The History of Jewish Life in Chicago.

Jews came to Chicago from virtually every country in Europe and the Middle East, but especially from Germany and Eastern Europe. Unlike most other immigrant groups, Jews left the Old Country with no thoughts of ever returning to lands where so many had experienced poverty, discrimination, and even sporadic massacres.

Meyer Levinson is standing in front of his butcher shop at 326 Maxwell Street in Chicago. Circa 1903. Today, this address would place the butcher shop just west of Campus Pkwy, in the athletic field of the University of Illinois Chicago campus.

Jews began trickling into Chicago shortly after the town was incorporated in 1833. 

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Chicago was Incorporated as a town on August 12, 1833, and Incorporated as a city on March 4, 1837.

A century later, Chicago's 270,000 Jews (about 9 percent of the city's population) were outnumbered only in New York and Warsaw. By the end of the twentieth century, only about 30 percent of Jewish people remained within city limits.

Wittenberg Matzoh Co. 1326 South Jefferson, Chicago. 1919

Chicago's first permanent Jewish settlers arrived in the mid-1830s from Central Europe, mainly from the German states. A few lived briefly in eastern cities before being attracted to the burgeoning city of Chicago. These early settlers included Henry Horner, whose grandson of the same name would become the first Jewish governor of Illinois. 

Many of these settlers started as street peddlers with packs on their backs and later opened small stores downtown. From these humble beginnings, they later established such companies as Florsheim, Spiegel, Alden's, Mandel Brothers, Albert Pick & Co., A. G. Becker, Brunswick, Inland Steel, Kuppenheimer, and Hart, Schaffner & Marx.

Chicago's first synagogue, Kehilath Anshe Ma'ariv Synagogue (KAM), was founded at the corner of Lake and Wells in 1847 by a group of Jewish immigrants from the same general region of Germany. 

The old Kehilath Anshe Ma'ariv Synagogue, Chicago, Illinois.

By 1852, about 20 Polish Jews had become discontented enough to break off from KAM and founded Chicago's second congregation, Kehilath B'nai Sholom, a more Orthodox congregation than the older KAM. In 1861, the second significant secession from KAM occurred. This splinter group, led by Rabbi Bernhard Felsenthal, formed the Sinai Reform Congregation, meeting in a church near the corner of Monroe and LaSalle Streets.

In 1859, the United Hebrew Relief Association (UHRA) was established by some 15 Jewish organizations, including several B'nai B'rith lodges and several Jewish women's organizations. 

After the fire of 1871, Jews moved out of the downtown area, mainly southward, settling eventually in the fashionable lakefront communities of Kenwood, Hyde Park, and South Shore. Wherever they settled, they established needed institutions, including Michael Reese Hospital, the Drexel Home (for aged Jews), and the social and civic Standard Club.

In the late 1870s, Eastern European Jews, mainly from Russian and Polish areas, started arriving in Chicago in large numbers. They came primarily from shtetlach (small rural villages or towns), and by 1930, they constituted over 80 percent of Chicago's Jewish population. They settled initially in one of the poorest parts of the city, the Maxwell and Halsted streets area on Chicago's Near Westside. 

Maxwell Street Market, Chicago.

Maxwell Street Market resembled a community in an Old World SHTETL (a small Jewish village or town in Eastern Europe) with numerous Jewish institutions, restaurants, merchants, and about 40 synagogues and a bazaar-like outdoor market called Maxwell Street Market that attracted customers from the entire Chicago area. They eked out a living as peddlers, petty merchants, artisans, and factory laborers, especially in the garment industry, where many men and women became ardent members, organizers, and leaders in several progressive unions.

Maxwell Street Market, Chicago. 1904

The Eastern European Jews differed from the German Jews in their cultural background, language, dress, demeanor, and economic status. Until the mid-twentieth century, the two maintained distinct neighborhoods and institutions. Friction also owed to differing religious practices, as the Orthodox newcomers encountered a German Jewish community increasingly oriented toward Reform Judaism.

A sense of kinship, however, and the fear that poverty and the seemingly exotic culture of European Jews might provoke anti-Semitism led Chicago's German Jews (like their counterparts in other American cities) to provide a foundation upon which the newcomers could build lives as Chicagoans. These institutions included educational (Jewish Training School, opened in 1890), medical (Chicago Maternity Center, 1895), and recreational (Chicago Hebrew Institute, 1903) facilities that offered practical resources while helping to speed up the Americanization of the new immigrants. Julius Rosenwald, a prominent business executive and philanthropist, was one of these institutions' chief organizers and financial contributors.

Education and entrepreneurship provided many Jews a route from the Maxwell Street area by 1910. A small number joined the German Jews on the South Side; some moved into the north lakefront communities of Lake View, Uptown, and Rogers Park; more headed northwest into Humboldt Park, Logan Square, and Albany Park. The most significant number moved west into the North Lawndale area, which soon became the largest Jewish community in the history of Chicago, numerically and institutionally. 

By the 1930s, North Lawndale housed 60 synagogues (all but 2 Orthodox), a very active community center, the Jewish People's Institute, the Hebrew Theological College, the Douglas Library, where Golda Meir worked for a short time, and numerous Zionist, cultural, educational, fraternal, and social service organizations and institutions.

The old Anshe Roumania Synagogue building, North Lawndale, Chicago, Illinois.

After World War II, increasing prosperity and government housing benefits to returning war veterans allowed growing numbers of Chicago Jews to fulfill their desire for single-family houses. Upwardly mobile Jews started moving out of their old communities into higher-status West Rogers Park (West Ridge) on the far North Side.

By the end of the twentieth century, West Rogers Park had emerged as the largest Jewish community in the city. More than 30,000 Jews were Orthodox, and the rhythm of Orthodox life remained evident, from the daily synagogue prayer services to the numerous Orthodox institutions and the closing of Jewish stores on Devon Avenue for the Sabbath. Some of the recent 22,000 Russian Jewish immigrants also settled there. 

Tel-Aviv Bakery, 2944 West Devon Avenue, West Ridge Community, West Rogers Park Neighborhood, Chicago.

Other Jewish areas in the city included the apartment and condominium complexes paralleling the northern lake shore and a small community in the Hyde Park area.

Many Jews joined the postwar migration to suburbia. Housing discrimination had limited suburbanization in the early years, although in the early 1900s, small numbers of Jews had moved into some of the suburbs that were open to them. The most concentrated movement of Jews into the suburbs followed World War II with the removal of restrictive housing covenants and increased affluence. 

West Ridge Community, West Rogers Park Neighborhood, Chicago, Illinois.

Approximately 70 percent of the estimated 270,000 Jews in the Chicago metropolitan area in the 1990s lived in the suburbs, compared to just 5 percent in 1950. Most were concentrated in such northern suburbs as Skokie, Lincolnwood, Glencoe, Highland Park, Northbrook, and Buffalo Grove.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

#JewishThemed #JewishLife

Maxwell Street 7th District Police Station on "Dead Man's Corner," Chicago, Illinois.

The 7th District Police Station, located at 943 West Maxwell Street, also known as the Maxwell Street Station was built in 1888 in response to the need for increased police presence.

Maxwell Street Precinct - Morgan & Maxwell Streets

Maxwell Street Precinct Restored - Morgan & Maxwell Streets

It was built during a period of tremendous growth after the Chicago Fire of 1871, as the city’s population exploded from 298,000 to almost 1.1 million. As late as 1850, the entire police force of Chicago consisted of just nine men, but the growing population, along with the social and economic changes, created the need for more law enforcement.  

The force expanded from 9 officers to 455 policemen assigned to 11 precincts in 1872, to more than 1,255 policemen in 20 district police stations by 1888. In 1906, the Chicago Tribune called the district “Bloody Maxwell”, and “the Wickedest Police District in the World”.

The neighborhood was termed “the terror district” by a newspaper reporter of the time. It was a changing melting pot of Irish, German, Italian and European Jewish immigrants and grew mightily in the years following the Chicago Fire of 1871. This densely populated area echoed with the sound of 50 foreign tongues, the clatter of the push cart wagon and the ragged vendors peddling their produce and wares in the market a block due east. There were thousands of ram-shackle wooden hovels (a small, squalid, unpleasant, or simply constructed dwelling) and airless worker cottages with the outhouse inconveniently located in the alleys of tenements pushing up against the police station.  

Between 1880 and 1920, the most violent spot in "Bloody Maxwell," the most violent neighborhood in Chicago, was the corner of 14th place and Sangamon, otherwise known as Dead Man's Corner. Conveniently near the Maxwell Street Police Station, Dead Man's Corner was continually the site of gun battles between police and criminals.

Very often the Maxwell Street police officer, bewildered by the old world customs and buzz of strange languages he heard on the street, thought he was the foreigner in the foreign land. In 1898, the city census taker counted 48,190 residents living in squalid tenement buildings along Taylor, DeKoven, Forquer, Loomis, Lytle, and other streets comprising Little Italy nearby. It was a tough assignment in a dangerous area of the city for a young officer learning the ropes. Poverty bred crime. In “Bloody Maxwell” there were an escalating homicide rate and the scourge of the Black Hand terrorists who preyed on the immigrant Italians living near Taylor Street in the 1890’s and early 1900’s. The term “Bloody” was loosely applied to many police districts and city wards in the old days, but it seemed to take on special significance along the Near West Side corridor, especially during the wild and woolly 1920’s when Taylor Street, located in the heart of the old 19th Ward, evolved into the production center for bootleg alcohol in the City of Chicago.  

It was a vast criminal enterprise controlled by the “Terrible” Genna brothers - Angelo, Pete, Jim, Tony and Mike from Marsala, Italy, who were graduates of the Black Hand. Their liquor warehouse stood at 1022 Taylor Street. It was rumored that at least half of the uniformed patrol working out of “Bloody Maxwell” in the early 1920’s received $15 every Friday from the Genna brothers by simply stopping by the warehouse for their weekly envelope.

Lieutenants and captains from neighboring districts were said to receive upwards of $500 a week - quite a sum in those days. Over the years, the legendary station played host to some of the nations most notorious criminals, including Sam Giancana and Al Capone.

The 7th District, anchoring the western end of the Maxwell Street market, quieted down considerably following the repeal of Prohibition in 1933. After World War II, the district witnessed the slow exodus of its immigrant population - a process that greatly accelerated in the early 1960’s when hundreds of acres of residential property west of Halsted were bulldozed to make way for the University of Illinois campus.

The station itself is Romanesque in style and is architecturally significant as an example of pre-1945 police stations in Chicago. It was designed by Willoughby J. Edbrooke and Franklin Pierce Burnham. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. 

The Chicago Police Department vacated the station in 1998. After extensive renovation, the red pressed brick and Joliet limestone building with walls three feet thick at the base became the home of the UIC Police Department. The renovations were done in a manner designed to uphold the historic significance of the building’s architecture. The building’s original windows were sent to a company in Kankakee for restoration, the masonry cleaned and repaired, the roof replaced and parapets at the top of the station rebuilt using custom-made bricks, the exact texture and color of the originals.

The building is known in popular culture because the outside was used as the picture of the precinct house in the opening credits of the iconic television series, Hill Street Blues which ran on NBC from 1981 into 1987. The exterior was used for the television series Chicago P.D.

Hill Street Blues TV Show - Note Maxwell Street sign has been changed to Hill Street.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Chicago Common Brick and Street Paver Brick History.

Chicago was built and rebuilt after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 using Chicago common brick. Also produced for roadways and fancy building brickwork were known as Chicago Street Paver Bricks," all of which were produced in Chicago from local clay. Although some people assume the streets were "cobblestone," Chicago DID NOT use cobblestone for public works.

Chicago Street Paver Bricks - These have been saved from street resurfacing projects.

Chicago bricks look different from bricks produced in other regions due to the geological composition of the clay in our area and the method used to fire the bricks. This clay produced salmon and buff shades of color when it was heated intensely in the old brick making process. These colors are uniquely different from the reds, creams, and browns found in other regions.

Original surface uncovered Trolley Tracks and Setts (see below) around the heavily used tracks.

Chicago Street Paver Bricks uncovered.

In the peak of Chicago common brick production, Chicago was home to over 60 different brick manufacturers, some of which started in 1872 to keep up with the demand for Chicago common brick after the Great Fire.

The Front and street side of 1363 N. Bosworth, Chicago. The front facade is the most heavily composed side, with stone and Chicago Street Paver bricks (heavily articulated finish brick). The street-side comes second, with a lesser grade of brick but still ornamented with considerable corbeled brickwork.

Street Pavers were much denser than the common bricks used for buildings, although some multi-unit properties use the Street Pavers for the front facade of the building. When the Street Pavers became worn under heavy traffic or damaged in some way, they were individually dug-up and flipped over, putting the previous underside on top which gave the repair a like-new quality.

The rear of 1363 N. Bosworth, Chicago, Illinois. The utterly plain backside is done in Chicago common brick.

Demand for Chicago common bricks eventually decreased with the increased use of concrete block and wood and the remaining brick production companies in Chicago were consolidated under one company name, the Illinois Brick Company. 

Then Congress passed the Clean Air Act in 1970 and the newly established Environmental Protection Agency required the Illinois Brick Company to bring their kilns and processing facilities into compliance with new regulations. This would have cost the Illinois Brick Company millions of dollars so, rather than complying, they decided to shut down brick manufacturing operations.

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NOTE: 

As seen in this image, Sett granite pavers, cut like brick were used mostly by industry's where there was heavy traffic, for a business that uses heavy construction vehicles and around railroad track spurs and loading docks. You can see from this picture that cobblestone was not used in Chicago.

For people that insist Chicago used cobblestone on the streets, contact the experts at:

Colonial Brick Company at 2222 S. Halsted, Chicago.
"Specializing in Chicago Antique Brick since 1968." 
312-733-2600

They will verify that Chicago did not use cobblestone for street paving. They were Chicago Street Paver Bricks. They reclaim, clean, and resell Chicago Street Paver Bricks for commercial use.

Learn about Chicago Belgian woodblock paving.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Lost Towns of Illinois - Miles Station, Illinois

Miles Station, Illinois, was first known as the "Providence" village, but later the name was changed to honor Jonathan Rice Miles. It was located in Brighton Township in Macoupin County, today, it would have been in Brighton, Illinois. A road still holds the name Miles Station Road.

Alexander Miles was a native of North Carolina. He was married in Tennessee to Mary Irvin, who was a native of Georgia, and with his wife and family settled in Macoupin County in 1832, becoming pioneers of Brighton Township. They were the parents of Colonel Jonathan Rice Miles, who was born in Kentucky in 1820 and moved with his parents to Macoupin County. 

In 1837, some forty persons came to the settlement village of Providence. They all resided in the colony house for some time but soon could erect dwellings for themselves. 

Jonathan Miles built the first mill (steam-powered) in the section of the county where he lived. It drew farmers from miles around, and Miles and his partners had a successful grain business known as Gilbert, Miles, and Stanard in St. Louis, Missouri. Miles was enterprising and industrious. He was only in business a short time before he was earning a good income. The reward of his labors had made him a wealthy man.

Miles convinced the railroad to build their line through his town and then sold them lumber with which to lay the tracks. When the railroad wouldn't pay him for the lumber, Miles hired a young lawyer from Springfield named Abraham Lincoln to represent him. Lincoln won the case along with some other cases on behalf of area settlers.

A Post Office was established on August 31, 1856.

At the beginning of the Civil war, he formed a company in August of 1861, which was organized as Company “F” of the Twenty-seventh Illinois Infantry, which saw much service under his captaincy. In 1862 he was promoted to the rank of colonel and participated in many important battles. 

In October of 1867, the town was renamed Miles Station because it was largely through Col. Miles's influence that the Chicago & Alton railroad was built through the place. The town was platted and surveyed by S. F. Spaulding in 1869, the same year that Colonel Jonathan Miles married Eliza A. Stratton, a native of Kentucky.

At some point, Jonathan became the Postmaster for Miles Station.

The Colonel lived a retired life for many years, occupying a commodious but modest home in the quiet little village that bore his name. He died there on April 1, 1903.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Keeley Brewing Company of Chicago. 1876-1953

Keeley Brewing Company, 516 (now 462) East 28th Street, Chicago, Illinois. 

Phone: CAlumet 2030.

Not much is known about the Keeley Brewing Company. At the time of Prohibition in 1920, Chicago had well over 100 breweries. Many produced a near-beer while others bottled soda-pop during the Prohibition. Many closed and did not reopen after the the Prohibition was repealed in 1933.

Keeley chose to shut down operations in 1920. They reopened in 1933. 

Following is a timeline for Keeley:

Michael Keeley Brewery 1876-1878
Keeley Brewing Co. 1878-1920

Readdressed to 28th & Groveland Park Avenue (now Ellis Avenue), Chicago, Circa 1900
Brewery operations shut down by National Prohibition in 1920; Issued permit ILL-U-727A allowing the operation of a brewery after Repeal 1933

Keeley Brewing Co. 1933-1953
Keeley Brewing Co. Closed in 1953

Products List:

English Club Pale Beer 1933 - 1936
Keeley Malt Tonic 1933 - 1936
Olde Stout Beer 1933 - 1936
Keeley Stout 1933 - 1946
Ye Olde Inn Ale 1933 - 1946
Ye Olde Stout 1933 - 1946
Keeley Ale 1933 - 1953
Keeley Bock 1933 - 1953
Keeley Half & Half 1933 - 1953
Keeley Draught Bottled Beer 1933 - 1953
Keeley lager Beer 1933 - 1953
Olde Stout 1946 - 1950 

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Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.