Cleo Newman was born on February 10, 1911 in Kewanee, Illinois to Peter Wyrick and Lorene Crawford. It is believed that Peter was a Polish immigrant and that Lorene was of English descent. [...]
Herbert Jones was born on May 14, 1899 on a farm in Bolton, Mississippi. His parents, Jesse and Hattie Jones, owned the small farm they worked, which they were very proud of, as Jesse’s father [...]
Sadie Davis was born on December 2, 1920 to Ervin Olmskirk and Caroline Fredericks in Clarkson, Nebraska. Ervin worked in a bank, and Caroline cared for their ten children, Sadie being the [...]
Ruby Fessler was born in Chicago on September 16, 1937 to Rudi Fessler, an immigrant from Vienna, Austria, and Ida Beldy, an immigrant from Hungary. Rudi worked for a trucking company. Ida [...]
Francisco Alvarez was born on September 8, 1913 in Cuba to Felipe Alvarez and Maria Acosta. Felipe worked as a chef in Havana, and Maria cared for their nine children, of whom Francisco was the [...]
In honor of Christmas and of the forgotten Chicago residents of Czech/Slovak/Bohemian descent, many of whose true-life stories populate “Novel Notes of Local Lore,” this week’s blog will include [...]
Humboldt Park was a sparsely populated prairie settlement that was annexed into the city of Chicago in 1869. At about that time, visionary Chicago residents began demanding an ambitious park [...]
The Schwinn Bicycle Factory, located on Chicago’s northwest side, was one of the many bicycle factories across the city but the one which eventually became a Chicago icon. Schwinn was founded by [...]
The first burlesque dancer in Chicago could arguably be considered to be Fareeda Mahzar, later known as “Little Egypt,” who danced at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 and was acknowledged [...]
Palmer Square, located in Chicago’s northwest neighborhood of Logan Square, was named for the Chicago luminary, Potter Palmer, an extremely successful business magnate and real estate investor of [...]