the left) have buttoned their jackets right to left.  Did it simply matter less then as it should now but doesn't?
[There is no choice when it comes to suit-buttoning. It depends on how the suit is made -- whether the buttons are on the left or the right. - Dave]
Who are they?I loved this picture for years. My grandmother has hung this pic on her wall till her death and she used to always preach to her grandsons, make this pic an inspiration in your life and she used to tell her granddaughters to find men of this example. I just want to know who these men are and what are they doing.
Love at first sightI actually saw this picture at the Magic City Classic in Birmingham, Alabama in 2007. One of the vendors had it, but it was overpriced so I left it there. My husband bought it for me for  Christmas that same year. I fell in love with "my boys" (as I call them) as soon as I laid eyes on them. I would love to know their background.
That lanyard thingIt's called a "wind trolley" -- keeps your hat from flying down the street if the wind knocks it off your head. Attaches to your lapel somehow. The other thing looks like a flower.
Re. Buttoning customThe younger boy's button configuration is the same as women's buttoning, because young kids didn't dress themselves.  They had help.  Just like women of high status were dressed by a servant back in the day.  Anyway, I love the hip style of the kids in this great photo.
 MasterpieceI have the picture on my wall too. Second is Ansel Adams moonrise in  San Hernandez. Which one is better. Both are brilliant. Pekka Finland.
Bronzeville Mystery PhotoGo here for video
https://news.wttw.com/2015/11/25/ask-geoffrey-story-behind-iconic-1940s-...
The times, they are a-changing.Today, those boys would be told to keep six feet apart. Of course, they wouldn't be so nattily attired, but still. Easter 1941 was kind of the last hurrah for a whole generation of kids; depending on when Easter fell that year, the US would be at war in 8 or 9 months. They were too young to have served, but they might have had older brothers who did. They more than likely served in Korea a decade later.
Happy Easter, Shorpyites! I hope you had lots of chocolate, lots of ham, and most of all, I hope you remembered to keep them separate on the table.
Grow-in' clothingFor most of those guys the loose jackets and the cuffs on the trousers make their Sunday's best look to be set up for growth. 
I would also bet that most of those trousers had some spare cloth in the rear seam. 
Let-out-as-you-grow style. I had those when I was that age, and I'm not that old. But then, my parents were kind of conservative, too. 
Can't do that with jeans, though. 
And, dress maketh the man. 
Button anomalyTake a look at the gent in the middle. On the right side of his jacket (his right), there seems to be both a button and a buttonhole. I can't see the other side, so I don't know if the buttoning is actually reversible. 
1938 PontiacThose handsome young men are seated and standing on!  Alfred P. Sloan's identification cues are in full swing, just like the music, with the chrome stripes identifying the Pontiac brand -- they would last through 1956 in one version or another.  When there were two stripes, they were called suspenders.  It's further indicated to be a six cylinder at the bottom of the grille.
Cool guysFor straight-ahead, steely-eyed cool, the guy in the middle wins hands down (beautiful new brogues, too), but for pure styling, the lad on the left takes the cake.   He’s the only one with a pocket handkerchief, too.
Re: Button AnomalyDouble breasted jackets normally had a button on the inside (The young man's left) that buttoned into the buttonhole that you see, thus securing it in place.
I can't tie a tie eitherMaybe it's the angle but it seems like the guy in the middle ties his ties like me -- the fat part shorter than the narrow part.  Great photo.
Previously on Shorpy…The location is 47th Street and Grand Boulevard (later renamed South Parkway and now Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard). We are looking south.
On the left, with the folded awning, is the Savoy Ballroom.
Saturday Night: 1941
The Coasters: 1941
If we could pan farther left, we would see the Regal Theater directly across from the boys.
Showtime in Chicago: 1941
Philadelphia Story: 1941
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Chicago, Easter, Kids, Russell Lee)

Boston Market: 1909
... negative by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size. CHICAGO DRESSED? what is CHICAGO DRESSED? building on right. Re: CHICAGO DRESSED Read the rest of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/06/2016 - 4:51pm -

October 1909. "Late at night. Boston market. Many young venders." 5x7 glass negative by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.
CHICAGO DRESSED?what is CHICAGO DRESSED? building on right.
Re: CHICAGO DRESSEDRead the rest of the sign: "Chicago Dressed Beef and Lamb."
Chicago Dressed Beef & LambChicago Dressed Beef (or Lamb) was a type (method) of preparation for meat that was popular at the turn of the century in the East. At that time, the best meat in the country was from the midwest and didn't travel by rail very well to the east coast. The preservative dressing mixture of pepper, salt & whatever else applied in the midwestern meat packing plants kept the quality meat in good contition for the trip east. 
Over time, the preservative mixture became synonymous with quality meats in the east. (Think about how every 3rd thing has either "kobe" or "angus" stamped on it today. Believe that?) As a result, The Chicago Dressed Beef Co. was one of several Central Massachusetts companies that had been controlled by members of the Jacobson family of Worcester since the early 1900s. The meat-packing complex in the Franklin Street area of Worcester MA.  ceased operations in 1983. The family also owned the L.B. Darling meat-packing company in Southboro. 
So, assuming that Worcester was the largest producer of Chicago Dressed Beef & Boston was the largest local market for the same, I would  place this image on Bromfield Street between Washington & Tremont Streets on Boston. The architectural nuances in the ironwork storefront on the far left, the alley, and the stonework of the arched granite framed upper windows on the far upper right not only match on the present structures, but the addresses on the buildings in the photo correlate to that block.   (Yes, you still find streets in boston where both even & odd numbers are on the same side of the street.)  
(The Gallery, Boston, Kids, Lewis Hine, Stores & Markets)

Churches of Chicago: 1942
April 1942. "Chicago, Illinois" is all they wrote for this one; it seems to be a Sunday. ... to provide the punchline. The Sainte-Chapelle of Chicago Over near the far left margin of this photograph, in the shadows ... a school belonging to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. Completed in 1919, this building is clearly modeled on the Gothic ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/27/2023 - 1:49pm -

April 1942. "Chicago, Illinois" is all they wrote for this one; it seems to be a Sunday. Acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size.
The Methodist Book ConcernMy favorite titles amongst the “most widely held works” by the Methodist Book Concern are:  The solemn warnings of the dead, or, An admonition to unconverted sinners (1802); Modern Pagans (1917); and Number Thirty: Being some relation of what happened to Chivvy (1920).  You can’t make this stuff up.
Huron & DearbornWe're looking east towards Holy Name Cathedral. The hotel and building just east of it are still standing at 62 W. Huron Street.
Holy Name CathedralThe large church in the distance is Holy Name Cathedral at 730 N Wabash Avenue. I grew up in the suburbs, moved away over 50 years ago, but I'm sure that other than Holy Name, very few  of the buildings making up the bulk of this photo still exist. 
Steps, Left to RightStepping up the block, from lower left corner of the image:
1st building: missing steps ("Quite a drop, Batman")
2nd building: wide steps
3rd building: ultra wide steps
4th building: no steps (ground floor entrance; Stairway to Heaven inside) 
Hard Hat AreaI'd give the Hotel with the turrets a wide berth!  The one farthest from the camera looks like it's damaged.

Here's the Church in the MiddleAt the corner of State and Superior.

Get ready: Huron next !Sometimes you're all ready with your comment, and life throws you a surprise


I'll leaf it to others to provide the punchline.
The Sainte-Chapelle of ChicagoOver near the far left margin of this photograph, in the shadows between two taller buildings, stands the St. James Chapel of the Quigley Preparatory Seminary, a school belonging to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. Completed in 1919, this building is clearly modeled on the Gothic Sainte-Chapelle in Paris (built 1242-1248). It is an unusually accurate example of French Gothic architecture revived in the eclectic period of the early 20th century. The building still stands at 835 N. Rush Street, but the school it was built for closed in 2007.
Holy Name Cathedral is a mob tour mainstayHoly Name witnessed two notorious murders during the 1920s bootlegging gang wars.
Across the street was Schofield's Flower shop, owned by North Side gang boss Dean O'Banion, the most powerful rival of the South Side's Johnny Torrio and his second-in-command Al Capone. The shop was O'Banion's headquarters and front for his illicit businesses.
The shop was also the preferred flower vendor for big mob funerals. On November 10, 1924, Frankie Yale (a New York associate of Torrio and Capone) and two local mobsters arrived ostensibly for a floral funerary arrangement. They left O'Banion dead on the floor with bullets in his chest, neck and head.
Hymie Weiss was O'Banion's successor as head of the North Siders. Schofield's was still the gang's lair on October 11, 1926 when Weiss was ambushed in front of Holy Name as he walked towards the flower shop.
Tour guides will show you holes in the cathedral stones from the mob machine guns.
Now a house of luxury residenceMost of what you see in 1942 between the hotel at 62 W. Huron Street and the Holy Name Cathedral at 730 N Wabash Ave has been replaced by One Superior Place Apartments, which, with their parking garage, engulf an entire city block.  The small church at 56 W. Huron Street, where church was just letting out in 1942, is now the site of recently built luxury residences. 
Click to embiggen

Almost survivedThe church is on the September, 2017 Street View. By 2018, it was replaced by an apartment building. The building was converted to a beauty parlor at least ten years before.

The Small Church ReplacementI'll leave it to loyal Shorpy readers to opine if better or worse.  
(The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano)

Chicago: 1901
Chicago circa 1901. "The lakefront from Illinois Central Station." Panorama of ... Lakeshore Delta If you Google-Maps "901 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, Illinois 60605" you can see that all the Lake Michigan waterfront ... but its steep sloping roof was lopped off long ago. Chicago: 1901 That statue of the soldier is General Logan, the Civil War ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/20/2012 - 3:36pm -

Chicago circa 1901. "The lakefront from Illinois Central Station." Panorama of two 8x10 glass negatives. Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Would you really want to drinkthe "Best Kidney Water on Earth"?
StatueThat is one seriously gorgeous statue in the middle of the park.
Anyone have any info on that? Perhaps another photo?
[It's the Logan Monument.]
Thanks, Dave. Love the photos up close!
KodaksInteresting that one of the signs says "Kodaks Cameras and Supplies" and not "Kodak Cameras and Supplies."
[Shorpy abounds with signs advertising "Kodaks," meaning Kodak cameras. - Dave]
Illinois Central Station Are there any pictures of the Illinois Central Station available?  I assume that this picture was taken from near the top of the clock tower looking north towards the lakefront.
[Also from the DPC:]
GrassDoes anyone know how they kept large expanses of grass like this mowed back in 1901?
[See this earlier comment.]
ObsolesenceIronic that CP Kimball's carriages and harness products would soon be obsolete with the advent of the automobile. Fast forward 110 years, and Kodak just announced they will file Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to digital photography making their own products obsolete. 
Three agentsFrom the Ministry of Silly Walks, on the west side of the Michigan Avenue, lower left.
[Their apparent stance is an optical artifact.]
Holy landscaping!That area is filled with trees and concrete walks now!
Pollution?It's photos like this that leave me scratching my head whenever people start griping that our air isn't clean enough today.
KimballAn interesting piece on the Kimball family if you are so inclined.
http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/k/kimball/kimball.htm
Kimball TimeOh my! It's K minutes to B o'clock! I better hurry or I'll miss my train.
Lakeshore DeltaIf you Google-Maps "901 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, Illinois 60605" you can see that all the Lake Michigan waterfront visible in this photograph was filled-in and is now occupied by the Buckingham Fountain, 6 tennis courts, 16 baseball diamonds, South Columbus Drive, and even South Lakeshore Drive.
Henry GeorgeFascinating to find a 5-cent cigar named after Henry George (1839-97), founder of "Georgism" and author of  "Progress and Poverty." He proposed the "single tax"--based on the theory that land, and thus rents, should be common property. Given that, shouldn't tobacco products be free?
All Gone, Up to a PointEvery building shown here lining the west side of South Michigan Avenue has been demolished and replaced with bigger and usually better buildings - up to the point just beyond the "Studebaker Bros." sign. Then we see three great buildings in a row, all still standing: 1) the first portion of the Congress Hotel (originally the Auditorium Annex, Clinton J. Warren, 1892-1893), 2) the Auditorium Building (Adler & Sullivan, 1887-1889), and 3) the Fine Arts Building (formerly the Studebaker Building, Solon S. Beman, 1884-1885). The slender tower in the distance belongs to the Montgomery Ward Building (Schmidt, Garden & Martin, 1897-1899); it, too, is still standing, but its steep sloping roof was lopped off long ago.
Chicago: 1901That statue of the soldier is General Logan, the Civil War Officer who worked to have the 30th Day of May honor Military Dead as "Decoration Day" / "Memorial Day".
General LoganWas a focal point of the 1968 demonstrations during the Democratic Convention.

Montgomery Ward BuildingAs Michael R says regarding the Montgomery Ward building, "the steep sloping roof was lopped off long ago."  Here is a photo showing what is the top of the building today.
Current ViewI was fortunate to live in building on site of old Illinois Central Station and have this view of same locale looking north during my two years in Chicago.
(Panoramas, Chicago, DPC, Railroads)

Illinois Central: 1942
November 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Locomotives in an Illinois Central Railroad yard." Medium ... self-titled 1971 album), describing a train ride from Chicago to New Orleans on the Illinois Central Railroad's "City of New Orleans" ... (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/31/2024 - 4:09pm -

November 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Locomotives in an Illinois Central Railroad yard." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Doobie BrothersWell, The Illinois Central ... and the Southern Central Freight. Gotta keep on pushin' Mama, you know they're running late!
City of New Orleans"City of New Orleans" is a country folk song written by Steve Goodman (and first recorded for Goodman's self-titled 1971 album), describing a train ride from Chicago to New Orleans on the Illinois Central Railroad's "City of New Orleans" in bittersweet and nostalgic terms. (Wikipedia)
and made famous by Arlo Guthrie
Still RunsAmtrak still runs "City of New Orleans".  It still goes thru Kankakee and Memphis.
https://www.amtrak.com/city-of-new-orleans-train
(The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)

Whiskey Wine Brandy Gin: 1939
... like it. Merely decorative? Whatever, I love it. "Chicago Service" What is it? Blimey! Whiskey, wine, brandy, ... was in business for a while after that job! Chicago Service Does the cafe feature surly waiters? Or is that called "New ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/14/2011 - 6:13pm -

September 1939. "Liquor store in Gateway District, Minneapolis." 35mm negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
MotorolaThe antenna:
re: MotorolaThank you! I posted the photos on a classic car forum and someone speculated that it might be a Motorola, but I wasn't able to find anything on it myself.
32 Washington AvenueThe Minnesota Historical Society has Hughes Drugs at 32 Washington Avenue South. It was housed in a block of buildings which contained several addresses on the east side of Washington.
[The address here is, as we can see, 38. Stores move, or can have more than one location. - Dave]
MercBrand spankin' new '39 Mercury sitting front and center. First year for the new marque. 1939-2011 RIP
September 1939It was the worst month in modern history of my country (Poland). However, nice to see such a pretty place, at the same time, but other side of the ocean. And this car, I always thaught, that body is postwar style. Not just a while before the WW II. 
Merc gizmoSo what is this? I speculated that it was a flashy antenna, but a cursory Google search didn't come up with anything like it. Merely decorative? Whatever, I love it.
"Chicago Service"What is it?
Blimey!Whiskey, wine, brandy, trusses, rubber goods AND cut-price drugs? 
Drugs, Booze ...What! No gambling? At least you can buy a truss. Today this enterprise would be run by the Government.
HandsomeI can see where my PV 544 got his good looks. This could be the Toad's grandfather.
HmmI wonder what they sell at this store? I'm kidding! Great photo -- I especially like seeing the film perforations.
Drugs, trusses, rubber goodsOne-stop shopping!
LettersSome signpainter was in business for a while after that job!
Chicago ServiceDoes the cafe feature surly waiters? Or is that called "New York service"?
Chicago ServiceThe regular daily train between Minneapolis and Chicago ran to a station just along here, which may be the origin of the cafeteria's name. 
Merc gizmo foundI finally found a match for the "gizmo" on the Mercury's roof. It is indeed a radio antenna, and here's another one on a 1939 Lincoln Zephyr. Maybe it was a Ford product. What an incredibly cool thing.
[I just knew TT would find this. Several commenters opined the gizmo was a "scratch on the negative" (which would have been black lines, not white) or part of the sign behind the car. - Dave]
Positively Second StreetAs best as I can tell, these addresses were on the northeast side of South Second Street (a block south of the Great Northern Railway station, which was at the foot of Hennepin Avenue). Vachon, a St. Paul native, would have known the area well. In the 1950s, as scorched-earth urban renewal was on its way for the Gateway, young University of Minnesota sociology students, led by Theodore Caplow, conducted groundbreaking field research in this area on the thousands who called the Gateway's cage hotels, missions and alleys their home. This spot is now on Gateway Greenway, a one-block auto-free path.   
Motorola AntennaHere's another, more elaborate version of the antenna on a '38 Plymouth in a photo taken in summer 2010.
IgnoredThe antennaless car behind the Mercury is a 1939 Chevrolet that has an accessory hood ornament.
This was the last year that you could obtain a rear mounted spare tire on a Chevy until the availability of "continental kits" in the 1950s.  Chevrolet discontinued these last car models without modern trunks early in the model year.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, John Vachon, Minneapolis-St. Paul)

See You in Iowa: 1943
... "Conductor handling engineer copy of train orders before a Chicago and North Western freight pulls out of Chicago for Clinton, Iowa. Since the track between those points is under ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/26/2024 - 8:39pm -

January 1943. "Conductor handling engineer copy of train orders before a Chicago and North Western freight pulls out of Chicago for Clinton, Iowa. Since the track between those points is under automatic train control, the engineer hands the conductor the key to the automatic train control lock of the engine. The conductor will keep the key in the caboose until the train arrives at its destination." Acetate negative by Jack Delano, Office of War Information. View full size.
What a beastJack Delano sure knew how to capture the essence of steam engines.  That locomotive positively looms behind the two humans.  It is a thing of power and beauty.
C&NW Class H-1 LocomotiveAttached is a photo of 3014 charging across farmland taken at about the same time as this. The H-1 was a 4-8-4 "Northern" type loco -- one of the final modern steam engines used by the North Western before dieselization. Interestingly, Mr. Delano has set a telephoto equipped camera upon the air pump seen above the heads of the crew.
[LOL! - Dave]
Here Casey!Smoke one of mine. It'll keep ya warm for the entire trip!
(The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)

Yesterday in the Park: 1907
Chicago circa 1907. "Jackson Park -- Driveway and Field Museum." Formerly the ... a smelly nuisance. (Panoramas, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Chicago, Dogs, DPC) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/19/2024 - 4:46pm -

Chicago circa 1907. "Jackson Park -- Driveway and Field Museum." Formerly the 1893 Columbian Exposition's Palace of Fine Arts; today the Museum of Science and Industry. Detail of glass negative by Hans Behm, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
When beauty IS skin deepIt's not  quite the same building today: the exterior was originally a semi-permanent material  ("staff") and had to be rebuilt for the Museum  It's hard to tell but it looks like it might already be deteriorating in the picture.
Car ID1904 Winton (with luggage rack on roof)
Gentler, for sure!Shorpy should have a category just for Willoughbies!
A Gentler TimeI want to walk into the photo, cross that lawn in the summer sunshine—avoiding the sprinklers, of course—visit the museum, and leave the 21st century behind.
A wondrous placeWe spent many happy hours at the Museum of Science and Industry with our children when they were youngsters.
Yesterday in the Park --I think it was the Fourth of July.
Dog Gone Amazement ...I noticed the dog looking at one of the cars going by. He, like the people, seemed fascinated by the new contraptions rolling down the road. In 1907, the automobile was still a modern marvel. Our society was gradually transitioning from the horse and buggy to the automobile. When Henry Ford began mass producing the Model T, on the assembly line, the automobile quickly replaced the horse and buggy. That happened not long after 1907.
Thank you, Dave, for all the neat photographs from history you have posted on this site! We all have the opportunity to get a glimpse of the past thanks to the person who took the picture. I'm glad this photograph captured the handsome dog, standing by his owner, looking at the car. He may have been one of the first dogs in history to chase a car!
Smell v. SightI believe the dog is looking at the horse, not the car. Of course, a dog's sense of smell is more important to him than his vision or hearing and the horse's smell is probably more interesting to him than the car's. The car is just a smelly nuisance.
(Panoramas, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Chicago, Dogs, DPC)

Noel, Iola: 1944
... PREPAREDNESS         CHICAGO (Dec. 23, 1944) -- Mrs. Iola Swinnerton Warren, who suffered the ... - I found the announcement from the Suburbanite Economist (Chicago) of December 23, 1942. It sounds like she had a terrible time with this ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/24/2023 - 11:31am -

On this Christmas Eve,  we travel back 79 years for a visit with the First Lady of Shorpy, Iola Swinnerton. Some two decades after her bathing-pageant days, she is still radiating beauty and cheer. Scroll down to the comments for more of Iola's life story. View full size.

"STONE WOMAN" ENJOYS
CHRISTMAS PREPAREDNESS

        CHICAGO (Dec. 23, 1944) -- Mrs. Iola Swinnerton Warren, who suffered the illness known as myositis ossificans after inoculation for typhoid following a Florida hurricane, watches her husband Theron V. Warren and little nephew Herbert Taylor trim Christmas tree. (Acme Newspictures photo.)
Licensed to Marry.From the Washington Post of August 4, 1918:
"Gerald Swinnerton, 31, of Williamston, Michigan, and Iola Taylor, 18, of Rockford, Illinois."
Iola in 1947Here is part of article from the Waterloo Sunday Courier (Waterloo, Iowa) of March 9, 1947. The Warrens adopted Herbert Taylor (Iola's nephew). Herbert was 13 in 1947.
Forever YoungIt would seem, from an earlier comment, that she was born in 1902, so she would have been 19 or 20 in those earlier photos from 1921 and 1922, and 42 here.  She has lovely, youthful skin and a radiant smile.
[If she was 18 when married in 1918, she'd have been born in 1899 or 1900. - Dave]
Not just Christmas celebrationsThis is also the occasion of their second wedding anniversary - I found the announcement from the Suburbanite Economist (Chicago) of December 23, 1942. It sounds like she had a terrible time with this illness -- it started in 1926 and she spent nine years in the hospital! I'm glad she seems to have found happiness with Theron.
Based on what I read about myositis ossificans, it seems unlikely that this is what she had. It is normally caused by an injury to a muscle, and from what I can tell, stays within that muscle -- it doesn't spread to other areas of the body. It's probably more likely that she had heterotopic ossification, possibly caused by central nervous system injury or an underlying genetic disorder.
*Cringe*I am sure that Herbie really enjoyed being characterized in the newspaper as her "little" nephew.
Hope his friends didn't see the story!
[He looks like Larry Mondello. - Dave]
Carpentry and TweedNotice the nicely done rest for her feet that does not appear to be part of the original wheelchair--not the easiest thing to put together if you're doing it with nails instead of wood screws, which may be the case here.  Also, I love the nephew's tweed slacks--sadly, winter weight slacks seem to be a thing of the past, even up north here in Minnesota.  They're keeping him so warm, he doesn't need to keep his shirt tucked in.
The story that keeps on givingAnother amazing feature of this website.  Over the course of eleven and a half years (dating back to April of 2007) we are treated to a series of photos of Iola Swinnerton from a very specific two-year period (1921-1922) in a very specific context (bathing suit beauty contest).  No sense of limitation or lack of variety, and every new photo was a delight.
Flash forward suddenly 22 years to 1944 and to a whole new context.  We find Iola in a wheelchair with a strange and rare disease, and yet she is happy, recently married to a benevolent-looking church organist, and she and her husband have adopted her nephew.  The husband "wasn’t discouraged because the pretty invalid was confined to a wheelchair," and she is able to report that her "condition has steadily improved" since they got married.
The crowning glory of her positivity:  "My dreams during so many years in hospitals have come true."  (She writes songs which are published!)  "I only hope someone else can take hope from my happiness."  This is one of the most truly marvelous stories I've ever come across.
Stiff Man’s SyndromeIola may have had what is now called Stiff Person’s Syndrome.  It was first diagnosed in 1956.
A friend had it.
IolatryHere's a few more details regarding Iola.
The New York Times, while reporting her wedding, stated that she was earning her living as a seamstress. The paper also said, "She was stricken by the baffling disease after the Florida Hurricane of 1926. At that time she lived in a Miami Beach cottage, the wife of Gerald Swinnerton, whom she divorced in April, charging desertion."
In the 1940 U.S. Census Gerald Swinnerton is claiming to have been widowed. He was a camera designer and repairman, as well as a World War I veteran, and he was also known as George Simons. He died in 1961.
Regarding her wedding, the Chicago Tribune of December 24, 1942 published the following story.
"Smiling from her wheelchair, in a moire taffeta wedding dress and a shoulder length tulle veil, Iona Swinnerton, 40 years old, was married last night to Theron Victor Warren, 42, a shipyard worker and organist in the Wentworth Baptist church. The bride is suffering from a rare disease characterized by hardening of the muscles.
"About 100 relatives and friends were present as the Rev. Eugene H. Daniels read the marriage ceremony. L. Duke Taylor, 1918 Cleveland avenue, her brother, gave the bride away. Donald McGowan, 1954 Henderson street, was the best man.
"Miss Swinnerton, who lives at 4044 Wentworth avenue, has been suffering from the malady since 1926. She teaches a Bible class at the church, and met Warren while attending the services there."
An article in the Cedar Rapids Gazette in December 1945 indicated that she had spent six years at the Cook County Hospital for treatment of her condition. She was refinishing furniture and canning fruit in addition to writing songs. "Theron proposed not very long after I cooked him a duck dinner," she confided.
In 1949 Iola won fourth place in a nationwide Army songwriting contest, which earned her a $50 savings bond. The title of the tune was "Three Cheers For the Army."  She died five years later, in 1954. Her obituary from the Chicago Tribune is below.
"Iola N. Warren, 2642 Barry avenue, June 13, 1954, beloved wife of Theron V. Warren, dear sister of Louis Duke Taylor, dear aunt to Herbert Taylor. At chapel, 316 W. 63d street, at Harvard avenue, where services will be held Thursday, June 17, at 1 p.m. Cremation Oak Woods."
Theron Warren died on May 3, 1976.
The image below is from the January 4, 1937 issue of the Wilson (N.C.) Daily Times. 
FOPI presume Iola had fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva.
Story of Two FamiliesLuckily, I accepted an invitation to the Swinnertons' Christmas party before the invitation to the Dickeys' Christmas party arrived. 
Three cheers for King CottonThe pants of the kid look as if they are scratchy. Ask me how I know.
It’s a small worldI’ve been a long-time Shorpy lurker, and have many of the wonderful images saved as desktop wallpaper. 
I had to comment on this picture -- the Eugene H. Daniels mentioned as the officiant in the newspaper article was my great-grandfather! By the time I knew him, he was just “Grandpa Dan”; it’s neat to be able to read about Iola and Theron some 78 years later.
Merry Christmas to all! 
Eeugh!Theron is a ringer for an ex of mine.  I hope Iola had better luck--she certainly endured enough as it was.
(The Gallery, Chicago, Christmas, Iola S., Kids, News Photo Archive)

I.C.R.R.: 1942
November 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Locomotives in the Illinois Central railyard." Medium format ... is an extraordinarily powerful image. A dreary November Chicago day and a bleak unknown future for our county all less than one year ... Delano scored a winner with this shot. (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/16/2024 - 4:47pm -

November 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Locomotives in the Illinois Central railyard." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Wowsers!A truly beautiful photograph: great subject, great composition, great light, great developing! Thank you, Shorpy - one of the finest photos you have published!
Where's my time machine?I would go back to that exact place and time for a few minutes, not only for the sight but the sounds. I'd even bring along my 1937 Ikoflex, the same make and model as one of the cameras that Delano used.
Was disappointed when they sold to Canadian NationalI lived most of my life right next to the Illinois Central track at the southern end in Louisiana.  Even in the swamp, where I was, the railroad was very well maintained.  I believe the sale to CN was in the '80s.  I was sad to see it go.  
Paducahbuilt2530 is a heavy freight 4-8-2 Mountain type locomotive assembled by the IC in its own shops in Paducah, Kentucky, just before or in the early years of WWII.  The large tender only has 2-axle trucks, but you can see that the top of the tender was modified to carry additional coal.  Perhaps the small car between it and the next locomotive is an auxiliary tender to carry additional water.  
Huffing and Puffing American PowerGetting ready to go.
Penny SmashersI'll never forget those Mountains southbound out of Louisville along US 31, thundering through Valley Station, Kentucky, headed to wherever our 12 year-old imaginations had them destined! 
Better Times on the HorizonThis is an extraordinarily powerful image.  A dreary November Chicago day and a bleak unknown future for our county all less than one year after Pearl Harbor.  But looking deep into this black and white photograph 80 years later, we can see the power and resiliency of our county with its manufacturing coming to life augmented by our massive railroad system.  Mr. Delano scored a winner with this shot.
(The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)

Trackwork: 1942
November 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Maintenance crew repairing roundhouse tracks at an Illinois ... are four laborers and nine shovels. (The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/17/2024 - 2:55pm -

November 1942. "Chicago, Illinois. Maintenance crew repairing roundhouse tracks at an Illinois Central Railroad yard." Photo by Jack Delano, Office of War Information. View full size.
Digging in the GardenTracks that radiate out from a turntable are sometimes called Garden Tracks.  Here, speeds are low here, so things don't have to be perfect.  However, the foreman has determined it is time to dig out the soot and cinders, maybe change out a weak tie or two and firm things up.  On the adjacent track on can see two track jacks that are used to raise up a portion of the rails and ties so that additional ballast can be place beneath the ties to firm up a low spot.  To the right is a small maintenance car where the spoils can be pitched in for disposal.  
Union Smoke Break?There are four laborers and nine shovels. 
(The Gallery, Chicago, Jack Delano, Railroads)
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