rs yqur hotise over60?'

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1 ,Page'il Tht, Reporte'r Thtirsday, Aprif"SO, \1998 rs yqur hotise over60?' 1 :~ ~,,.-.::-, :r. r,.,,. (... ':..... r:.. ;,., '-': l?\.l.:.., :was you,r' h~use built in Oak :Lawn before 1940? If so, the Oalt_.; Lfl.wn. Public: Library Local History unit would like to photograph the hom,e. for t~e ~brary's Local History photograph collection. ;, The ~ Histo:r>: ~t will ~pon begin work on develo,j!in~ a list '. :ir.iji~~)"j~~~r!w}~;~1~fft\f!~~}ltp~w~~~i, ~ 1 1lL...,..,.q,J!J>~~~@~-W~.... tt " 'l""1 $, ", year i~i.was' built,':dktes of major exterior' aaditions, a title abstract or other':.,}tlstorical.record and 'historical photos to copy ,call.wµuam Goodfellow or Barbara Wolfe in the Reference Deparlmenfat {). I :,..'.' :;., :'.;,;:, :,..,.. {.! ~-

2 9538 South Melvina Avenue Oak Lawn, Illinois My parents Harry and Margaret Burke purchased the home at 9538 So. Melvina Avenue back in They were living in the Roseland/Pullman area of Chicago at the time. My mother and her brother Bill Grace were driving west on 95th Street ( a two lane dirt road at the time) enroute to go swimming at Maple Lake. Swimming was allowed there in the past. On one of their trips along 95th Street they saw a sign advertising homes for sale near 95th & Ridgeland Avenue. My mother talked my father into taking a trip out to Columbus Manor to look at the homes. They must have liked what the saw. They bought a home that was not built. They had the home built at 9538 So. Melvina Avenue. (There is an artists drawing and a newspaper article from the Chicago Hearld and Examiner, August 28, 1932 attached). The article explains the cost and financing arrangements of purchasing the home. The artists drawing shows the lot size and the floor plan of the home. My mother must have talked her sister into buying a home as well. Her sister Bernice and brother-in-law Art MacDonald had one built just to the north on my parents home at 9534 So. Melvina Avenue. (My sister Mary Brandt now lives in that home). The homes had the same floor plan but built just in reverse. They were built close together with a common driveway between the two homes. The common driveway seemed like a good idea at the time but gave us some headaches in The sisters could stand at their kitchen sink and talk to each other through the kitchen windows. The distance between the two houses was about 22 feet. Mom told me of her and her sister actually making Melvina Avenue. There was no road south off of 95th Street, only the path that the construction vehicles had made when building the houses. My mom and aunt Bernice hauled clinkers and cinders in buckets to fill the mud ruts and holes in what is now Melvina Ave. ( Clinkers and cinders, oh that is what is left over after heating your home with coal). Melvina came as far south off of 95th Street as the common driveway between these two homes. The newspaper article indicates that there were 235 homesites in this subdivision. It also states that 4 families had already purchased and had the homes built. My guess is that two of the families were the Burkes and MacDonalds. As far as I can tell there were seven such homes built in the Columbus Manor area. Three on Melvina and four on Merton Avenue. Only one has been torn down to make room for the Walgreens Drug Store at 95th and Melvina. It was situated on the west side of Melvina just south of 95th Street. I believe the original owners were the Carrels. It was later owned by a family named Peters. The remaining homes are my mothers and now my sisters at 9538 and 9534 South Melvina Ave. and the others are on Merton Avenue at 9517 (which is the one featured in the newspaper article originally owned by the Theres) 9611, 9729 and Some of the family names in those houses were

3 O'Connor and Blaha. As I understand it, these homes were a kind of do it yourself kit. I think just the outside shell was put up. The homeowner had to finish the inside. I don't think there was wallboard on the inside. The owners had to put up the insulation, drywall and such. The article mentions about digging a basement. It appears that most if not all seven homes eventually had a basement put under them. I know ours and my aunts next door had a basement dug and a cement basement put in. I can remember that it was a big project. The house was put on jacks all around and raised up and then the basement was dug out and the cement forms installed. I don't recall ready mix trucks back then. The cement was mixed right on the site and then poured into the forms. We had a dug basement before we had the cement put in. I can recall being in the basement tending to the coal furnace. We had a coal bin with a coal bin door on the side of the house. The coal was delivered by truck (I think from Brandts coal yard) and put on a conveyor belt and loaded into the coal bin. Later we switched to fuel oil and then later to natural gas. I have attached a photocopy of the home taken in 1992 and one from back in the forties. I have the actual photos if you need them. I also have some more photos of the area back in the thirties and forties. My father passed away in 1964 and my mother continued to live in the home until her death Christmas Eve Sixty Four years in the same home. She was 94 years old at the time she died. She was quite involved in the community in her time. Columbus Manor Womans Club, Columbus Manor Garden Club, Judge of Election at the old fire hall. She and another lady, Mrs. Henninger founded and ran the "Sugar Bowl Canteen" which was a dance for eighth graders and high school students every Saturday night. It started at the Harnew School and was later moved to the Simmons School. I guess that I got off of the house story a little bit but, it is important who lived in the house as well. They go together. Growing up in Columbus Manor is a whole other story. Maybe I'll work on that. J. :)J.. /'/ f;_ Please feel free to call; home ~-5892, work 815/ Michael J. rke 8751 South 52nd Avenue Oak Lawn, Illinois 60453

4 ~ SUNDAY. AUGUST CHICAGO HERALD AND EXAMINER--- A PAPER FOR PEOPLE WHO THINK 4-ROOM HOME FOR $2,650 IS BARGAIN WHICH DELIGHTED FAMILY OF FOUR,; This is an ad for the home that my parents bought in See the finance arrangements two pages ahead. -~ "'tr ~-'! -:, r. -.! _ PRIDE OF OWNERSHIP-r-Mrs. W. C. Theres views rjm the front porch of a four-room ho~s~ ~n Merton av., ju~t south of Ninety-fifth st., a new subd1v1s10n where four fam1-1ies, including her own, ha,c obtaine~ their o.wn homes ~or \$2,650. Above is the Theres home, mto which the family 'moved three weeks ago ~

5 PAYMENTS MADF. EA8V. "'\Te require A hig-h dm,l'n Pl}' ment. $600. anrl month!~ p::1yme11h ol i:m. O!l th"t bs:1c:i!i 1he prop~si-, tir,n pr~ 11 ('lilt in R JitflP nq r fh.. 1, r~::irs, Rnd the family ha.11 SJ hoth!! ;lhr.t-if thpy have heen abl~- tcldc''. ; l th,. work we left fnr th<'m to (ff--' ;,has a ca.sh, ajue (If 2.t least.$3.llo. 1 : Being a J1quidation company,, e i did nnt have to makn an I prdit ; on thp. bcluse. merely get our morry ; out of the la'nd, and we are «ii ing it. I ''The houses are set olidlv tn l cedar posts. set four feet in. ~e, ground, below the frost line, so t'rfr : will never sag. They have no baje : ments. The man can dig his ofn : basement in his spare time, a d j build his basement walls out ot ie! ment blocl,5. En ry man we h:1-'e! solc.l so far has already started!', ba:o.ement. Evel'y sl» so: Ct "Tii, he throw!.' out adds at Jec1st a dille \ to the v&lue of the place. I..,., f "' n e ound that five of the sivdh isions were suitable to what re call our 'farmette' plan. \Ve started ~-e firs~ one six_ty d13~ s ag-o. tt in~tr-fift h l"t. iind Rid:relancf 11' in unincnrpnrnfc'rl t~rritorv adiol I n:: 'h ~ t c"' n t:>f Oak La 't>.'~. Th(C ~ ~ ~~~ h 't _-- --> ome s1 S in it. Four bui1- in::~ are complet'!'d and occurid,!n0thn i!!!.bout to b~.;tarted.'' ' i w 1. I )~ COME AND SEE FOR YOURS[Lr Homes That Cost $5000,n 1929 BEING BUil T FOR $ Our business is liquidation. We must dispose of numerous homesites at a fraction of their value throughout the Chicago area. To do lnr4 We Are Building Homes at COST YOU SELECT YOUR OWN PLANS $ Ca~h- Bdl~nce Lik.e R.~rif ~~d You O~ n Y ovr Hnm~,n Fiv~ Y ~~r~ 1 : Chicago I -- For the Next 2 Weeks We Offer 95th and Ridgeland Ave. {b400 WEST) O,-;,, 011t '""' S 1, Tl,, _,,. I I 11111t.,-Cu11 l i11c~ )',--,,,r_,, lf - I>, /11,/1 1,, 11,!01{ i11 Fil'e Y carj. Reaity Finance Co. 7 SOUTH DEARBORN-CHICAGO - PHONE: ANDOVER I JJ t

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7 Photo!)ecem b e c 1992

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