StoryCorps Chicago: ‘Just A Little Patch In The City That’s Been A Comfort Zone’

StoryCorps Chicago
Susan O’Dea interviewed her husband, John O’Dea, about growing up in Canaryville. StoryCorps Chicago
StoryCorps Chicago
Susan O’Dea interviewed her husband, John O’Dea, about growing up in Canaryville. StoryCorps Chicago

StoryCorps Chicago: ‘Just A Little Patch In The City That’s Been A Comfort Zone’

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John O’Dea grew up next to the Stock Yards on Chicago’s South Side, in the Canaryville neighborhood. When he was a kid, the meatpacking industry thrived. And so did the communities surrounding it. But by the 1970s many businesses had moved away, leaving behind just a handful of institutions. John and his wife Susan stayed, and rehabbed an old drugstore into a single-family home where they raised their kids. He and Susan recently talked about their connections to their community, as part of our StoryCorps series.

This interview was recorded through a partnership with the Packingtown Museum, which exists to preserve the history of Chicago’s Stock Yards and surrounding neighborhoods. The Packingtown Museum is located at The Plant, a former meat-packing facility that is being repurposed as a collaborative community of food businesses committed to material reuse and closed loop systems. 

Bill Healy produces StoryCorps Chicago and teaches journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him @chicagoan.