There in Chicago (#3)

There in Chicago (#3)

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North Ave @ Wells St (view east)
1949 (Frank photo/author's collection)

How well did you find your way around 1949 Chicago?

The one obvious clue is the streetcar signed for Route 72, which is the number still used by the CTA for North Avenue. The double-wires overhead is another clue. Trolley busses were soon to replace streetcars here, and North Avenue was one of the few streets near downtown that had trolley busses.

The red herring clue is the narrow street. This stretch of North Avenue wasn’t widened until 1972, when all the buildings along the north side of the street were knocked down. But purely by coincidence, there’s still a drugstore on the northeast corner of North and Wells.

Thanks for your answers. Next time we’ll move further away from downtown, into one of the neighborhoods.