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West Garfield Park Community Collection

 Collection
Identifier: spe-nhrc-wgp

Scope and Contents

The collection contains correspondence, directories, historical narratives, meeting minutes, news clippings, newsletters and over 300 photographs related to businesses, clubs, organizations, religious organizations, persons, residences, schools and street scenes in the West Garfield Park community area.

The West Garfield Park Community Collection includes documentation on the following persons, organizations and topics: Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church, Crawford Avenue name change controversy, Pearl I. Field, Garfield Park Business Men’s Association, horse racing, Madigan Brothers department store, Madison-Crawford National Bank, John T. McEnery, Rabbi Samuel Schwartz, Carl Stockholm and Frank L. Wood.

The news clippings in the original donation that could also be found in the Library’s newspaper holdings have been indexed in this guide, but not physically included in the collection.

Dates

  • 1831 - 1970

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Please consult staff to determine ability to reuse materials from collection.

Biographical / Historical

Located five miles west of the Loop, West Garfield Park is Chicago Community Area number 26. The community area is bounded by Kinzie Street to the north; Hamlin Boulevard to the east; Independence Boulevard, Taylor Street and 5th Avenue to the south and several “K” Streets (street names that begin with K) around the 4500 West mark.

Urban development of the West Garfield Park area began in the 1870s after the West Chicago Park Commission established three West Side parks, including a middle park called, Central Park, that was later renamed Garfield Park after President Garfield was assassinated in 1881. In the same decade, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad (later the Chicago and North Western Railway) built its shops north of Kinzie Street. Railroad employees and their families followed the industry and built the village of Central Park south of Kinzie Street. In 1878, the St. Mel parish was established at Keeler Avenue and Maypole Street. A number of other religious institutions soon appeared, although until the 1900s only scattered and limited commercial and residential activity took place around the settlement. In 1889, the western and southern portions of the community area were annexed to the city and Garfield Park became a major recreational area. After 1893, Madison Street became the district’s prominent commercial thoroughfare filled with department stores, hotels and movie theaters. By 1920, more than 40,000 people lived in West Garfield Park.

Extent

21.5 Linear Feet (in 21 boxes, includes 355 photographs, 16 oversize folders)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The collection contains correspondence, directories, historical narratives, meeting minutes, news clippings, newsletters and over 300 photographs related to businesses, clubs, organizations, religious organizations, persons, residences, schools and street scenes in the West Garfield Park community area.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into 10 series by topic:

Series 1: Biographical Data, 1831-1958, undated

Series 2, Business Establishments, circa 1867-1954, undated

Series 3: Religious Institutions, 1890-1957, undated

Series 4: Clubs and Organizations, 1877-1953, undated

Series 5: Historical Sketches, 1930-1950, undated

Series 6: Municipal Agencies, 1896-1949

Series 7: Schools, 1880-1970, undated

Series 8: Streets and Residences, 1883-1951

Series 9: Transportation, 1873-1964, undated

Series 10: Wartime Activities, 1917-1945

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection consists of an initial accession and two supplements. The original collection was transferred from Chicago Public Library, Legler Branch Library in the 1980s as part of a Dr. Scholl Foundation grant. The supplementary materials are located in Box 8 and Box 11.

Supplement 1 (Box 8, Folders 16-19) includes materials that were inadvertently omitted from the original processing of the collection. Two of its folders dovetail with material in folders in the original collection and are noted with cross-references.

Supplement 2 contains a tour of Madison Street between Hamlin Avenue (3800 W) and Crawford Avenue (4000 W) as it appeared in 1928. Michael Hawkins wrote the tour guide and donated his copy to the collection.

Related Materials

Bethel New Life Records

Chicago Department of Urban Renewal Records

Chicago Park District Records: Drawings

Chicago Park District Records: Photographs

East Garfield Park Community Collection

David Gremp Photographs

Office of Civilian Defense Records

Wesleyan Bible Class Records

West End Women’s Club Records

West Side Newspaper Collection

West Town Community Collections

Frank L. Wood Scrapbooks

Mary Zimmerman Scrapbook

Separated Materials

The scrapbook “Speaking 9” (Box 9) was separated from the West Garfield Park collection in 1993. It is now part of the Frank L. Wood Scrapbooks.

Title
Guide to the West Garfield Park Community Collection
Status
Completed
Author
Original author unknown, July, 1989. Updated and ingested into ArchivesSpace by Michelle McCoy, 2022
Date
1989
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections Unit at Harold Washington Library Center Repository

Contact:
Harold Washington Library Center, 9th Floor
Chicago Public Library
400 S. State Street
Chicago IL 60605 United States
(312) 747-4875