West Garfield Park Community Collection
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
- West Side Historical Society (Chicago, Ill.) (Organization)
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.
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.
- Associations, institutions, etc. -- Illinois -- Chicago -- History -- Sources. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Business enterprises -- Illinois -- Chicago Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Chicago Jewish Academy
- Portraits -- Illinois -- Chicago Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Religious institutions -- Illinois -- Chicago Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Schools -- Illinois -- Chicago Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Societies and clubs -- Illinois -- Chicago Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- West Garfield Park (Chicago, Ill.) Subject Source: Local sources
- Wood, Frank L., 1864-1945
Source
- Chicago Public Library. Legler Regional (Organization)
Creator
- West Side Historical Society (Chicago, Ill.) (Organization)
- 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
Harold Washington Library Center, 9th Floor
Chicago Public Library
400 S. State Street
Chicago IL 60605 United States
(312) 747-4875
specoll@chipublib.org