Post #6, 16 February 2023:
During the 1920s and 1930s, my grandparents, Frank and Anna Dippel lived at several locations in Chicago. During the time when my dad, Francis was still a toddler, the family - including my dad's sisters, Marion, Jeanette, and Florence - lived at 934 Concord Place (near #1 on the map below). Lake Michigan, and Chicago's Lincoln Park were about a mile to the East of their residence.
A number of years ago, I remember my aunt, Marion telling me their house was close to the Biograph Theater (pictured right), the place where John Dillinger was killed in July 1934. The theater, located at 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue, is shown at #2 on the map. The Dippel residence on Concord Place sits about a mile away from the theater.
A couple days ago (as of this writing), we just celebrated Valentine's day. Sadly, it was also the anniversary date of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, which occurred in Chicago in 1929. In short, there were two rival gangs at odds with each other over the contraband booze market during Prohibition. The Italian gang, led by Al Capone had been at war with the Irish gang, led by Bugs Moran. On 14 February 1929, Capone's gang ambushed the Moran gang at the SMC Cartage Company, 2122 N. Clark Street, killing 7 people (shown at #4 on the map).
I recently watched a short documentary on the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. The narrator walked around the vicinity where the event took place, describing what had occurred. In the video, he showed The Pierre Condominiums (2100 North Lincoln Park West), formerly known as the Parkway Hotel (#3 in the map above). Back in 1929, the Parkway was one of gang leader Bugs Moran's residences.
On the right, is a picture of The Pierre Condominium building taken from their website, and viewed from the SE corner of N. Lincoln Park West. Notice the window pattern on each floor on the right face of the building: a pair of windows, another pair, and then a set of 4 windows, then another 2 pairs of windows. Also notice the ledge going around the building, just underneath the top floor.
During one of my grandparent's family outings to Lincoln Park (1937), they took a photo (below, left) at the statue of Hans Christian Andersen.
Dippel Family at Andersen Monument (1937), Lincoln Park, Chicago, IL.
Top row, l-r: Jeanette, Anna, Florence; bottom row: Francis, Marion
Below is a map that shows the location of the Andersen monument in relation to where the Pierre Condominium building (#3) is located.
On the same day my grandparents visited the Andersen statue, they walked a short distance to the left (west) of the monument, and took this picture (below, left).
Look at the building underneath #3: you'll see the same pattern of windows as on the face of the Pierre building, and the same ledge on the left side of the building! This is The Pierre - the same building as the Bugs Moran residence! As a reference point, you can also see a corresponding pattern of windows on building #5 in the old and new picture.
So, there you go! It appears one of the places my grandparents lived in Chicago was very close to a hotbed of gangster activity! I thought this was an interesting connection revealed in these maps and pictures.
SOURCES
* All maps and Lincoln Park pictures, from Google Maps, https://maps.google.com
* Biograph Theater photo, courtesy of Cinema Treasures, http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/273/photos/308094, Lou Rugani, contributor, 11 June 2020.
* Pierre Condominium photo from the Pierre website.
* All other photos are the author's contribution.