Posted April 14, 200619 yr Goose Island, the only island in the Chicago River. To read all about it here is a detailed article for you to peruse, from the Encylopedia of Chicago. This is Chicagos first "protected industrial district", so it retains that gritty old industrial city feel...though some modern non-industrial uses are here too. Arrived at by this railroad bridge, which connects to the Kingsbury branch of the old Milwaulkee Road Goose Island had a railroad yard and team tracks. Railfans should check out the excellent Chicago North Side Switching site for more info and lots of pix (including before and afters) of railroading on the island. The North Branch Canal, which makes the island an island. My guide to the Chicago River says the current is weak here and the channel has shoaled up to three feet in places.... The North Branch itself, which is navigable here (with big cement opertion I think)' Looking across the turning basin at the northern tip of the island. The church is St Stanislaus Kostka, "Old St Stans", on Noble Street. The neighborhood was called the "Stanisolowo", and was the original Polish neighborhood of Chicago, dating to the 1860s already. This is also the mother church of the many Polish parishes on Chicagos NW side. Modern building at the tip of Goose Island, facing the turning basin. I think this is some sort of research center for Wrigleys Chewing Gum (what could they possibly be reseaching on gum?) Goose Island industrial scenes. Amoung other things there is a window company, a solid waste facility, theatrical supply and lighting places, etc... Looking south along the river/canal toward some apts/condos on the river...looking toward Wolf Point (I just love these rustic names...Goose Island, Wolf Point....they sound so rural, but are anything but). Division Street bridge over the North Branch Canal Halsted crossing Goose Island The North Branch as working river Industrial conversion into lofts Industrial conversion into offices Halsted bridgetenders tower at the North Branch North on Halsted , looking toward the North Branch Canal bridge Southern tip of Goose Island at far left. Big buildings are the old Montgomery Ward warehouses, now loft housing. Chicago--the Venice of the Midwest? St John Cantius in the distance @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Kantowo St John Cantius parish. I have a personal connection to this neighborhood as I had relatives living here. My dad went to visit an uncle here, and when he was walking around in the early morning he found a body in the alley. This used to be a rough area. It was the setting in part for Nelson Algrens boxing novel "Never Come Morning" and also the setting for one of the short stories in his "The Neon Wilderness" collection. Now it seems pretty well gentrified. with some examples of the infill/new construction going into these old Chicago neighborhoods. The pix will show this. For me its small things that make a city or set a city apart. In Chicago there are these cast iron railings and posts, with a sort of neogothic thing going on with the posts. And the houses and flats have the entrance mostly raised up off the street. This carrys on into newer 1920s areas and even postwar construction....the raised entry. ...and the sunken houses like in Bucktown and Pilsen And some new apartments, built up hard against the old Northwestern "northwest line" (now a Metra commuter run) just a bunch of neighborhood shots showing vernacular housing and newer infill, side by side.... (czech out the one in the middle..it still has its old brick siding) ..the funny thing about these infills, is that they dont bother to fill in the lot up to the grade. And St John Cantius itself. Though this is an old neighborhood the church was built only in 1892, to take in the overflow from Old St Stans. The parish has a great website...apparently they hold the old Latin mass here: St John Cantius From the website: Fresco: Standing on the background of St. John Cantius Church is Fr. Vincenty Barzynski, C.R., pastor of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish and founder of St. John Cantius Parish. The nave: .....and its well worth following this link to look at the nice collection of altarpieces and sacred art in the church. Have a good Holy Week and Happy Easter.
April 14, 200619 yr yeah, Chicago is wierd for me as I am a tourist...in my home town. :| Rob, I know you are a railfan, so you should check out that North Side Switching site. They have some interesting stuff there on street running, and the conversion of the Bloomingdale Line into a greenway. One of the tracks running north used to be a Milwaulkee Road commuter line to Evanston, part of which was taken over by the L and CTA (the run up to Howard). Since this line still had freight customers, the CTA had to still operate freight runs over the L! They used old steeple cab freight engines...the interchange with the MILW was at the "Buena Yard" next to Graceland Cemetary.
April 14, 200619 yr They have a nice "hip hop" club on Goose Island. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
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