Thru
the Years…
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1937
–
Relaxing on the front porch of 5517
N. Mobile. Back
Left: Aunt Maggie Abboreno Grana;
Back Right: Frank, Aunt Maggie's
older son; Front Left: Phillip
"Billy" Grana; Front Center: Margie
Grana McCurry; Front
Right: Grandson Gergory "Smiley"
Buschek
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1830-1999 John
Kinzie Clark became Jefferson Park's earliest pioneer when he arrived
with few personal effects and a team of horses in 1830. He was joined
shortly thereafter by Elijah Wentworth, who took up a claim near what
is now the Jefferson Park Station of the Metro Station. There he built
a hotel of logs and opened a tavern. Traders, hunters, and farmers
joined the tiny settlement. All built one-or-two room log cabins until
Abram Gale, for whom Gale Street is named, came to the area. He built
the first frame house in Jefferson. It was 18 x 34 feet and reportedly
cost the sum of $75.00. By 1850 the Jefferson settlement was linked
to the city of Chicago by the Milwaukee and the Elston plank roads.
Both of these roads were owned by Amos Snell, and both toll roads
continued in operation until 1889. Finally, in the same year that
Jefferson was annexed to Chicago, the citizens destroyed the tollgates
by fire. Later, Amos Snell was murdered – a mystery that has
never been solved.
During the 1860's
the population of Jefferson grew to about 800 persons and nearly all
the trades and professions were represented. There were two taverns,
two dry goods stores, a drug store, markets and other businesses in
operation. By 1889 Jefferson had become a prosperous village. The
Esdohr Farm was located on the land now occupied by the Jefferson
Park Fieldhouse and Park.
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| 1937–
Gal pals out on the town, actually in the Mobile gangway.
Left: Marie Grana;
Center: Liboria (Lee) Grana
currently lives in Arizona; Right:
Grace Abboreno (Uncle Tony's wife)
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During those early
years the residents of Higgins, Milwaukee, and Lawrence Avenues obtained
their water at the pump on the Esdohr Farm, or at other pumps located
along Milwaukee Avenue. With the turn of the century came streetcar
service along Lawrence and Elston Avenues. This gave tremendous impetus
to population growth in Jefferson Park and helped to attract immigrants
from Poland, Germany and other European countries. However, the development
of Jefferson Park slowed through the mid-1950's because of a lack
of modern transportation. Therefore, local residents welcomed the
announced construction of the Northwest (now the Kennedy) Expressway,
a portion of which would run diagonally through the community.
Before the right
of way was cleared and construction started, however, the residents
discovered that the City of Chicago planned to sell the section of
the expressway running through Jefferson Park to the county. Such
a move would have meant the construction of a toll gate at Wilson
Avenue, an idea which had been foreign to Jefferson Parkers for more
than 60 years. Merchants and local community leaders protested the
toll road proposal before the Cook County Board, and the proposal
was defeated. In 1970, the Chicago Transit Authority opened its Jefferson
Park Transit Station, which now serves approximately 10,000 commuter
rail passengers per day and operates at the starting/ending point
for over 800 buses per day. This CTA station, along with the Kennedy
Expressway and the METRA Railroad, now provides the community with
an excellent transportation network.
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| 1935
–
Babysitting
on a summer day on the front porch of 5517 Mobile.
Left: Grandma Rosie Purpura
Abboreno; Right:
Aunt
Maggie Abboreno Grana;
Girl
on left:
Current owners' mother, Liboria "Lee" Abboreno
Oliva; Girl
on right:
Margie Grana McCurry
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Jefferson Park
has grown to a population of almost 44,000 residents within a one-
mile radius of the Milwaukee-Lawrence intersection. In addition to
the excellent transportation network, the community features well-maintained
residential neighborhoods; the Jefferson Park Fieldhouse and Park;
the Jefferson Park Branch of the Chicago Public Library; the Chicago
Police Department 16th District (which will soon have a new home on
Milwaukee Avenue); the Chicago Fire Department; the Copernicus Civic
& Cultural Center; numerous churches and schools; and active,
concerned community and business organizations, including the Jefferson
Park Chamber of Commerce. In short, Jefferson Park is a "City
within the City", it is truly a community, one that has stood
the test of time.
*Used with permission
from the Jefferson
Chamber of Commerce
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