LOGAN SQUARE — Back at the start of the Great Depression, Milwaukee Avenue in Logan Square was a destination whenever you needed something new to wear.
Clothing stores lined the street, based on a map made in 1930 that is in the archives at the Chicago History Museum.
An electric streetcar went right down the middle of Milwaukee past a series of shoe, clothing and hat stores. There was even a Walgreens.
It's unclear why, but it seems that at the start of the worst economic collapse in American history, Logan Square was a bustling place.
"My guess is that it was made by developers trying to promote that [the] neighborhood has an active retail strip on the North Side," said Peter Alter, the museum's archivist.
See a high-resolution version of this map.
The centerpiece was the Harding Theatre, a movie palace completed in 1925 that was demolished in the 1960s, shown on the left side of the street below.
Now in its place? Sunrise Fresh Market.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here: