By Rick Kaempfer
In This Week in 1908
Feb 10th, 2024
0 Comments
6264 Views
How long ago was 1908? This young violinist, Benny Kubelsky, is a Cubs fan living in Waukegan, Illinois. He turns 14 years old on Valentine’s Day. Three years from now he’ll have a chance to join the Marx Brothers on tour, but his mother won’t let him. So, he pursues a Vaudeville ca...
By Rick Kaempfer
In This Week in 1908
Feb 2nd, 2024
0 Comments
4175 Views
How long ago was 1908? Cubs backup infielder Heinie Zimmerman celebrates his 21st birthday (Feb 9) this week. The youngster will have a big impact on the Cubs this year, but not in a good way. He will eventually become a great hitter (winning a batting title in 1912 and nearly winning the triple crow...
By Rick Kaempfer
In This Week in 1908
Jan 28th, 2024
0 Comments
3508 Views
HOW LONG AGO WAS 1908? Meet Orval Overall. He is one of the pitchers on the defending World Champion Chicago Cubs, and is celebrating his 27th birthday this week (Feb 2). Orval’s not much like the other guys on the team–he’s a college boy who attended the University of California at...
By Rick Kaempfer
In This Week in 1908
Jan 21st, 2024
0 Comments
3964 Views
HOW LONG AGO WAS 1908? Chicago’s Red Light District was known as “The Levee,” and was home to some of the most famous brothels in America. This is a photo of “The Everleigh Club” at 2131-2133 S. Dearborn. The Everleigh Sisters (Minna and Ada) are the owners and proprieto...
By Rick Kaempfer
In This Week in 1908
Jan 14th, 2024
0 Comments
4227 Views
HOW LONG AGO WAS 1908? A little boy celebrates his 9th birthday in Brooklyn on January 17th. His father Gabriele, a barber, and his mother Teresina, a seamstress (shown in this picture with the little tyke), must have been proud of their fourth son. He moved to Chicago in 1919 when his friend Johnny ...
By Rick Kaempfer
In This Week in 1908
Dec 22nd, 2023
0 Comments
4459 Views
How Long Ago Was 1908? In New York, National League president Harry Pulliam starts showing signs of a nervous breakdown during an owners meeting. He has been the target of unrelenting heat from the New York Giants brass (especially their irascible manager John McGraw) about his ruling regarding the M...
By Rick Kaempfer
In This Week in 1908
Dec 15th, 2023
0 Comments
4825 Views
How Long Ago Was 1908? Fred Merkle celebrates his 20th birthday (Dec 20) in New York by laying low and hoping nobody tries to kill him. Everyone in New York is still mad at him for his base-running blunder that allowed the Cubs to win the pennant. Little does he know that people will NEVER […]...
By Rick Kaempfer
In This Week in 1908
Dec 8th, 2023
0 Comments
4603 Views
How Long Ago Was 1908? The Union Stock Yard & Transit Co., or The Yards, is thriving despite Upton Sinclair’s expose from five years earlier, “The Jungle.” Chicago is known as “hog butcher for the world” and the center of the American meat packing industry. It will remain open until ...
By Rick Kaempfer
In This Week in 1908
Dec 1st, 2023
0 Comments
4440 Views
How long ago was 1908? The Chicago Coliseum (photo) is the largest venue in Chicago. Earlier this year it hosted the Republican Convention, which turned into quite a party. Every December, however, it holds an even bigger party, the party event of the year in Chicago–the First Ward Ball. The Fi...
By Rick Kaempfer
In This Week in 1908
Nov 24th, 2023
0 Comments
4212 Views
How Long Ago Was 1908? The King of Ragtime Scott Joplin turns 41 on Nov 24. Though he is from St. Louis and recently moved to New York, his music is the soundtrack for Chicago’s notorious Levee District, including “The Entertainer,” a song that would later be used as the soundtrack ...
The Pothole Store | Eckhartz Press | Rick Kaempfer's Blog | Illinois Entertainer
Site construction by WorkSite, LLC