April 15, 2016
Michael - I graduated from Downers Grove (North) High School in 1964. A
favorite place to sneak a few beers or make-out on Saturday nights was a short
drive away on Butterfield Road that was at the time rolling farm land. The
last class reunion I attended, we drove out Butterfield Road and it was all
built-up, totally transformed. In fact, I hardly recognized parts of
Downers Grove such as Odgen Ave. My family lived in a new at the time ranch
style home on 55th Place where it was not unusual in the Fall to have pheasants
in the yard from the nearby corn fields. Anyway, that's what happens when you
live into your seventh decade, the world has largely passed you
by..... Always enjoy seeing your "modern" railroad photography. Best Regards -
Louis
Louis Zadnichek II
Fairhope, AL
I was away from the
Chicago area between 1984 and 1999 and was positively flabbergasted upon
return to see how built up it had become. When I left there were corn fields
between Downers Grove and Naperville and now it was wall to wall development.
Even more startling was along the IC Iowa division, when I left you could stop
at the crossing at Army Trail Rd and see nothing but fields and farm houses,
but when I came back I couldn’t past the first layer of strip malls! And
yes, it's now development all the way out to Sandwich, which makes for a very
depressing drive when I head out to fan the Mendota sub.
Thank you kindly,
Michael Matalis
Downers Grove IL
And you can now find me and my fine felines on
Facebook
It
is hard to imagine, even for an old fart like myself who grew up in the
Chicago Suburbs and remember when there were great expanses of “prairies”
(vacant lots) when I was a kid, how much the Chicago area has
changed.
REA
is a good example…..the UPS and FEDEX of the day, REA used to do a great
business and was an integral part of many people’s lives. Ditto,
at a little earlier era, local freight service in the Suburban
territory. And, going back even further, Milk Service and
support for farm products, both inbound and outbound, even including what is
now within the City of Chicago.
While
“commuter” service is strong on the Aurora-Chicago line, the railroad used
to be more important for people getting into the city in general and for
city folk to get out of the city to escape the heat and get some fresh
air.
I
was surprised the last time I took Route 34 to see how urbanized it
is…..nothing but SUVs and Shopping Centers all the way past
Sandwich!!!
Looking
at Chicago proper and all the suburbs and close-in cities and seeing where
there were once industries employing people making goods one has to wonder
about where we are in these times and if we didn’t make a wrong turn
somewhere along the way…..
Charlie
Vlk