Wilmette Public Library Local History Digital Collection

Albert J. Braun (1911-1991) oral history

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Track 3: Track 3
Transcription: TRACK 3 RA: Yes, you want to continue? AB: The last I remember was before it was sold to the Bills Reality, bought the property and developed it. RA: Did they buy it directly, or did Henry Drucker buy it? AB: I think Henry Drucker owned it before Bill's bought it. RA: This was my understanding. That he had bought it, and he and his partners had taken what they wanted for their own purposes of, of, it and then he turned it over to Bill's Realty. AB: To Bill's Realty, who developed it. It was a sub-division. I forgot about Mr. Drucker. RA: Well, I have been close to the family over the years, and that was why I thought I knew this story. AB: Well, it was all swamp land. RA: Now that was before my time. AB: It was low-land. RA: I see. It wasn't farmed ever? AB: Oh, yes it was farmed, but RA: Grass? AB: Grass. And - well - parts of it were east of Illinois Road was farmable. Corn, and stuff like that. And there were parts of it on the west side that they could farm, but oh, along about fall, when you start getting the heavy rains, why the water would just lay in there all the time. RA: Well, was it - was it part of really part of Skokie Lagoons? Sort of? AB: Not - a - well it all emptied into the Skokie Lagoons, yes. And Hibbard Road used to be covered with water all the time, and that whole - before the CCCs came in and, and dredged it and made ponds and that in there and lagoons, that was nothing but water. At times it was impassable. AB: A car couldn't go through it. The water was up to the running board, or even higher. RA: Even after Harold Ickes development and putting in the - I remember that some of the houses along Hibbard Road in Winnetka were badly - AB: Well, they were always under water. Even as far east as Locust Road the water got - Oh - 3-4 feet in the basements. RA: For goodness' sake! AB: And my brother-in--law worked at: 999 - um - 995 Hill Road - and was only 2 houses in there at that time. 1001 which was Baker, and Howard Phillips. And my brother-in-law worked for Howard Philips, and I used to go over with him and they had 2 Evinrude pumps. And they'd have to start and keep pumping, and as fast as they were pumping it out, it was coming back in. But a… RA: Those were sump pumps, we call them now. AB: Well, these were - they weren't stationary. They were moveable. RA: Oh! Like for motors, of boats. AB: Well, they were bigger. They were regular - they were a sump pump but not the… RA: Not the permanently installed ones. AB: No, no. RA: Oh, yes. AB: And they had a pond there and they used to run the hose all the way up to the pond. I guess they didn't need the water in the pond, but that's where we'd run them anyway. And I would do this all for gratis just to help my brother- in-law, but then when the Skokie Lagoons was developed and they got all the lagoons in there, why that sort of took care of everything and there was no more floods and water. RA: Do you have any memories of - when it was flooded, what happened? AB: Well, like in the winter - like - that was all our ice ponds, all the time. And we used to, and I recall one time my Dad and I put on our skates over here in the back yard and we'd skate all the way to Glencoe. RA: For Heaven's sake! AB: And west as far as Waukegan Road. And stop in at Frank Eckels' and have a fast one. (laugh) RA: By a fast one you mean a beer - I am sure. AB: Well, I was too young to drink the beer but my Dad would have one to warm up to come home. RA: Oh, sure! Tell me - you said skates. Did you have the kinds of skates we know today?
Creators: Braun, Albert Joseph, 1911-1991, Interviewee; Adler, Rhea Saul, 1906-1990
, Interviewer
Media Type: Audio; Text
Item Type: Audiocassettes
Description: Interview with Albert J. Braun by Rhea Adler in Wilmette, Illinois, on October 15, 1978.
ABSTRACT

Interviewee: Albert J. Braun

Interviewer: Rhea Adler

Date of Interview: October, 1978

Account of Braun family, six boys and three girls
Farm of 25-30 acres — Truck gardens — Randolph Street Market
and South Water Street Market with horse-wagons
Indian Hill Estates developed by Henry Drucker - Streets
laid out - Turned over to Bill’s Realty - Swampland - Skating on pond - Drained into Skokie Lagoons

CCC Camp - (Civilian Conservation Corps) - Harold Ickes - Sump pumps needed in houses built throughout the area

Earlier times they were able to ice skate north to Glencoe in winter and west to Waukegan Road — Clamp-on skates - Playmates Bohnen’s and Braun’s and Borres — All relatives but Thalmann’s

Thalmann’s Grocery and Tavern — Now Wilmette Fire Station #2 — Tavern later a bowling alley - Ballroom during Prohibition - Old Gross Point band
Moonshining - Blind Pigs - Home Brew - Raids Judge Peters Warrants needed — Warnings given before raids were made — Contents of various liquors
Picnics held at Lake/Locust - Mostly family reunions - Several generations
Otto Kempe - Shoe shop - Paul, Mathilde, Walter
Ditmer - Shoe Shop - Lake Avenue

Dance halls of 1930’s — Weller’s tent - Waukegan/ Dempster - Kit Kat at Howard/Sheridan second floor, one on Peterson Avenue - Saturday night at Diamond Lake - Young people’s parties - Taverns of the 1930’s family affairs
Winkler’s Grove at Ridge/Lake

Stores on Ridge Road: Beuscher’s Hardware, Klinge and White Grocery
Segar Street now Schiller - Reinwald now Illinois Road - Blum Street and Brown Street

Families on south side of Lake Avenue — Goldbach, Zeutschel, Carrier, Ditmers, Spiess, Braun, Joe Thalmann and Millie Thalmann
Meier’s Ice Company — Wilmette at 1900 Washington (from Seltzer’s Pond at Hibbard/Illinois Road) stored in saw dust in barn

Annexation of Gross Point by Wilmette 1921-1926
Place of Publication: Wilmette, Illinois
Date of Original: 15 October 1978
Subject(s): Farmers
Prohibition
Oral histories
Gross Point (Ill.) — History
Personal Name(s): Braun, Albert Joseph
Local identifier: R 977.31 BR
Language of Item: English
Copyright Statement: Protected by copyright: Uses other than research or private study require the permission of the rightsholder(s). Responsibility for obtaining permissions and for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Copyright Date: 1978
Copyright Holder: Wilmette Public Library
Copyright Holder Contact Information: 1242 Wilmette Ave.
Wilmette, IL 60091
U.S.A.
Recommended Citation: Braun, Albert Joseph, and Rhea Saul Adler. Albert J. Braun. Wilmette, Ill: Wilmette Public Library District, 1978
Contact: Wilmette Public Library
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