Wilmette Public Library Local History Digital Collection

Albert J. Braun (1911-1991) oral history

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Track 10: Track 10
Transcription: TRACK 10 RA: What kind of a floor did he have for dancing? AB: They had & regular wooden floor. They built a floor - I I don't know if Winkler's grove was still up here on the Ridge, when . . RA: Now Shootie Schneider mentioned Winkler's grove. And that's at Ridge and Lake. AB: Where the A&P - Jewel is now. Yes. And they had the - oh, like the Wilmette Days carnivals, they had a big dance hail there and they had something going there every weekend, or at least once a month there. Some kind of doings in there, just a big floor with a wooden rail around, that a, I guess you paid a dime or a quarter, and you'ld get a stamp to a, for the privilege of dancing. RA: Oh, yes. Now tell me. You mentioned Thalmann's store - you mentioned the shoe repair places - two of them. What other businesses were there that you recall? AB: Well, there was Beuscher's Hardware, Klinge and White, the grocery store . . RA: And where were they? [bad tape]
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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https://www.wilmettelibrary.info/

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