1930 Oak Park and Chicago
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- čas přidán 10. 12. 2009
- This is 16mm amateur film showing the neighborhood around the old Oak Park Arms hotel in Oak Park, Illinois. There are also a few scene taken along the Chicago shoreline. The park near the end is Garfield Park.
The narration was added in 1996. The film is set to play back at 16 frames per second.
This is fabulous. I grew up in Oak Park and I'm always fascinated to see other people's home movies of the place. This is an especially fine one, great photography, smooth camera shots, a pleasure to watch. Many thanks for posting this!
Are you going to upload the videos from 1974?
Such a wonderful idea to add the audio from the viewers! I wish my Dad were still alive to add his commentary to my old films. Love this.
This was such a great video of a time gone by! Playing in the snow and the dog was priceless! Thank you so much for posting this! ❤
This was so relaxing. Wish there was more. Thank you
This was great, thanks for putting this up. I love Oak Park, it's a great place to live.
cushingpushing never knew you lived in Chicago
It’s amazing to listen to the man talk about his boyhood while watching him in that leather helmet hat and striped knickers love it! 👍
I live off of Kenilworth and Lake St., in Oak Park and this is so fascinating to see this old footage of Oak Park! You are so lucky to still have this in great condition. Thanks so much for posting this. I've only seen Oak Park in photos but this was so much nicer!
Great video and narration! This belongs in archives of the history of Chicago! Thoroughly enjoyed! Thank you for sharing!
I grew up in Minnesota and this video reminded me so much of growing up later in the 1960's and the snow! Thank You so much for posting this video.
I grew up a few blocks from here and so did my dad. He would have been about 13 at this time. Thanks for posting!!
Thank you my parents and grandparents lived in Morgan park
Great video! I have watched it many times. Grew up on Chicago side of NorthAve and remember the architecture well. Great quality and narration.
Just discovered this gem! John Meyers’s films are such treasures.
Cathy, YOUR films (folks, this was taken by Cathy's grandfather) are the treasures!!
I do feel somewhat bad because -- and I'm sure you noticed -- this CZcams film is much better-looking than what I delivered to you. A few years after I did your transfers, I figured out how to do film restoration, using technology that was not available back when I was just transferring and digitizing the film, but nothing more.
If I sent you a disk drive back then with the original transfers, you could send it back and I'll do the restoration for you. I know I sent DVDs, and I could restore from those, but the result wouldn't be quite as good.
I can also add that Jim McClure was a scoutmaster when I was in Troop 16 and he and his wife attended the Troop 16 100th anniversary.
Wow! So interesting to see the neighborhood way back when. Thanks!
Absolutely fascinating view of Oak Park in 1930. More please !
Search my channel for "Oak Park" and you'll find almost a dozen more. Search for "River Forest" and you'll find another dozen. Search for "Chicago" and you'll find still more. Make sure to go to my channel ("johnmeyer77") before you do the search.
Thanks for posting! I really enjoy watching actual footage from "old" Chicago!
Garfield Park is the name (Washington & Hamlin)
Wow, this footage is amazing.
Thanks for sharing!!!
For Chicagoans, at 2:29 you are at approximately 313 Oak Park Ave. and looking north towards Randolph - the street immediately past the three houses on your right. The three houses on you're right are still there and perfectly restored.. The mansion across the street however, was torn down and replaced with an apartment building in 1957, ironically the year I was born. Those three houses on you're right were built in 1898 for about $2,000 apiece, and are now valued at about $500,000 each. Those 3 houses can also be seen from above at 3:46. What a wonderful look into the past.
Dave Hansen Thanks!
Great video ; thanks for posting it .
Great vid! Didnt know such high qualtiy video existed in 1930. Must have cost a fortune. So cool to have video from such a time. My grandma was born in 1917, and we probably only have a couple dozen pics of her, most when she was 60+ years old. She was captured for a couple seconds on a wedding video in the early 90s! Id give anything to have vid of my grandparents at such a young age. Jealous!
A Lot of great hats. Great video thanks
Great footage--thanks.
My Grandmother was 15 years old in 1930 and lived in Elmwood park not too far away.
Outstanding!
neat video! Thanks for sharing!!
i used to lived in chicago in 1998 well its great to see this video am from mexico
very nice i was brought up in chicago but yes very nice in the 30's hope u are still around sir!ah! the dog was happy ! columbus park was a nice park i guess in your time before they took some land away for the 290! u are so blessed!
I grew up at 844 Washington, 1st floor, in the building on the northeast corner of Washington and Kenilworth. When it converted to condos, they needed a name and named it after my mother who was the longest tenant there at about 60 years - it is now called "Kinzer Court". I was also in Troop 16 which had it's 100th anniversary in June of 2016 and a very nice celebration. My always energetic mother eventually moved to the Oak Park Arms at age 86 but was not as happy as she thought she would be. She said she "didn't like being around old people"!
What a wonderful video this is. Actually, at 9:08, they are skating in the West pond at Garfield Park, and looking directly east. - the back of the Garfield Park Field-house - the Golden Dome Building (1928), A brand-new building in 1930, and which still stands today.
Very cool. My great grandfather Arthur Lorenz built the Oak Park Arms Hotel in video.
Hi Mr. Meyer. Love your Chicago films and admire your restoration work. I had left you a private message through CZcams as well as a Google+ inquiry. I'm a researcher on a documentary film with a Chicago component, and am trying to reach you about possibly incorporating a small section of your Oak Park film in the documentary. Best, Ed Engel
0:54 to 1:43 is actually at Randolph and Oak Park Avenue. Where you see the kids in the snow that is looking at the SW corner of OP & Randolph. When the panorama swings you see West on Randolph around to the North then North on Oak Pak Ave then towards the East looking down Randolph (the car is turning from Southbound Oak Park Ave to Eastbound Randolph St.).
That car was FLYING 🤣
3:37 is looking N/NE up Oak Park Ave. You can see St. Edmund in the background in the short swing-around to the East..
At 9:10, that looks like Columbus Park, with the Greek Orthodox Assumption church at Harrison and Central in the background.
"BEAUTIFUL"
This is very interesting, I wonder what was in oak park before the expressway.
Thanks from Oak Parks tree historian since settler planted American Ash I am trying to preserve from Emerald Ash Borer is in one shot of Western view down Washington on next cross street. Helps me estimate its age around 120. There is also an old Basswood/Linder down that way, an 98yo Guernsey Elm on Oak Pk. arms corner still there today and those two Sycamores up across Oak Park av. which were only 10 years old in shot.
The cars were traveling rather fast not to have traction control in all that snow.
This was back when all were men.
I noticed that to. 🤣
It was a private ownership and the carriage house caught fire in 1913 and rebuilt. The building was demolished in the 1960’s. Just wondering if you could remember or know of anything more.
Loved you video of Oak Park. Do you know anything about the tower clock that was in the carriage house at the John Farson/ Herbert Mills Home? I would love to know any history of it. thanks!
Tower clock? I definitely do not remember any public clock display on a private home. I agree that it would be an interesting story.
You mentioned First Presbyterian Church and that is where our family went. Back in the 1960's the minister was Dr. Watermulder as I recall. Also, each week two little old ladies drove to the church in their ancient Baker electric automobile. In the large church house next to the church, at the top level, was a little observatory dome that had a nice donated refractor telescope in it. You can see the dome on Google Earth. It is on a slightly higher roof section at the southern edge of the church house building that has the parking lot just north of it.
I have many pictures of the church, circa 1960. This includes pictures of the observatory, some interior shots, a few shots of Dr. Hill, Dr. Watermulder's assistant, and a few shots of the church interior, the chapel and even the organ.
My dad was head of the committee to replace Dr. Watermulder when the Pres. church transferred him to PA. For better or worse, they chose Dr. Killam who was, for that era, pretty radical and quite political. People left in droves, and that was then end of First Pres.
@@johnmeyer77 It is interesting to hear that history. My brother became a Presbyterian minister probably from the impressive influence of Dr. Watermulder. I recall he had quite a presence and when he shook your hand, you knew it. When the church changed so much, I remember my father complaining saying, "It's just a club now." My parents joined the Episcopal church across the street. That seemed like sort of big switch to me, but they liked traditional services and that's what they got. Very similar to Catholic services. I used to joke about the advantage of the Episcopal over the Catholic saying, "You get all the pomp and none of the guilt". Their ashes are in the columbarium of that Episcopal church. I know about the observatory from being in Troop 16 with Jim McClure as scoutmaster, and then Allen B. Hamilton after Jim. And I looked through the telescope that was there at the moon. Jim McClure was very good friends with my father who was an amateur scout leader and became Council Commissioner and then District Commissioner. So we had the local scouting big wigs over at our apartment frequently. I especially remember Cliff Peterson who I think was the ranking professional scouter. Our apartment was in the building at the northeast corner of Washington and Kenilworth and it is now named "Kinzer Court". When they converted to condos and couldn't think of a name, they named it after my mother who was the longest term tenant there.
@@trainliker100 I have pictures of the basement where I think the scouts often met. Scott Replogle was in the troop 16 scout program back in the mid-1960s.
@@johnmeyer77 Yes. I remember Scott and he was in Troop 16 overlapping my tenure there. He is a few years younger than me as I recall. My father was friends with his father Art Replogle - through Scouting, of course. Yes. We met in the basement with those weird sort of windows high up on one wall. I'm sure I still have keys to the outside door and the Troop 16 room doors but I suspect they will no longer work. Troop 16's camping equipment (such as the big "ten man" tents) was stored in another area of the basement that was somewhat catacomb in nature with some brick arches and areas as I recall.
@@trainliker100 OK. Here's a treat for you:
photos.app.goo.gl/e2pZhmNFYeYxZR669
You'll see many of the things you described.
Was there mansions on the NW corner of Oak Park Ave and Randolph? It looks so different now.
Is it me or does everything look bigger back then when looking at Oak Park Ave and Randolph? It looks totally different now.
WHAAAAA ITS 2021 RIGHT NOW AND OAK PARK IS SO DIFFERENT to that
*But I’m in ireland*
Nice video
Thank you Norman Family lived on North Harvey Ave
am glad that my daughter was born in chicago in 2005
Is the narrator a relative of yours? We live in Oak Park on the corner diagonal from the Oak Park Arms hotel, and many of the houses in this footage are still standing. This is really cool.
Sandra Escobar Yes, that is my late father, in 1996, watching the silent film and describing what he remembered. You'll also hear both my mother and me.
Liked and subed
The park you can't recall is Garfield Park
cool
Watching the Scouts I wonder how many ended up in the Armed Forces during the war and how many older men were WWI vets.
Yeah, what stormyhawn said!!! Your family I presume??? I 'm signed up with the Forgotten Chicago website as well as the FC facebook group...We party looking at these gems!!! LOL!!! Thanks!!!
At about 9:20 the park is Garfield Park - I recognize the conservatory in the background. My mother used to take us there in the spring to see the flowers when we were kids in the early 50's. I remember those paralyzing snow storms too. Everyone just dealt with it. We stayed home from school. My dad stayed home from work. My mom was always at home with us anyway. That WAS her work. We had a blast. No TV. No computer. No cell phones. Life was good.
class of 89 OPRFHS
This Is Extrodinary
Wow to have the money to have a camera like that lol
Hopefully this guy is still around and will be able to watch this when AI colorization catches up with it.