Brighton Park-Now: St.Joseph and St. Anne's

Living in Brighton Park in my early years, the late 1960's and early 1970's, the Vietnam War was winding down. I do not recall anything at all about the Vietnam War; I really don't. Out in the corner of my world on Pershing Road, I had no idea men were dying by the thousands, thousands of miles away in a foreign land. I had no idea we were losing the war. And I had no idea we were losing because of so many complicated factors: misguided foreign policy, the loss of public support here in the US and globally, and a bad military strategy.

Yes, war was foreign to me and I assume to most of my neighborhood friends. We were young and we were preoccupied more with Tastee Freez, bike riding, and who was leading off for the Cubs or White Sox. Yet, what seemed to be close were the memories of World War II.

It was during the early afternoon on Saturdays or maybe Sundays that I recall watching World at War and Victory at Sea. I was fascinated by the black and white film, the D-Day footage, German and Russian offensives, the African Campaign, submarine warfare, the sinking of the Bismarck. I enjoyed watching the episodes weekly. Less than thirty years had passed since the war ended, but somehow it seemed like such an ancient set of events to me.

My friend and neighbor, Gary, his father had served in World War II. I am not sure what theater, but he had his M-1 Garand mounted on the wall in the basement over his work bench. He even had the bayonet fixed at the end. It looked like the size of a bazooka, but I was only a little kid, so that is how I remember it.

I didn't know many WWII vets. A couple of Korean War vets that served in the Navy and Army, but not many. When I attended SJSA I remember going to mass and seeing the vets that served as ushers sometimes wearing their caps with the VFW logo. Once, my 3rd grade teacher took us to see the memorial to WWII vets that died in service on the side of the building of SJSA, right there on California Avenue facing west. That was a solemn moment as my 3rd grade teacher's father was one of the men killed in action and his name was engraved on the memorial.

The World War II Memorial on SJSA Elementary School Building.

Again, this was from World War II. The Vietnam War wasn't even on my mental radar unlike the rest of the city and country. At least, that's what I thought. Yet, the country was so divided and in such turmoil. Sure I was throwing up the peace sign and making fun of Nixon, too, but I had no clue why.

So I wonder if Brighton Park and other communities are currently isolated from war in Iraq and Afghanistan. If they are, what then does WWII, Korea, and Vietnam mean to them?

I, like many, have veterans in my family. My brother served in the Army as a medic. He shared with me the experience of East and West Berlin, watching the Russian tanks rush the gate, then abruptly turn and head back east. Of course, my nephew, his son, a medic as well, and now part of the 82nd Airborne. When he left to Iraq, war became close to home. War was real, not a black and white film, not a memorial, not a paragraph in a history book. It was 13 months of worry! I wonder how my brother would have felt if he were alive while his only son was serving in the Iraq War?

I wonder, what was Brighton Park like in the midst of WWII, Korea, and even the early years of Vietnam? How do we remember those days, the people that died, and the changes that came with it - the Red Scare, the fear of Communism, rationing, the suburban flight, the evident of super powers, protests, a new kind of music, civil rights, industry, unity, the Cuban Missile Crisis and even death? Did we feel safer then?

Ultimately, military history moved me enough to complete a Master's Degree in History, but the books can't and won't tell the full story. That belongs to the veterans: neighbors, uncles, brothers, cousins, and fathers...maybe you, too.

Is Brighton Park unique in its geography? Or is Brighton Park's uniqueness due to its geography?

Since I left Brighton Park in the mid-90's, I think about where I lived for those 27 years. I lived at 3440 W. Pershing Road, 3026 W. Pershing Road, and 4145 S. Albany Ave. All three locations are in Brighton Park, but they were extremely different back then and even now.

If you think about each corner of Brighton Park, it was uniquely connected to a particular parish or school as they are now. Roughly, those four corners are 49th and Central Park, on the south, and about 31st and Central Park on the north side. On the other side, 49th and Western Avenue make one corner, and about 31st and Artesian the other one. We have some pretty interesting landmarks and border markers: I-55, Western Avenue, and the old "fire road." It seems that a lot of Brighton Park was surrounded or blocked in by manufacturing, transportation, railways and other businesses.

Community Number 58: Brighton Park

When I look at each section or quarter of Brighton Park, wow, were they ever different worlds!!!

My claim to my family, friends, coworkers, and others has always been that I owned the neighborhood. I don't mean that I ruled it, conquered it, drew its borders, made enemies, and established boundaries. What I really mean is that I could walk from one side of the neighborhood to the other and know someone or recognize something. But reflecting back, there were invisible boundaries present and even today, walking through the streets, I can actually say there is a block or an area that I have not been through once, or twice, or ever. It's odd, but so true.

So this weekend I set out to walk and see each corner of Brighton Park and finish in the middle. Well, as close to the middle as possible, all the while thinking back how often did I wander with friends, with family or on my own in these four corners of Brighton Park.

31st and Western: Northeast corner of Brighton Park

My first walk was to the northeast corner of BP, right by the Illinois Michigan Canal. The memory that comes to mind from this view is "jackknife." "Jackknife" is a bridge where, as teenagers, we would walk to mainly at night. This is close to Burroughs Elementary School, close to the old bus barns, to what was once St. Agnes Parish, St. Joseph and St. Anne Parish, and the Campbell Soup Company. Of course, as teenagers we really didn't know how dangerous it was to be in this area. As you walked over the bridge, you were above the canal and trains moved through there pretty regularly. We were also fairly close to the highway, I-55. We would walk under the overpass, come up in the middle of the inbound/outbound traffic. Sometimes one of the guys would get crazy and run from one side of the four lanes to the other.

View of the Orange Line: 48th and Western, the southeast corner of Brighton Park.

I braved the crazy traffic on Western Avenue to the southeast side conner of Brighton Park. It is not 49th and Western anymore; now it's the Orange Line, close to the new Shields Middle School. This corner of Brighton Park borders the New City community, better known as Back of the Yards. This area is close to Kelly High School, but as most of the Brighton Park community, it's bordered by another railroad track. This is one of those areas I seldom visited. It's not until now that I travel between New City and Brighton Park on 47th Street at least once a week.

Behind the new Shields Middle School - railroad tracks and a water tank.

Next, I went across 47th Street to the southwest side of BP. In the distance, the Orange Line again. Talk about walking through a desolate area! I had no clue these warehouses existed in Brighton Park, or what their purpose was. I was about two or three blocks from the border of Archer Heights and Brighton Park. The most notable landmark: the railroad overpass on 47th Street and Archer Avenue, close to the Polish Highlanders Banquet Hall and the used car dealership that seems to change management quite frequently.

Smith Brothers: 48th Street and Drake

Not too far from the warehouses, going North between Drake and Kedzie, is a residential area. It was my dream to live in this area at one point in my life because it always seemed to be insulated from the rest of Brighton Park, insulated from the schools, busy streets, and older home construction. My uncle lived on 44th and Sawyer, and I loved to go visit him. He basically lived behind the old Kedzie Bowling Alley.

As close as I could get to the northwest end of Brighton Park.

Finally I arrived to the northwest corner; well, close to it. This picture is taken from St. Louis, but I needed to walk another two blocks to get to Central Park if I really wanted to be at the northwest edge of BP. It wasn't happening as everything appears to be closed off. I was picked up by the police as a very young kid near here for allegedly opening up a fire hydrant. My friends and I actually didn't open the fire hydrant, we were merely playing in the water. I guess the police officer felt he needed to teach us a lesson; he left us sitting in the squad car for about one hour.

I remember this area well since I had many friends in this area from elementary school. It was two blocks from my home on Pershing Road, and close to "the fire road." I'm not sure why it was called the "fire road," but we could walk or ride our bikes to Venture down "fire road." My mom and aunt worked close by as well; they worked at Clark Foam Products which was on 38th Street. In the mid-70's, I remember a small prop Cessna crashing into a warehouse nearby. Imagine how incredible that must have been for a young kid to see! Then I think of all of my friends that lived even closer to that area: what was going through their heads when this happened?

And now I'm in the middle: Archer Avenue Big Store, Standard Federal Savings, Chicago Firehouse (home to Truck 52 and Ambulance 88), Watra (back then Wolf Furniture), and around the corner, Pants Box (it's still there!) and Brighton Park Theatre. That's all gone now, but some of the buildings are still there with different names. The center of Brighton Park, not a surprise when you think about it. It was the busiest part of Brighton Park then. It still looks pretty busy now, doesn't it?

Would you say you roamed all of Brighton Park as well? Or was it limited to a parish, school or another type of landmark? We were all neighbors though, all Brighton Park residents. We all went to Kroozin' Music, ordered our pizza from Falco's, ate Huck Finn Donuts, shopped at Archer Avenue Big Store, and most of us had a library card from the Brighton Park Library.

It was our neighborhood despite the distance between each Brighton Park corner. Despite the different schools, churches, banks; despite our backgrounds, most of the time, Brighton Park was ours and mine!

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Monday, July 21, 2014

The War Around Us...

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Communities within a community