I see the Moon. 

              by Rosalie Bock

                 June 2008

Augusta Boulevard is a street that goes from the ridiculous to the sublime.  When I was growing up Augusta began at Willard Court, and continued westward to Oak Park.  Today, while it still goes to Oak Park it begins at the Kennedy Expressway., which was built in 1960.  Until then on the East side of  Milwaukee Avenue there was a bridge above a Railroad yard where they switched freight cars from one track to another.  

There were whistle codes that the railroad engineers used to convey their actions as they moved the cars around.  This yard was never quiet.  There was actually one signal that required the engineer to blow the whistle 13 times in succession. Interestingly, these sounds tended  to disappear when you lived there long enough.  In fact, at night, it lent a certain feel of security to hear these behemoths sorting themselves out.

Because it is a Boulevard, Augusta had the most beautiful Streetlamps.  They were tall graceful standards made of iron and painted black that held a beautiful round globe under a cap of metal.  We had one right in front of our house.  Even when I was very little, I could sit on the floor and look out the tall living room windows at “my moon”.  Almost every picture we took outside the house was taken around that streetlamp.  Aunts, Uncles, and other varied victims stood patiently before the post as someone used a “Kodak Brownie” camera to catch their picture. 

Most of the time it appeared in the photo that the lamppost was growing out of your head, but if there were a few of you, it didn’t look too bad. 

These are two of my aunts, posing with me.  In the background you can see on the left, an old water tank, and a large gas tank that held natural gas.  The building over my Aunt’s shoulder was a meat packing business.  All of these disappeared when they built  the Kennedy Expressway.  The meat packing company was not missed because they burned their refuse and the smell was awful. 
 

During World War II we had air raid drills.  Everyone had to shut their house lights off, or cover their windows with heavy drapes to prevent any light from showing.  These blackouts were meant to show citizens how to hide from foreign aircraft should they come overland to bomb cities here.  This was a scary time, the whole city of blacked out, my moon was gone, the stoplights were out, and  time seemed to stand still.  A designated air raid warden would walk the streets to be certain that their area was blacked out.  We sat in the window and watched our warden in his hard hat walk by swinging his darkened flashlight. 

In this picture, Mr. Ross, the Scoutmaster at the Settlement is instructing Air Raid Wardens about their responsibilities in the Gymnasium of the Northwestern University Settlement House.  Please note the fake windows and old world designs painted on the walls. This room was used in many ways including Polish Dance recitals so the décor was in keeping with the neighborhood makeup. The Chicago flag to the right predates the official Chicago Flag.    Miss Vittum, Head Resident of the Settlement is there among the volunteers. 

The War Years were a scary time even for those of us who lived far inland.  I was always very happy to see my moon light up again after these drills. 

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