Kiddie Park, 4200 North Harlem Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. (1939-1953)

Kiddy Park opened on April 29, 1939, at 4200 North Harlem Avenue, Chicago, by Charles “Charlie” F Reid. 

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In 1948, a local improvement association incorporated Norridge as a village, stymieing an effort by Chicago to annex the area.

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On the same corner as KiddyTown Amusement Park (1953-1964), which opened on the east side of the future Harlem Irving Shopping Center, which opened in 1955, in Norridge, Illinois.

Charlie was quite the entrepreneur, opening the Charlie Reid Golf Circus just to the north of Kiddie Park. Soon after starting Kiddy Park, he branded himself as Montana Charlie and started a few businesses and sold some products under that brand.

Charlie Reid Golf Circus

I'm guessing that the Giraffe was too slim to hit at 250 yards.

If Daddy and Mother wish for recreation, they may visit the Charlie Reid Golf Circus, where they can practice their Golf in surroundings so unusual that every minute will be real joy and pleasure.

They may improve their Golf by aiming at animals─try, hitting the Elephant on the "noodle" at 250 yards─the Lion at 200 yards─they can try and hit a Tiger or a Clown─and all the time, they are improving their golf drive and having fun while they do it. 

VISIT OUR ILLINOIS AMUSEMENT PARK SOUVENIR SHOP

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Thank you, France Costabile, for the pictures and your story.

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month.

This year (2023) marks the 44th anniversary of celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage. 

The original observation was seven days beginning on May 4, 1979, as Asian Pacific American Heritage Week passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on October 5, 1978. 

President George H.W. Bush extended the celebration for the entire month on May 7, 1990, and designated it Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in Proclamation № 6130.

It is difficult to identify the "first" Asian in frontier Illinois since the history of Asians in Illinois' footprint dates back several centuries and is complex. However, it is known that Asians, particularly the region's indigenous peoples, have lived in what is now Illinois for thousands of years. 

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Illinois is the sixth largest state with 828,847 (2020 Census) Asians. California is home to 6,764,118 Asians, followed by New York with 1,884,346, and Texas comes in third with 1,656,166 Asian residents.

The first recorded Asian immigrants to Illinois were likely Chinese workers who helped build the transcontinental railroad between 1863 and 1869. It is also important to note that many Asians, mainly of South Asian descent, were brought to Illinois as indentured servants or slaves during the colonial era.

The first group of Japanese in Chicago arrived in 1892 with jobs and skills to build the Ho-o-den Pavilion at the World's Columbian Exposition.

Ho-o-den Pavilion at the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition.

Kamenosuke Nishi was the first known (documented) Japanese individual in Chicago. He relocated from San Francisco, California, in 1893 and opened a Gift Shop at 27th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. Nishi parlayed his vision and honed his sales and management skills into $700,000 in profit.

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Today, Cottage Grove Avenue's north terminus is at 33rd Street, which heads only eastbound.

In the early 1900s, about 400 Japanese immigrants lived in Chicago. After WWII, the U.S. Government resettled 20,000 Japanese families or individuals to Chicago from World War II internment camps.

Because the Japanese did not emigrant to Chicago on their own, that alone denied them the opportunity to develop their unique neighborhood and identity, as Chinatown, Little Italy, Greek Town and other Chicago ethnic neighborhoods did.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.