The Elmwood Park Public Library's Local History Blog

EPIC First Issue

eppllocalhistory — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 19:58:13 +0000

The latest addition to the Library’s Local History collection is the first issue of EPIC, the student newspaper of The Elmwood Park Community High School, dated September 12, 1955. You can view the paper’s coverage of Sports, Clubs, The Administration and more by clicking here.

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Hidden History

eppllocalhistory — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 19:44:30 +0000

Coming soon: Russ will be featuring a special history presentation here at the Elmwood Park Library on Wednesday evening, October 27th, at 7:00 pm. “Hidden History: a Look at Elmwood Park Houses and the People Who Lived There” will highlight over 50 different local residences with a brief historical attachment to each. You will see a variety of architectural housing styles throughout the Village, and learn a bit of local history behind each house. Perhaps, your residence may be highlighted, or your neighbors, or the one down the block. You will not want to miss our original showing of this program highlighting a unique aspect of our history in Elmwood Park. Admission is free. “Hidden History” is presented as a special program under the sponsorship of The Friends of the Elmwood Park Library. Stop by the Library, register for this program, and become a member of the Friends.

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Tonight! Plan of Chicago!

eppllocalhistory — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:39:10 +0000

Author Dave Clark will be stopping by the library tonight at 7:00 pm to give a lecture on the 1909 Plan of Chicago by Daniel Burnham. Burnham’s plan laid the foundation for the city and continues to be influential today. You can read more about the Burnham Plan by clicking here.

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History in the Making

eppllocalhistory — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:09:22 +0000

If you go to our Flickr page, we have a new set up photographs up called History in the Making. This is a collection of photos taken around town over the past couple years that show what modern life is like in Elmwood Park. We would love to get some of your photos from any era of local landmarks, social activities, and anything else of historical interest for our collection and site. You can email materials to Russ Parker at rparker@elmwoodparklibrary.org or mail them to Russ Parker 1 Conti Parkway Elmwood Park, IL 60707.

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Kiddieland 1929-2009

eppllocalhistory — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:10:21 +0000

Riding the Bumper Cars at Kiddieland. 1973.

After 80 years, the cherished local amusement park Kiddieland gave its last ride on September 27th. Located just west of Elmwood Park at North and 1st Avenue in Maywood Park, Kiddieland has served as a getaway for area children since the Great Depression. Started by Arthur Fritz in 1929, Kiddieland began with only a few ponies but eventually added bumper cars, scooters, and the famous Little Dipper rollercoaster. Kiddieland will certainly be missed. We have more pictures of Kiddieland on our Flickr page for you to enoy. Please share your Kiddieland memories in our comments section.

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A Village Grows: Fifty Years of Life in Elmwood Park is now online

eppllocalhistory — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:45:03 +0000

Our LSTA Digitization Grant Project is now online and complete. A Villiage Grows: Fifty Years of Life in Elmwood Park is our collection of 408 photographs and artifacts from the first 50 years of the Village of Elmwood Park. We hope that you enjoy the collection and if you have any stories or can supply any missing information about any of the items, please let us know in the comments section. We would love to hear from you. We would like to thank the Illinois State Library for all their help putting the collection online.

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World War II Memorabilia

eppllocalhistory — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:49:49 +0000

Through the generous donation of Jonathan Charnes of Elmwood Park, the Library recently received several World War II uniform pieces belonging to his father, Alvin Charnes. Lt. Alvin E. Charnes was a U.S. Army Air Force pilot of a B-24 bomber in missions over Germany, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Austria and Italy. He was a member of the 719^th Bombardment Squadron and 449^th Bombardment Group (H), United States Army. Lt. Charnes’ World War II A-2 jacket, U.S. Army Air Corps khaki dress coat, U.S. Army Air Corps blue dress coat and a life preserver vest with inflatable gas cartridges worn by the air crew on his B-24 bomber. Lt. Charnes’ crew flew a complete combat tour of 50 missions from October 1944 through April 1945. Alvin Charnes resided at 908 Linden Avenue in Oak Park, Il. You may view several of these World War II photos right here at this site.

The Elmwood Park Public Library is planning a special Veterans Program on Wednesday, November 11, 2009, at 7:00 PM in the John Ferrentino Meeting Room. Our special guests will be local veterans from all wars and conflicts. Many of our veterans will speak about their wartime experiences. If you would like to participate as a speaker, please notify Russ Parker, (708) 395-1218, at the Library. In attendance will also be several members of our local John R. Beck VFW Post 1891. This is an excellent opportunity to see and hear first-hand what our local heroes had to endure in the trying times of war. You can view the documentaries and read the books, but do not miss this rare opportunity to witness true accounts of battle-time activities. Several of Lt. Charnes’ military memorabilia will also be on display. See you on the ^11th!!!

Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: charnes history world war two

Fifty Years of Elmwood Park is Temporarily Offline for Maintenance

eppllocalhistory — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:00:43 +0000

We are working on adding more metadata to the photographs, so we’ve taken the project down for a while. In the meantime, you can still view 150 photographs from our collection on our Flickr page. We should have Fifty Years back up in about a month. We will keep you posted on our pr0gress.

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Reminder!

eppllocalhistory — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:52:09 +0000

The Elmwood Park Local History Center is always looking for any items pertaining to our Village history. Items such as area newspapers (pre-1971), telephone books (pre-1985), pictures of streets, buildings, people from the past, or any other interesting bits of local history are always welcome and appreciated. If you wish to donate or lend to us, please contact Russ at (708) 395-1217 or rparker@elmwoodparklibary.org.

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Additional Spring Hours

eppllocalhistory — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:48:17 +0000

Russ has scheduled more open hours for April and May. Feel free to stop by and visit him. Of course the Local History Room will remain open by appointment as well.

Tuesday April 7th 2-5 pm

Wednesday April 8th 9 am – 12 pm

Thursday April 9th 2 – 5 pm

Saturday April 11th 9 am – 5 pm

Wednesday April 15th 10 am – 12 pm and 2 – 5 pm

Thursday April 16th 10 am – 12 pm and 2 – 5 pm

Tuesday April 21st 9 am – 12 pm and 2 – 5 pm

Wednesday April 22nd 2 – 5 pm

Wednesday April 29th 2 – 5 pm

Thursday April 30th 2 – 5 pm

Friday May 1st 9 am – 12 pm and 1 pm – 5 pm

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