Saturday, May 8, 2010

Where is 2338 W. Washington Blvd.?


Now that I have introduced the family who lived at 2338 W. Washington Blvd., I would like to show you a photo of the house . . . or any house where they lived. Unfortunately, none of them seems to exist anymore, and I have not been able to find a photo - yet. Another huge issue is where are the addresses actually located. Chicago has changed the street names several times so I am not positive of the location. I know there are lists that tell which street names were changed, and then I used a city directory to find the location of the specific address. It quickly became very confusing! I have looked at Google maps and there is a Chicago school bus blocking the empty lot that WAS 2338 W. Washington Blvd. However,I assume that it was similar to the houses across the street, and so I "walked", through the technology of Google Earth down the block to St. Malachy's where my grandfather, Edward Phillip Kennelly, was listed as a graduate in the June 26, 1915 Chicago Daily Tribune.

But what about other homes? My first entry showed his family in front of a door with the numbers 1418 written in what appears to be chalk. This would indicate that it was an address that had been recently changed. They were listed as living at 1418 Fulton Street in the 1910 census and 1910 city directory. As I check Google Earth again,it zooms to a lone apartment building that looks possibly old enough but there are trees blocking a good front view so I can't compare it to the photo easily. If this is not the place then it was most probably identical. They rented and this definitely looks like a multi-family dwelling. I wish I knew how to download an image from Google Earth. I am almost as consumed with following and finding my ancestor's housing as I am about finding them. An image of 2338 W. Washington Blvd. exists only in my mind. House genealogy. . . . hmmmmm?

1 comment:

  1. On a mac i can us shift-apple-4 to capture any screen image. it saves as a png. i too have roamed the streets of google earth looking at vacant lots and sometimes a house still standing. hate those big trees that block the address. well, don't hate the trees, don't like that i can't be sure of the numbers. if you are not on a mac, don't know what to do. might google "image capture".

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