Uppers & Downers Grove a small history

I Put My Famous Downers Grove License Plate Frame To Work

2015-11-05T14:58:00.000-08:00

Ever since joining a Downers Grove Facebook group I have been a little slow to update this blog. So I thought why don't I upload here what I have uploaded there? I have been taking photos of DG through an eBay purchased license plate frame. It seems to get some attention.

This is the original blacksmith shop on the corner of Maple and Main,

A long oil train was passing in back of me so I was able to stand in the middle of Main St. for this photo.

There was a string quartet playing during the recent art fair.

Yes, ice cream!

The park district offices.

The biggest tree in Downers Grove, and maybe DuPage County.

Our Post Office.

The world famous Tivoli movie theater.

The Downers Grove Post Office post card

2015-09-21T13:13:00.000-07:00

I have been buying Downers Grove stuff on eBay for a long time. This post card of the Downers Grove Post Office showed up on eBay and I knew that I had to have it. For some strange reason this particular card was in Paris, France. How on earth did it get there. It wasn't sent. There is no stamp or message on the card. I asked the seller to take a picture with the card. He obliged.

I believe his name is Mercredi. He had just been let go by Xerox in France and was making a little money selling on eBay.

This is the Post Office on 21 September, 2015

The 1976 Downers Grove 4th of July Parade

2015-05-28T14:54:00.001-07:00

This home movie is almost 40 years old now. You might detect some cynicism as you watch it. The Vietnam War ended a year before. I survived it but over 58,000 others didn't. I guess I wasn't in the mood for a lot of flag waving and super patriotism.
July 4, 1976 a video.

Today, 27 May 2015 was a great day for cloud watching, period.

2015-05-27T12:02:00.001-07:00

Some folks dislike parking decks. Ours is wonderful. Take the elevator to the top and see the world differently.

"Someone You Should Know" Harry Porterfield and crew payed your's truly a visit.

2015-04-08T10:48:00.001-07:00

Between the long mid-west winter and rotator cuff surgery I haven't posted in a while. However, the public relations angel payed me a visit a few weeks ago in the form of channel 2's award winning journalist, Harry Porterfield paying me a visit. Mr. Porterfield produces a segment on WBBM Chicago called, Someone You Should Know. It did feel a little odd being on this end of the camera.

That's Camera man Mike, Harry Porterfield and me talking car videos.

Maybe I should have kept my hat on my head.

Mike, Harry and myself enjoying some video of the Downers Grove Friday Night Car Show

And this is the final result of that visit. It appeared on Friday the Third and on Monday the Sixth of April.
VIDEO From WBBM Chicago- Someone You Should KnowAlmost the big time... VIDEO
Almost the big time....

A Leather Post Card from 1906

2014-12-28T14:33:00.000-08:00

This is something I never knew existed. I guess leather post cards were all the rage a century ago. I'm guessing from this card that a fellow named Harry, way back in the summer of 1906 had a bit of a falling out with his girl friend Bertha. If you have a different slant on this please let us know what it is.

Winter can't be far away. Somehow all I can think about is, "Greetings From Downers Grove".

2014-10-13T15:28:00.000-07:00

The stamped, "Greetings", announcement on this card is similar to that on earlier uploaded card.

Is it my imagination or does there seem to be a bit of poison in this greeting.

There have been other cards proclaiming the virtues of living in Downers Grove.

I really prefer card with a message on them but sometimes one just can't be picky. I actually did marry a girl from Downers Grove.

There's nothing on the back of this card either.

I can't seem to be able to read cursive anymore. Are there any translators out there!!???

Jiffy Remedies or Dr. Scholls What ever happened to Jiffy Remedies? Downers Grove

2014-09-02T12:44:00.000-07:00

Maybe when I go to the drug store Jiffy Remedies is still there but difficult to find. When I started collecting this stuff I assumed that Jiffy was long gone. I'm probably right but I could be wrong.

I think that this product is way passed it's expiration date mainly because there is no printed expiration date.

Did Dr. Scholls walk all over Jiffy Remedies?

Damn, did I get lucky or what!!??? Downers Grove

2014-07-17T18:11:00.004-07:00

I've been searching eBay for years looking for Downers Grove stuff, junk, memorabilia, junk. I have never come across this license plate frame before. Can this be the only one in the world? Can it be the treasure I think it is??

I can't begin to imagine all the uses that there are for a prize like this,,, besides going on the front of a car.

I already have a few of these. Their role is to be fixed to the top of a license plate frame. In this instance that would be redundant.

WOW!

Rotaryfest or is it Rotary Fest or is it? The Downers Grove Carnival!

2014-06-30T14:18:00.000-07:00

Rotary Fest is over for this year. It is walking distance so I always spend some time there. It is difficult to get much done in town that week end so one might as well go to Rotaryfest. I did take a few pictures.

I did spend 10 Dollars for Alligator on a stick. It was dry, too salty and in my opinion over priced. Speaking of prices why aren't prices posted?

"The Heart Attack", fair warning.

I always enjoy the car show. It's free to see.

If you get to the car show in the morning it is usually not hot yet. Car shows like this can be brutal in the sun.

After I saw what there was to see at the car show I walked through the ride section of Rotary Fest and caught a glimpse of the carnies getting their instructions and pep talk for the day.

The Ring of Fire is one of the scarier rides and I thought I would take a closer look at it.

You will never get me on that thing. I have flown in a number of vintage aircraft but you will never get me on that thing.

The ride is held up with strong wire, chains and binders. Those are the red things attached to the chain. I spent a few summers as a truck driver when I was going to school and this is not the way we set the binders.This is a video on the use of the binders. Pay close attention to what he says about making the bind more secure.

Normally to make the binders more secure the chain is wrapped around the handle to keep it tight and to avoid any possibility of the binder popping open. When the ride is in operation these wires, chains and binders do a bit of vibrating and shaking.

After bringing this to the attention of the RotaryFest people the binders were wrapped in chain. In what manner was this ride checked for safe operation?

A Cloverleaf Dairy clip board with a calendar. It still works! No batteries needed!! Downers Grove

2014-06-01T13:20:00.002-07:00

Today is June 1 and the calendar from 1950 is right on. It needs no batteries!

The Downers Grove Centennial was in 1932. I have a ribbon to prove it.

2014-06-01T13:16:00.001-07:00

Some who participated in this event must still be around.

Wouldn't it be something if the person wearing this ribbon was also riding in the car with this license plate.

Chickens are coming back to Downers Grove! Cock a Doodle DOOOoooooo!

2014-05-20T14:12:00.000-07:00

A century ago the big name in chicken coops was Potter. The Potter Company was at the end of the commuter line, Downers Grove, and supplied many of our chicken needs. The Potter house still stands today.

This catalog is 128 pages long and has everything one needs to raise chickens. Do our new chicken farmers know what they are getting into?
Perhaps there will be a Chicken Club again with it's attendant awards.

Downers Grove citizens speak up, "Keep your God Damn gumint hands off our plastic bags!!!"

2014-05-08T11:49:00.002-07:00

THE OFFENDING GARBAGE BAGS ARE NO LONGER THERE. In a show of unity the good folks of Downers Grove demonstrated to big and little "gumint",with a park way protest. To let all the world know that they won't part with their plastic bags the protesters tied plastic bags to parkway trees.

Some might call it ugly but others call it a beautiful exercise in free speech. Power to the people!

"The plastic bags will have to pried from our cold dead fingers before we give them up!" Show your support now by tying your plastic bags to parkway trees.

URINE!? How did they get it in the bag?

Arriving by train in Downers Grove in 1976.

2014-04-20T18:03:00.002-07:00

Arriving by train in Downers Grove back in 1976.
https://vimeo.com/92475585

1925 - Back in the days of Animal Sex and Transvestism on the streets of Downers Grove

2014-04-07T16:09:00.000-07:00

I came across the Downers Grove book of General Ordinances recently. When you read the ordinances that were written you soon realize the problems that Downers Grove faced back in 1925.

Apparently large animals having sex on Main Street was more than the citizens back then could handle. This is one problem that seems to have gone away. I wonder if this ordinance is still on the books.

I understand that the 1920's, before the Great Depression were sometimes rowdy but I never in my wildest imaginations knew it was a problem here. It seems transvestism and nudity was a serious problem on the quaint streets of Downers Grove back then.

Now, the worst thing one can find in Downers Grove is the current adult entertainment ordinance. Maybe I'll post that here one day.

A Christmas Thank You Note - December 26, 1911 Downers Grove

2014-03-25T09:02:00.000-07:00

This card recently arrived from Vallejo, California.

Oakland, California must have been a very small town back when this was sent. There's no street address mentioned at all.

I am proud to have this in my collection.

License Plates of Downers Grove

2014-03-15T16:55:00.001-07:00

Long before there was a tax on rain fall in Downers Grove, there was an automobile tax. It came in the form of a license plate for your car. I'm not sure when this tax started and I don't know when it ended. Perhaps somebody out there can give us a clue.
Thanks, The Management

Downers Grove - The lost CD, "A place where depression and despair are at home."

2014-03-03T15:41:00.000-08:00

We've all heard of the book 'Downers Grove' but did you know there was also a CD titled Downers Grove. It had nothing to do with 60515 or 60516. It was about the downer state of mind.

Maybe he nailed it by accident

Yes, haven't we all been there. I can't believe that this musician has never been here.

A sampling of the CD's lyrics.

I have searched the internet many times looking for Downers Grove stuff. I'm fairly sure that there is only one Downers Grove in the world. This fellow seems to have created another.

Bill Stillwell Buick How many Buick dealers has there been in Downers Grove?

2014-02-12T14:12:00.000-08:00

This came in the mail today.

Before Stillwell Buick it was Baughman Buick

This was the Buick menu. If you go to this address today you get the Emmett's menu and Buick isn't on it. If you visit on a Friday evening during the summer you might find an old Buick parked in front of it. This would probably just be a coincidence.

I discover The Kelmscott Press in Downers Grove.

2014-01-07T14:57:00.001-08:00

It seems that most of my life I have been familiar with Johnson Printers and The Downers Grove Reporter. Then this post card leapt from the past. How far in the past it came from I don't know. Perhaps a Downers Grove historian can fill me in.

Smokers rights in Downers Grove

2013-12-24T08:57:00.000-08:00

The exercise of our freedoms is always important. If you don't use your freedoms they might disappear. Ballydoyle in Downers Grove is a bastion for smokers rights.

How many communicable diseases are represented in those butts?

Is there an active health department in DuPage County?

Very slick intersection, Grove and Carpenter. Downers Grove

2013-11-26T15:42:00.001-08:00

I posted this video on the Village of Downers Grove FB page. It isn't there anymore that I can see. If I am wrong let me know. I'm not that well versed about Facebook. I little bit of snow turned the brick sections of Grove Street and Carpenter Street into an adventure. This was on the 25th. VIDEO Grove & Carpenter

Walker Motor Sales 933 Curtiss Street, Downers Grove, Illinois

2013-11-24T10:42:00.000-08:00

I came across this matchbook on eBay. This is the first time I have ever heard of this Buick dealership. Most are familiar with Baughman Buick. Can anyone tell me some history of this dealership?

If you bought your car at Walker Motor Sales you would have a smile on your face, so I am told.

If you didn't buy your car at Walker Motor Sales, possibly bad shit might happen. This would make you sad and put a frown on your face.

933 Curtiss as it appears today.

Duellman's Motel on Ogden Avenue in Downers Grove

2013-11-04T17:24:00.002-08:00

I drove by there today, November 4, 2013. This is the first time I have ever stopped to look at the place. I have never stayed there or even thought about it. It was probably a nice place at one time. It is easy to imagine a rendezvous at this motel on the highway many years ago. If you have a story to tell, please do.

The cars in the post card look late 1960's. What stories those rooms could tell.

Oh how I wish someone had written a note on this card. It would have been very easy to weave a wicked tale around it.