RR224: Construction of Prudential Building in Chicago, IL & Rail Yard – 1955

This image restoration shows the ongoing construction of the Prudential Building and the Illinois Central Rail Yard in Chicago, Illinois as seen in Feb. 1955.

Construction on the Prudential Building (now One Prudential Plaza) began in 1952 after the purchase of the railroad property. Prudential paid just under five million dollars for the site, signing an agreement with the Illinois Central and the Michigan Central Railroads, a subsidiary of the New York Central Railroad, for the 16 acres overlooking Grant Park.

On December 8, 1955, the 42 story building, the first skyscraper in Chicago since the depression of the 1930’s, opened for business and still stands in the Plaza though now shadowed by taller surrounding buildings.

PE085: Boy with Orange in Front of Frigidaire Refrigerator – 1930.

This restoration from the original glass plate negative shows a young ruddy-cheeked boy caught by the camera with an orange in front a newer Frigidaire electric refrigerator in the kitchen of his home in Chicago, IL in the 1930s.

RR071: Splintered Car on Illinois Central Train at Champaign, IL – January 1899.

A wooden car in an Illinois Central Railroad train is crushed from the impact after this train crashed into an ICRR Steam Engine and tender in Champaign Illinois on Jan. 6, 1899. Restored from the original glass plate negative.

SP015: Players & Fans Stand for National Anthem at Wrigley Field, Chicago – Aug. 1953

Players & fans stand for the National Anthem before the start of the Chicago Cubs – NY Giants game at Wrigley Field at Chicago, IL on Saturday, June 27, 1953.

Chicago players identified in this image are: No. 2, Randy Jackson (3B); No. 21, Eddie Miksis (SS); No. 3, Hal Jeffcoat (CF); No. 6, Bill Serena (2B) and No. 7, Frank Baumholtz (RF).

The Cubs won this game 2-1 making their record 21-42-1 at this point in the season. They were coached by Phil Cavarretta & finished the season with a record of 65-89, 40 games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers in the National League.

The Giants finished slightly better at 70-84, 35 games behind Brooklyn.

The NY Yankees beat the Dodgers in the 1953 World Series 4 games to 2.

RR046a: Railroad Derailment in the Midwest, Possibly Illinois – circa 1910.

Restored from the original glass negative, this circa 1910 image shows a major derailment at an unknown snowy location in the midwest.

Uncertain whether the accident was due to a headon or other reason, it is also unknown whether the engineer & fireman in the locomotive on the right survived.

TN147: S. State St. Chicago, IL – c1953

View of the business district on South State Street near the intersection of West Monroe Street in Chicago, Illinois circa 1953.

Some of the buildings on the left side of the image still remain. Evans Fur Co. a major fur supplier at the time, had their headquarters in the white building on the left. They went out of business in 2000 and the upper half of the building is now condos.

TN129: Norshore Theater, Chicago, IL – 1949

The Norshore Theater and Howard Bowling Alley stand in the middle of an entertainment district on Howard Street in Chicago, Illinois in July 1949.

The theater was closed in 1957 and demolished in late 1960. An office building was later erected on the spot occupied by the theater in 1966. That building was also torn down and the site is now part of the Gateway Centre Plaza.