These superb photos from Downers Grove, Illinois, apparently a two-Jewel town in the early 1960’s, were taken by Donald Hodges and come to us through the courtesy of his son Paul. These photos have a lot of detail, so you'll want to click on them to see the enlarged versions. Downers Grove is 19 miles west of Chicago in DuPage County. In the early 60’s, “Downers” (as many residents lovingly refer to it) was well along in transition from a once-rural area with a quaint downtown to a full-blown suburb. Today Downers Grove, along with DuPage cities Naperville, Lisle and Wheaton (among others) form an affluent suburban corridor that is home to a growing number of corporate headquarters and has long been considered the “hottest” part of the Chicago area in terms of growth. Many of my near west suburban peers from high school and college days have migrated to DuPage in the last 25 years. Despite the area’s tremendous growth, Downers Grove has done an admirable job of preserving a “small town feel” in its thriving downtown area.
The first photo, from June 1962, shows the Downers Market Shopping Center, which was located at the intersection of Ogden Avenue (US 34) and Saratoga Avenue. In addition to the Jewel, the center featured a Woolworth’s and the locally owned E-G Home Center among other stores. Barely readable at the corner of the Jewel store is an oval “Burny Bros.” sign, a popular Chicago bakery that had departments in many Jewel stores of the era. As a kid, I can remember riding with my parents as they drove on I-294 and passing the Burny Bros. bakery plant in Northlake with its pink sign glowing at night. The plant later was later operated as an Entenmann’s facility and is now something else, I believe. Maybe the most interesting aspect of this photo for those who grew up in the area is the sign for Texas Tommy’s Silver Dollar Coffee House (Yee-ha!). I’ve never seen any interior photos of this long gone restaurant, but I have to think it sported wagon-wheel chandeliers. Or should have, at least.
Not long ago, the original shopping center was razed and a modern (and massive, by comparison) Jewel-Osco now sits on the entire site. One other note about this photo – behind Texas Tommy’s sat another supermarket. I’d love to know what it was.
The second and third photos are wonderful February 1961 views of Main Street (you expected some other name?), and in addition to the tiny, porcelain fronted Jewel there can be seen a Walgreens (back when soda fountains were a given at these) and a tiny Sears store that would have been either a Type “C” store or catalog desk store, in addition to many other local favorites.
To provide a bit more detail, below is a close-up (cropped from the second photo) of the Main St. store along with a line drawing of the same early 1950's prototype.
Update: I happened to find a newspaper article about the downtown store's grand opening in my files after I posted this. From the Chicago Tribune, dated August 23, 1951: GALA CROWD OF 6,500 HELPS OPEN STORE IN DOWNERS GROVE - "A gala square dance jamboree was held in Downers Grove last week at the opening of a new Jewel Food store in the village. Downers Grove Police Chief O.A. Springborn estimated the crowd at 6,500, more than half the village population. Some 14,020 hot dogs, ice cream bars, soft drinks and sacks of popcorn were consumed. Thousands of gas filled balloons added to the merriment. A 7 foot helium filled balloon belonging to Oscar Mayer broke away from its mooring. A $50 reward is being offered for it return. Six groups from Downers Grove, Lombard, and Oak Park gave square dance exhibitions and instruction."
Those were the days. And that hot dog-shaped balloon must still be floating around up there somewhere, don't you think?
The images capture a fleeting moment in time when malls and downtown co-existed in not exactly harmony, but something closer to that than what was to be a few years later. Scoring two Jewel store back then must have been a mark of pride for Downers Grove.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Steven. They're from that brief era of coexistence before downtown stores began disappearing en masse. But even that type of shopping center version is a thing of the past, at least in that small scale. The current Jewel-Osco takes up the entire space of the old Jewel, the home center, the Woolworth's and more!
ReplyDeleteThese are some great pictures, Dave! I love the look of that precious sign in the first photo. Neon nostalgic.
ReplyDeleteAny more pictures of this Jewel? I grew up in Downers Grove and my parents still live there. They will get a kick over these pictures!
ReplyDeleteDidi- I agree. It's one of the very best I've seen, reflecting a type of individuality that you just don't see much of anymore.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - Sure wish I did have more. I would certainly post them. Thanks, and hope your parents enjoy them.
The Jewel/Osco on Ogden was the same building as recently as 2003. I used to work near there and would shop during lunch. A real nice lady was cahsier during mid day and she reminded me of the nice service workers from 60's shopping with Ma.
ReplyDeleteBut store was threadbare, and was torn down in '04, replaced by new Jewel/Osco. The right most storefront was a craft store and was closed in 2001, til teardown.
Tomcat - I knew it had to be fairly recent. The new Jewel totally dwarfs the original one.
ReplyDeletesore behind coffehouse was a hi low
ReplyDeletestore behind texas tommys was hi lo.another grocery store.it later became a burpes garden supply center.also behind texas tommys sign post was a small drugstore,between jewel and woolworths.it was called sundrugs.you can barely make out its brickfront.across the street from texas tommys was yet another grocery store,national.it is now a pool supply company.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - Thanks so much for that information! I've definitely wondered what the second supermarket in the shopping center was. I knew it wasn't a National, but wouldn't have guessed it was a High-Low. they are largely forgotten today, but actually had quite a few stores in the area in their heyday. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteBehind Texas Tommys (Next to E-G Homecenter) was later "Floorshow Carpeting" which closed in the late 80's. The store was vacant until around 2001 when Burpee Garden moved in. The entire plaza was torn down in the summer of 2005 and a NEW jewel was built.
ReplyDeleteWhat great photos! I live next to the Jewel that's there now. It's still considered the "little Jewel" in Downers Grove. The E-G Home Center is the store that really evokes nostalgia for me. It was a great hardware store in Downers that was on two stories and sold a variety of paints, lumber and general household goods - like a much small version of a Home Depot. They always had a huge container of rubber balls in the center of the store for sale and my father would usually buy me one each summer so we could play kickball. I have great memories of going there as a child with my dad.
ReplyDeleteJulie – Thanks so much for filling us in on a bit of the history behind these wonderful photos! I’m glad this helped to bring a fond memory back for you. The “little Jewel” has grown quite a bit, based on what I’ve seen! And the E-G Home Center harks back to that time when retail wasn’t totally dominated by the large chains. (Rubber balls are still a great “impulse-buy” item, though!) Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteI lived there from 1945-1968 and loved that town. Sure wish someone had done a composite panorama of the main street. Prince Pond was a favorite place along with Gilbert Park.
ReplyDeletefrom '45 - 56, so many great memories. Too cold for me now, lived in N Texas since '68
ReplyDeleteA wonderful place to have grown up. My 5 kids were born in Hinsdale Hospital. Hi to all in DG
As a preteen in the mid 70’s, I used to go to EG Home Center regularly. It had a downstairs level with a surprisingly good arts and crafts department, including plastic scale models, paints, etc. It also had a large file of water-soluble decals, including glow-in-the-dark stars of various sizes on a sheet, which I put on my bedroom ceiling and as a kid looked quite like the night sky.
ReplyDelete