06-19-2008
( Reply#: 2065 ) |
Jim R |
It caught on fire and burned to the ground.It was the first big fire I'd ever seen as a kid, thats why I remember it so well.
Harding Class of '67
Morton Class of '72 |
06-19-2008
( Reply#: 2066 ) |
wvcogs |
Cj,
The Bluebird was located south of the Nickel Plate tracks at 6857 Kennedy on the NE corner of Kennedy and 169th. (not that I have any personal experience with the Bluebird, of course)
Ken... |
06-19-2008
( Reply#: 2067 ) |
seejay2 |
Burned to the ground!?!? Really!
When did that happen? All my young life was in Hessville (until someone stirred up that Nam thing)until I was around 25 and moved to Highland, not that far away. How did I miss a fire like that? Do you remember when it happened or anything about it? Dates are really important to me about this.
Just for you, Ken, I'll tell about you my one and only visit inside that pillar of elegance a bit later today.......Cj |
06-19-2008
( Reply#: 2068 ) |
duane |
See page 3 for a brief history on how Hessville came to be.
No reference to Hessville lumber, tho.
http://www.hammondindiana.com/January2003news.pdf |
06-23-2008
( Reply#: 2076 ) |
Jim R |
Sorry, I don't have a date for the fire, my best guess from memory would have it aprox. 1962/1963, give or take. My father heard about it on WJOB, and threw the family in the car and drove by on 169th. I went back a couple days later on my bike to see the remains.
I thought that there was a Sinclair gas station on the NE corner of Kennedy and 169th? Had the white oval sign with the green dino on it. They had an air pump with a little crank on the side that you cranked to change the numbers to the pressure you wanted, and when it stopped dinging, you had the right amout of air.
Harding Class of '67
Morton Class of '72 |
06-23-2008
( Reply#: 2077 ) |
wvcogs |
Jim,
You're right about the Sinclair station. The Bluebird was just north of it, not on the corner. In the 1961 directory, the Bluebird is listed as 6857 Kennedy and the Sinclair station is listed as 6861 Kennedy. Sorry for not looking a little more carefully when responding earlier.
Ken... |
06-24-2008
( Reply#: 2080 ) |
seejay2 |
Hey kids!
I talked to a cousin of mine last night that was on the Hammond FD since 61. He wasn't at the fire and doesn't remember much of it. He did tell me to check with the fire inspector since they hang on to all of the old files for insurance purposes. I intend to do that and will let you know if I find out anything worthwhile.
The address there was (is) registered as 6835-37. According to the 63-64 directory, the attorney Puchowski is still listed there, so you are pretty close with your recollection, Jim. You know the Bluebird burned too---shame! Maybe there was an airhole to Hell located there somewhere that erupted.......Cj |
07-04-2008
( Reply#: 2097 ) |
svea3 |
Now about that Sinclair station; was the fellow who worked there, Homer? I just remember getting the dinosaur.
[:I] Linda
|
07-12-2008
( Reply#: 2111 ) |
m10bob |
In Shep's program about being a paperboy, he describes the businesses along Kennedy (from his childhood) and mentions the lumberyard.....
In Hoc Agricula Conc
In Est Spittle Louk |
07-12-2008
( Reply#: 2112 ) |
wvcogs |
The earliest Hammond city directory that I have is 1929 (actually, I have just the Kennedy Avenue pages) lists Hessville Lumber and Supply at the same location. So, it certainly was there at the time Shep lived on Cleveland St. The lumber yard was about a block and a half south of and on the other side of Kennedy from the Pin Bowl that we've heard so much about.
Ken... |
01-04-2010
( Reply#: 4471 ) |
nitti |
quote:
Originally posted by wvcogs
The earliest Hammond city directory that I have is 1929 (actually, I have just the Kennedy Avenue pages) lists Hessville Lumber and Supply at the same location. So, it certainly was there at the time Shep lived on Cleveland St. The lumber yard was about a block and a half south of and on the other side of Kennedy from the Pin Bowl that we've heard so much about.
Ken...
Site looked quiet so I'm scanning some old posts.It doesn't look like the Lumber yard location was ever resolved. My two cents - I remember it being under the original overpass just west of Van Til's on 169th street. In the vicinity of the video store that's now there. |
01-04-2010
( Reply#: 4472 ) |
wvcogs |
quote:
Originally posted by nitti
quote:
Originally posted by wvcogs
The earliest Hammond city directory that I have is 1929 (actually, I have just the Kennedy Avenue pages) lists Hessville Lumber and Supply at the same location. So, it certainly was there at the time Shep lived on Cleveland St. The lumber yard was about a block and a half south of and on the other side of Kennedy from the Pin Bowl that we've heard so much about.
Ken...
Site looked quiet so I'm scanning some old posts.It doesn't look like the Lumber yard location was ever resolved. My two cents - I remember it being under the original overpass just west of Van Til's on 169th street. In the vicinity of the video store that's now there.
Nitti -- I don't know if there was a lumber yard on 169th Street, but Hessville Lumber was located as mentioned earlier on the east side of Kennedy just north of the Nickel Plate tracks. A spur went off the Nickel Plate line right on to the lumber yard. There were ads in the Top Hat yearbook until 1960 for Hessville Lumber, 6837 Kennedy Avenue. I walked past it almost every day for four years headed to MHS -- that is except those days I walked down Alexander and crossed the tracks near where Van Til's was built.
Ken |
01-04-2010
( Reply#: 4473 ) |
nitti |
quote:
Originally posted by wvcogs
quote:
Originally posted by nitti
quote:
Originally posted by wvcogs
The earliest Hammond city directory that I have is 1929 (actually, I have just the Kennedy Avenue pages) lists Hessville Lumber and Supply at the same location. So, it certainly was there at the time Shep lived on Cleveland St. The lumber yard was about a block and a half south of and on the other side of Kennedy from the Pin Bowl that we've heard so much about.
Ken...
Site looked quiet so I'm scanning some old posts.It doesn't look like the Lumber yard location was ever resolved. My two cents - I remember it being under the original overpass just west of Van Til's on 169th street. In the vicinity of the video store that's now there.
Nitti -- I don't know if there was a lumber yard on 169th Street, but Hessville Lumber was located as mentioned earlier on the east side of Kennedy just north of the Nickel Plate tracks. A spur went off the Nickel Plate line right on to the lumber yard. There were ads in the Top Hat yearbook until 1960 for Hessville Lumber, 6837 Kennedy Avenue. I walked past it almost every day for four years headed to MHS -- that is except those days I walked down Alexander and crossed the tracks near where Van Til's was built.
Ken
I'm probably mixing it up with the Lumber yard on Columbus drive in Indiana Harbor under the origial overpass just West of Euclid - that also burned down. |
10-18-2010
( Reply#: 6141 ) |
TestPattern |
[/quote]It doesn't look like the Lumber yard location was ever resolved. [/quote]
Okay, here my recollection of Hessville Lumber as a nearby neighborhood kid, plus details about the Lumber Yard fire. I was one of the Alabama "dead end kids," called so because our block of Alabama dead ended at the Lumber Yard property. They had large piles of sand and coal that was a great playground for us, as long as stayed out of sight of the yard workers.
As memory serves for the history of the property, Alabama had extended across the railroad tracks. At some point, the lumber yard bought the property east of Alabama and they got the city to vacate the street so they had uninterrupted access to the land. I do not know what year the street would have been vacated.
Hessville Lumber was south of the Luchene's property on the east side of Kennedy and north of the railroad tracks.
Their property line meandered a bit so I'm showing a map (outlined in red.)
[IMG]http://i54.tinypic.com/10mq8f5.jpg[/IMG]
If you look at a "clean copy" of a satellite map of the property, you can almost see where the concrete slabs for the buildings still remain. There may have been another narrow building (marked Other) between Luchene's and the Lumber Yard office. I have a vague recollection of there being a door at the north side of the building. This may have been where the lawyer's office was.
The driveway to the lumber yard was just south of the yard office. Along the alley there was a large wooden shed that they stored material in. Parallel to the diagonal railroad tracks they had a concrete block building that they stored other materials in.
There was a space between Luchene's and the next building, less than 2 feet wide, but enough for a kid to short cut through side-ways. I "heard" that kids would pelt cars on Kennedy with snow balls and then run through that narrow space and hide to avoid detection.
Bluebird Tap was south of the railroad tracks. The Gas Station was south of Bluebird at the corner. The Gas Station later became Fabulous Hot Dog.
I remember the night of the fire. I was at a friend's house, on the east side of Alabama, a few doors north of the end of the street. From his front window we could see the fire and hear the commotion and ran down the alley to the parking lot behind the old Luchene's store. Although it was a cold winter night and we had taken no jackets in our haste, the heat from the fire was so intense, we were hot even though we were a safe distance away. It was the largest blaze I had ever seen that close.
I located the Hammond Times article about the fire.
[IMG]http://i55.tinypic.com/9qi4o4.jpg[/IMG]
The fire occurred on a Sunday night, December 21, 1969. The article details the location as a "former lumberyard," so I guess it had closed by then. The buildings destroyed included the businesses of Broadwin Electronics, Ace Realty, and City Auto Body. The Luchene's location was occupied by the VFW by then.
And speaking of Lumber Yard fires, while trying to find the date of the Hessville Lumber fire, I stumbled across details of another Hammond Lumber Yard Fire in the Chicago Tribune archives. Standard Lumber Company and Standard Components, about Harrison between Vine and 169th, burnt down April 12, 1967. The late 1960s were some bad years for lumberyards in Hammond.
Hope this answers some looming questions.
|
10-19-2010
( Reply#: 6153 ) |
HassoBenSoba |
Test--
Yes, thank you for answering these burning questions.
Hasso |
10-20-2010
( Reply#: 6155 ) |
Tom J |
quote:
Originally posted by HassoBenSoba
Test--
Yes, thank you for answering these burning questions.
Hasso
Careful with the puns, you might get "flamed." [:)] |
10-20-2010
( Reply#: 6156 ) |
seejay2 |
Now I'm confused. I must have missed a step somewhere. I remember Broadwin's when it was on the 2800 block of Vine, directly across from Calumet National bank. I used to buy picture DuMont tubes in there when I started in the TV repair field. I remember Broadwin losing to a fire at that location and then moving to the corner of Chicago & Northcote in EC. After a while, they became EDI Electronics. Now they are gone and there is some kind of junk uniforms and clothing place there...Cj |
