More From Kiddy Town
Today I am featuring a second group of photos from Kiddy Town, Illinois. See the first group here.
When I was researching my Kiddy Town posts, I knew nothing about the place, not even where it was located. At least the photos seen in my first post gave the name of the park, which was a good place to start - but it's a pretty generic name.
This photo helped! Cook County Mobile Homes? I was born in Cook County (Evanston, Illinois to be specific). Did you know that it is the second most populous county in the United States? Only Los Angeles has more hu-mans.
The water tower in the background was another useful clue. Only a few letters were visible, but Wikipedia helped me to narrow it down t o Norridge. One of the villages in Cook County, Norridge is just a few miles east of Chicago/O'Hare International Airport. Somebody on flickr took a more recent photo of the same water tower.
This photo helped! Cook County Mobile Homes? I was born in Cook County (Evanston, Illinois to be specific). Did you know that it is the second most populous county in the United States? Only Los Angeles has more hu-mans.
The water tower in the background was another useful clue. Only a few letters were visible, but Wikipedia helped me to narrow it down t o Norridge. One of the villages in Cook County, Norridge is just a few miles east of Chicago/O'Hare International Airport. Somebody on flickr took a more recent photo of the same water tower.
9 comments:
Well son of a gun! Isn't it cool how we can now search stuff out?
Obviously I have too much time on my hands, but if you look up 7233 W. Cullom Ave., Norride, IL on Google Maps and do a street view looking NW, you'll see the same houses as in your third photo--albeit with grown-up trees and all. That should pinpoint the park!
That should be "Norridge, IL" of course.
I love seeing these smaller kiddie parks. There was one along PCH in Torrance that my family used to go. I'm surprised to see an adult in one of those tiny boats. It looks like there's also a grown man riding in the little helicopter vehicle in that last pic.
The signage that is visible just to the left of the water tower looks like the silhouette of a clown....probably a scary clown.
Thanks to Bryce for providing the link. I love those kind of comparisons. Too bad this little park no longer exists.
Bryce, thanks for the address! I had found the general area, but it is cool to see those same houses today. It's strange that the water tower seems to be gone, or at least doesn't show up from this angle.
Major, The water tower is there, but it is located a few streets further to the north than what you would think by looking at your vintage photo. It just shows up as a white circle, but if you double click on the aerial view for a street level view, you can see it up close and personal. It's amazing how little those houses across from the kiddy park have changed.
That is a cool water tower for sure.
And the park too.
JG
I showed these pics to my mother-in-law and her sister, both who grew up in Chicago in the 50's and 60's, and they confirm that this is Kiddieland, not Kiddy Town. They visited this park on numerous occasions, and even had birthday parties there.
Amber, if you click the link to my first post, there is a sign that says "Kiddy Town" - and it mentions a firetruck and birthday parties too. It would be confusing with such similar names.
JG, there is a water tower near my grandparent's home in Austin Minnesota, and I always know I'm nearly there when I see it in the distance.
TokyoMagic!, ah, there's the tower! It IS further away than you'd think. If you look at the postcard that I linked to in my first post, you can see a different sign with a scary clown - it must have been their theme.
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