Chicago and Cook County Cemeteries

Dear Dad: Your Chicago has changed!

If you could come back to life for just a day, I would love to tell you about today’s Chicago, the way we travel, shop and communicate. You died in 1959 at the early age of 54 when I was only 14. If you could come back to us and your Chicago for just one day, here is what I would love to tell you.

Back then you only knew propeller driven airplanes out of Midway Airport

To reach others, your Bell System dial telephone was connected to the wall by a wire. You put a three cent stamp on a letter.

At work you typed that letter in duplicate using a typewriter and a sheet of carbon paper. You added and subtracted on a mechanical adding machine.

You shopped at bakeries and dime stores on Devon Avenue. There was Crawfords and Abrams, Hobbymodels and Hillman’s.

Closer to home there was Pete’s grocery store, a butcher shop, and Sanders drugstore on Pratt. Helga’s delicatessen was just a block north on Western .

If you drove a bit farther to Lincoln Village or Wieboldt’s at Lincoln and Belmont, gas was only about $.16 a gallon. a fill-up could be as low as $2!

Your first car was a 1928 used Chevrolet, you are last was a used 1954 model. Your mother called them “machines”. And you rode the old red street cars and later the Green Hornet, which ended on June 21, 1958.

the Chicago typewriter – February 14, 1929

Today, your computer keyboard uses the QWERTY system, (the first six letters on the top line of your keyboard). It is a carryover from the mechanical typewriter that most of us older folk remember. The first commercially successful typewriter was invented and patented by four Milwaukee Wisconsin men in 1868 . It was produced by E. Remington and sons.

The “Chicago typewriter” however was quite different, something never needing paper or an ink ribbon . Its use on Valentine’s Day February 14, 1929 is legend. It. Like a mechanical typewriter, it was well used to send a message. The Chicago typewriter is a slang term for the Thompson submachine gun which from a distance sound somewhat like a typewriter.

Music in the trolley barn – February 5, 1971

North Chicago Street Railway Car #8, built 1859

Horsecars, cable cars and streetcars needed a place to sleep at night. They had been called trolley barns, car barns, car houses or more recently bus barns. Some are still around in Chicago, but many of the early structures are long gone or have been repurposed.

One such “trolley barn” was a modest brick building at 329 Lincoln Ave. on Chicago’s North side. About 1909, Chicago renumbered all streets, so 329 Lincoln became 2356 N. Lincoln.

This building housed horse-drawn street cars owned by the North Chicago Street Railway Co. serving both the Fullerton and Lincoln Avenue lines and possibly others. The first horsecar line in Chicago opened on State Street in 1859, replacing the even earlier horse-drawn omnibuses. One of the benefits of the horse drawn streetcars was the use of fixed rails in the streets, enabling the horsecars to travel slightly faster and providing the passengers with a somewhat smoother ride. Horse-drawn streetcars also predated the short era of cable cars in Chicago which ended in 1906 only to be replaced by electric streetcars.

After its life as a “trolley barn” it had several later tenants. In 1916 it was home to the 1st Battalion Engineers and the Battery Field Artillery of the National Guard. In 1921 trucks were being sold out of that location. Rent in 1926 was only $125. it was used as a warehouse, the Steiner furniture store circa 1952 and the Bargain Center warehouse.

And finally in about 1969 the old trolley barn was converted to a theater.

And as Paul Harvey would say “and now for the rest of the story”

2356 N. Lincoln began became the Kingston Mines theater one of the first theater companies to be part of the storefront theater scene along Lincoln Ave., Halsted, and other nearby Northside streets. It was named after an actual town of Kingston Mines Illinois in central Illinois.

On February 5, 1971, in that old trolley barn, the Kingston Mines Theater Company premiered a play written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The play was Grease!

Mr. Ofstie may have sold you a car!

He was born Burton Adolph Ofstie on January 30, 1911 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Rev. Hans Adolf Ofstie (1881-1977) a Methodist pastor and Lena Peterson (1889 –1981)

We knew him well by his trademark “Linn Burton for Certain”and his very plaid suits.

He is still remembered for his commercials for Bert Weinman Ford.” Chicago’s number 1 Ford dealer”. He was “Your TV Ford Man” selling cars for over 25 years between 1964 and 1989 on WGN-TV in Chicago. Linn Burton had a great radio voice and personality. Hewould urge us viewers to “Buy now and save” at “3535 North on Ashland Avenue”.

Many people didn’t know that he was only a spokesman and never a salesman for Bert Weinman Ford. In fact, it was not uncommon for a prospective car buyer to come into the dealership and ask for Linn Burton! He actually did his work in the WGN TV studio with a specially revolving floor where the cars slowly turned under the bright lights..His commercials were incredibly effective. In addition to that great voice, he had believability. He wasn’t slick or crafty. It was just Linn simply selling cars. And he was just really good at it!