Wilmette Public Library Local History Digital Collection

Albert J. Braun (1911-1991) oral history

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Track 5: Track 5
Transcription: TRACK 5 AB: So, he would issue the warrant, then they would come out and they couldn't find anything. And, the mash that they made the whiskey of, where they would never think of going to look for it, we had out in the hog pen. We kept the hog feed. So they would never think, "Well, what's the smell out here?" "That's pig slop, the pig's dinner!" RA: Tell me, what was the mash made of? AB: Corn, sugar, water and it all depended on what you were going to make, like the - if you were going to make gin they put juniper berries in it, for the flavoring of the gin, and the kinuitel - and that was just made of regular corn whiskey and then you would boil sugar and make a real sweet syrup and mix it, and that's where it got that thick taste - thick runny fluid and the sweetness came from the sugar. RA: I see. Oh, so they made various kinds of alcohol then. AB: Made everything! RA: Everything! From gin, whiskey, beer. And it all had a corn base? AB: The beer didn't. RA: The beer didn't. AB: The rest if it did. RA: Was the malt raised around here? For the... AB: No? You'd buy it in the stores - the hops and the malt. You'd have to go to the store to get the... RA: I see. This is very interesting, because I've heard various accounts, but nobody's ever gone into it in the detail you have. AB: No one was - everyone was afraid to admit it. RA: No - Lloyd Hollister, before he became too ill, told about a judge, I believe he must have been a circuit court judge downtown, but he lived out west of the ridge, and he buried a number of cases of alcohol in his yard, and then he couldn't find it when he went to move. And it's a delightful story. AB: Well, we - when they had the Million Dollar Ball Room over there, why there was a regular track between the ball room and over here. RA: I can believe that! That's very interesting and a very good account. What were some of the things - did you have family picnics or gatherings? AB: Yes we did. We usually had them along on Lake Avenue, right across from where the school - the Mormon Church is now, in the grove, where they pastured the cows, and that was ... RA: On the north side of Lake Avenue? AB: Yes. RA: That's in Indian Hill Estates, now. And those were ... AB: And we had one Braun picnic at - where Lambolts, you remember where Augie Lambolt used to live? RA: Oh, yes! AB: And we have a picture - how many are on there? 200 and some? RA: Of your family! AB: Of the Braun family, yes! RA: That is amazing! So some of them lived - Lambolts, as I remember it was quite a bit south. AB: South - off of Golf Road. RA: That's right. AB: But they were all right here in the area. RA: Yes, but spread over quite an area, if there were 200 of them AB: Well, that's from the grandchildren to the RA: The great-grandchildren of your grandparents. AB: The last one they had was in '39. RA: I see. Do you have any idea of when the Braun's first came to the area?
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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