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| Postcard: South Water Market, Chicago, Il (click on the image to enlarge) |
Just west of the Chicago Loop there once was a busy produce market that supplied fresh vegetables and fruit for the city of Chicago. That market now exists only in history books (the buildings were converted to condominiums in 2006), but in 1936, the year that I was born, South Water Market was bustling. News of the comings and goings on the “street”, as it was called by the people who worked there, was published in the Chicago Fruit and Vegetable Reporter.
On Jan. 10, 1936 the following notice appeared in the Reporter:
An Eight-Pound BoyA little over five years ago a certain important cog in the Produce Publishing Company, scooped all by getting himself married. At that time he did not divulge his marriage for months, presumably a real market reporter by keeping secrets to himself. During the entire period we who see him day in and day out offered the proverbial raspberry. You know about a cat and dog, or what have you. Well, lo and behold, we get the dope this morning that Mrs. Charlie Thompson gave birth to a bouncing boy, eight pounds and all. And, between you and me this guy we call “Tommy” is so excited that he just had to quit quoting a market today for fear he might have baby throughout the entire paper. Congratulations Tommy from yours truly and the rest of the gang, and I’m sure the “Street” join with me in wishing you and yours the best.
—Chicago Fruit and Vegetable Reporter, Jan. 1936
A clipping of this notice was pasted into my baby book:
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| Page from a baby's book |
Mother Hazel's comments were written in 1942, six years after I was born. At that time Tommy and Hazel had separated; Hazel was living in Montana and Tommy was away from Chicago serving in the Army Air Corps. When Tommy was discharged in 1945 he came to see us in Montana, but a reconciliation was impossible. I never saw him again.
South Water Market has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM72ZV_South_Water_Market_Chicago_IL
The Chicago Planning Commission granted their approval July 10, 2003 on the sale of the 78 year old produce market for approximately 36 million dollars. Developers turned the six buildings into one, two and three bedroom loft apartments that are now called the University Commons.
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| Downtown Chicago, viewed from the University Commons |
According to the developer:
"University Commons is situated immediately adjacent to the University of Illinois (Chicago) campus, one of the most dynamic and energetic academic communities in the country with an enrollment of over 20,000 graduate and undergraduate students. Together with adjoining University Village, where 900 new homes are being built, this has become Chicago’s most sought-after new neighborhood."
See more at:
http://www.dkcondo.com/managed-associations/university-commons-ii/#sthash.lGZfD1cd.dpuf
After the close of South Water Market, the Chicago International Produce Market was built to provide produce for the city; market news is provided by the US Dept. Of Agriculture. The Produce Publishing Company and the Chicago Fruit and Vegetable Reporter no longer exist.
