The History of Lincoln Village Shopping Center at 6199 North Lincoln Avenue in Chicago, Illinois.

Before Lincoln Village was built, the Christianson Riding Stables occupied the property. You could rent a horse and ride up the bridle path along McCormick Boulevard and the North Shore Canal.

sidebar

I'd like to correct the record. For all who thought, all these years, that Bounce Land Trampoline Park was at Hollywood Kiddidland, or next to it, should definitely read my article.

When Lincoln Village opened in 1951 in the Peterson Park neighborhood of Chicago, the mall's motto was: "You'll find it at the Village." It cost $2 million to build the 15-acre (not including the Hollywood Kiddieland property) shopping center designed with the automobile in mind. 

The parking lot, with space for 1,300 cars, originally had eight entrances: five on Lincoln, two on McCormick, and one on Devon.

sidebar

Lincoln Village Shopping Center opened 5 years before Old Orchard Shopping Center in Skokie opened.

The arrival of the Lincoln Village Shopping Center in this area marked a significant shift in the neighborhood. What a contrast to the old, cramped, dark storefronts lining Bryn Mawr between Kimball and Kedzie. Parking was a problem on Bryn Mawr, where no public lots existed.

When Lincoln Village first opened, it had four buildings. Building 'A' was the larger strip that ran more or less parallel to Lincoln, and the small 'B' ran perpendicular to Lincoln, backing up to the North Shore channel. Buildings 'C' and 'D' were small triangles facing Lincoln. Building 'D' housed a restaurant; I don't recall what business occupied Building 'C.' At the west end of building 'A,' closest to McCormick Boulevard, there was a two-story medical office center with Lee's Pharmacy on the ground floor.

A combination of limestone, Roman face brick, and redwood gave each storefront a different look.

Roman Face Brick

A broad canopy extended from the top of the buildings over the walkways. The canopy was held up with decorative wrought iron pillars. The sidewalks were made of pumice, ground glass, and cement for a mosaic effect. There were several built-in flower gardens. Most storefronts had large display windows, just like downtown Chicago. Loudspeakers were also attached to the canopies and placed inside the stores for piped-in music.

Wieboldt's department store (with an S&H Green Stamps redemption center in the basement) anchored the plaza from its opening until the 1980s.

Office Depot took the anchor store that was long-vacant after Wieboldt went bankrupt, and then Office Depot was replaced by TJ Max.

Neighborhood commercial districts like Bryn Mawr, between Kimball and Kedzie, came about in the days before most families in the neighborhood owned a car or a refrigerator. Until women started working outside their homes and every family bought a car, the mom-and-pop merchants enjoyed a captive audience.

Back in the sixties, Lincoln Village was a beloved mall with favorite businesses like Harmony Hall Hallmark Gold Crown Store, Bagel and Tray Deli-Restaurant, the Village Nut Shop, Eric Salm Men's Store, and a drive-thru Peterson Bank branch was built as an outbuilding.

There was a record store in the 1960s and 70s that became the Lincoln Village Theater.

The Lincoln Village Theater was the Last Movie Palace built in Chicago.

In 1968, the fabulous, single-screen with a balcony Lincoln Village Theater opened.

The restaurant, located at 6181 North Lincoln Avenue (in building 'D'), first opened as:

"Sammy and Lisa's What's Cooking," then Zelda's; the Village Inn; the Village Cart, which closed after a fire in the late 70s; and finally, What's Cooking, which opened in 1978 and closed in 2012.

Chicago's Mayor Richard M. Daley posing with the staff of What's Cooking in the Lincoln Village Shopping Center after his breakfast meeting. (the early 1990s)

Lincoln Village shopping center was rehabbed in the late 1980s. It benefitted from an excellent location at the intersection of Lincoln Avenue and McCormick Boulevard within a dense city location. A rehab of the property was necessary to raise rents.

Negotiations were started with Borders Books and Barnes and Noble to replace the aging Lincoln Village Theater and act as an anchor for the shopping center in this neighborhood, which was rapidly upgrading. A lease with Borders was signed, and plans were prepared for a complete façade renovation in December 1999.

At the turn of the 21st century, Lincoln Village shopping center included the recently built building on and facing McCormick Boulevard, Just north of the original center buildings. It housed Subway, Quiznos, and a couple of other stores.

The original center consisted of these businesses: The Baby's Room, Fannie May Candy, Joseph's Shoe Clinic, Old Country Buffet, P.S. Plus Shoes, Kale Uniform, Sally Beauty Supply, Pierce Interiors, Bestcom Wireless, and GNC.

The property, which now encompassed five buildings and some outbuildings, included Starbucks, Panera Bread, Famous Footwear in an outbuilding on the corner of Lincoln Avenue and McCormick Boulevard, and Fifth Third Bank in their own building. The Boarder's bookstore closed in November 2016 and was replaced by a Ross Dress for Less store.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The story of Dr. Elijah Dewey Harmon, the "Father of Medicine" at Chicago.

Dr. Elijah Dewey Harmon

Elijah Dewey Harmon (1782-1869) was born in Bennington, Vermont, on August 20, 1782. He was the eldest son of Ezekiel Harmon, descended from John Harmon, who came to America in 1636 and settled in Springfield, Massachusetts. The Harmon genealogy now contains more than three thousand names.

Dr. Harmon studied medicine with Dr. Swift of Manchester, Vermont, and settled at Burlington, in that state, in 1806. He continued in practice there until 1812, when he entered the medical service of the government and served through the war. He was an assistant surgeon on Commodore McDonough's flagship, the Saratoga, in the battle of Plattsburg on September 11, 1814. After the war, he resumed practice at Burlington until financial reverses in 1829 brought about his move to the West.

In May 1830, he journeyed to Chicago and was installed as a surgeon in Fort Dearborn. For two years, he was the only physician known to us in Chicago. When his family arrived the following year, they brought his medical library, long unequaled in Chicago. When the cholera was brought to Chicago by General Scott's army in 1832, Hannon took care of the garrison through the epidemic. In the same year, Harmon did the first surgical operation in Chicago, which was the amputation of the frozen feet of a mixed-race Canadian.

In the spring of 1833, he preempted 130 acres of land next to the lake south of what is now 16th street, and he built a log house on the property and resided there until 1834 or 1835, when, in common with many others, he was seized with the Texas land fever and moved to that state. He settled in Bastrop, acquiring six leagues (26,570 acres) of land.

After five years in that sparsely settled region, he returned to Chicago in 1840 for the more profitable practice of his profession. His home was at the southwest corner of Michigan Avenue and Harmon Court (today's 11th Street), which was named in his honor.

Retired from active practice, he gradually withdrew and passed his final years in the cultivation of his lovely flower garden. He was called by the profession the "Father of Medicine" in Chicago. He died on January 3, 1869, at the age of 86. He is buried at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.