With these photos it’s real people at work. No generic and fake photos of models dressed as people working that a lot of brochures and websites use. You can enlarge either image by clicking on it.
The first photo is a restored version of my great-great grandfather Meyer Levinson in front of his Chicago Maxwell Street butcher shop. The second photo is my great grandparents in front of their Wicker Park shop.
We (my family) believe that Meyer’s photo was taken sometime between 1903 and 1909, before Maxwell Street became a world renown shopping destination in Chicago. Meyer’s shop was at 326 Maxwell, as the address at the top of the left hand window pane indicates, and was between Sangamon and Morgan Streets. However, as this picture was taken prior to 1909, the address doesn’t coincide with our modern day conception of location in Chicago, wherein Sangamon and Morgan are now at 900 and 1000 West.
In 1909, Chicago’s present day address system of North, South, East and West, commencing at State and Madison Streets, began with the Plan of Chicago AKA the Burnham Plan, named after architect and planner Daniel Burnham. Burnham along with Edward Bennett designed the plan. Consequently, my great-great grandfather’s shop had a completely different address than what it would have under the Burnham Plan. Now, his shop is the location of athletic fields at the University of Illinois, Chicago’s campus.
In the photo at the right are my at great grandparents Minnie and Abe Levinson in front of their 2nd grocery store on the corner of Pierce and Robey (Damen), Wicker Park, Chicago, in the early 1930’s. To see an enlarged image of the photo click on it. You can view another shot of my great grandmother in her first store in the same neighborhood here (circa 1925).
Also, through Flickr’s photo badge, you can view an ever-changing collage of these photos and click on the images to view a larger image along with an explanation of what you’re looking at, and what the photo means to me. My Flickr badge appears on the right-hand column of my blog. As always with my website, feel free to comment or critique. Alternatively, all of the photos and their backstories are on this site’s Photos page. Just click on an individual photo to see an enlarged and detailed image.
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