[Oe List ...] 5th City Auto Center

[Lynda Cock]

Jim Jewell and Jim Baumbach, two men I recall with the cameras.  Indeed
wealth of history you hold.  If there is a place for such in the Archives
project or the Repository, I hope you will bequeath some of your digital
findings where we can all share. Do you have a good one of Lela that you
could share on line? With gratitude,  Lynda 

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From: oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf
Of Jim Baumbach
Sent: Friday, December 04, 2009 7:22 AM
To: Order Ecumenical Community
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] 5th City Auto Center


Long before Google produced their first set of city pictures, I wandered the
streets of Fifth City photographing many different structures including the
razing of the chapel, administration building and the gym at 3444 Congress
Pkwy.  Driving past the vacant lot where the Auto Center used to stand so
proudly, always left me with a very empty feeling.  It wasn't until I
started digitizing my negatives, recently, that I once again relived the
fantastic event held in Fifth City.  The day of the ground breaking for the
Auto Center.  From Cathy Byrnes (daughter of Jane Byrnes, previous mayor of
Chicago) to the Marshall HS Band, and all of the familiar faces of Fifth
City, one by one, speaking in a packed Washington Hall of the Community
Center about the wonderful promise and symbol this edifice represented.  The
ground breaking, itself where so many people symbolically pushed their
shovels into the soil on that cold February day in 1983 was an event rivaled
only by the Fifth City Plaza dedication 8 years earlier.  I always wondered
about the sad tragedy of the Auto Center that held such a promise of
possibility of creating jobs for the local residents.

Thanks again for the Google update.

Jim Baumbach

W. J. wrote: 

Of course those of us who are Google 'spies' knew that. Apparently the City
took it down after the title holders gave it back to the banks and they
walked away. That would be my best guess. Now it's a fenced parking lot,
rather than an abandoned hulk that would pose a threat to the community from
'unauthorized use.'
That's probably also the reason so much of 5th City is now vacant lots.
The silver lining in this sad story is that many of the formerly glass- and
brick-strewn vacant lots from Kedzie down 5th Avenue to the Community Center
are now vegetable gardens. 
Marshall


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From: Jim Baumbach  <mailto:wtw0bl at new.rr.com> <wtw0bl at new.rr.com>
To: Order Ecumenical Community  <mailto:oe at wedgeblade.net>
<oe at wedgeblade.net>
Sent: Thu, December 3, 2009 4:00:52 AM
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Google Maps: view of 5th City Iron Man

Thanks Marshall.  It is possible to tour all of Fifth City with the Google
views.  Sadly all of the residences where Alice and I lived for 10 years
there are gone.  I would like to know if anyone knows what happened to the
5th City Auto Center.  It is completely gone.

Jim Baumbach

W. J. wrote: 

This Google view shows the Iron Man withe the 5th City Community Center in
the background and the shopping center to the right.
Marshall

<http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en
<http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&client=safari&q=fifth+avenue+and+Kedzie+C
hicago+map&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=S+Kedzie+Ave+%26+W+5th+Ave,+Chicago,+Cook,+Illi
nois&gl=us&ei=TGkXS4iOGpSesgOk_OiwDg&ved=0CAwQ8gEwAA&ll=41.877009,-87.710874
&spn=0.000663,0.004039&t=h&z=19&lci=com.panoramio.all&layer=c&cbll=41.877009
,-87.710873&panoid=cx1m3GxOxOFDyjM7qlwdxw&cbp=13,68.5,,1,-0.02>
&client=safari&q=fifth+avenue+and+Kedzie+Chicago+map&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=S+Ked
zie+Ave+%26+W+5th+Ave,+Chicago,+Cook,+Illinois&gl=us&ei=TGkXS4iOGpSesgOk_Oiw
Dg&ved=0CAwQ8gEwAA&ll=41.877009,-87.710874&spn=0.000663,0.004039&t=h&z=19&lc
i=com.panoramio.all&layer=c&cbll=41.877009,-87.710873&panoid=cx1m3GxOxOFDyjM
7qlwdxw&cbp=13,68.5,,1,-0.02>

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