LOGAN SQUARE — For #TBT, check out what Caffè Umbria's new building looked like in the 1940s.
Earlier this week, the Seattle-based coffee roaster announced it would be moving into 2535 W. Armitage Ave., an old building that used to house streetcars, or a "streetcar barn."
Streetcars, under the Chicago Surface Lines, ran from 1859 to 1958, according to the Shore Line Interurban Historical Society. They started out as horse-drawn trolley lines. Cable cars hit the rails in 1882, and then electric cars in 1890.
Here's what Logan Square Preservation has to say about the photo:
With the news in the last week that a new coffee shop is coming to Armitage, Caffe Umbria, we thought it would be timely to share this image of the building they’re planning to call home, a former streetcar barn for the Chicago Surface Lines.
The Surface Lines were a light rail transit system that ran down many Chicago streets until the 1950s. In our neighborhood, streetcars ran on Armitage, Fullerton, California and Milwaukee among others. From time to time, street re-surfacing will even allow some of those rails to peak back through before covered over again by modern pavement.
DNAinfo is partnering with Logan Square Preservation on a "Throwback Thursday" post each week. All photos are the property of Logan Square Preservation unless otherwise indicated.
For more photos and information, visit Logansquarepreservation.org or Facebook.com/logansquarepreservation.
