Why I Oughta...

Up on the seventh floor of the Marshall Fields on State Street building sits the recently renamed "Marshall Fields Walnut Room".  Someone at Macy's finally figured out they were sitting on a goldmine of nostalgia and local equity that they were wasting.  That has changed this year with an increased investment in the 7th floor, a renewed Walnut room experience and a whole investment in telling the history of Marshall Field's over in the area with the bathrooms. On one of the walls sits this sign that explains "The Marshall Field and Company Idea". Here's what the sign says: To do the right thing, at the right time, in the right way; to do some things better than they were ever done before' to eliminate errors; to know both sides of the question; to be courteous; to be an example; to love our work; to anticipate requirements; to develop resources; to recognize no impediments; to master circumstances; to act from reason rather than rule; to be satisfied...

We went to see Zootopia 2 last week at the Tivoli Theater in Downers Grove.  While I was on my way back to the concession stand to refill the pair of "kiddie combos", I noticed this plaque in the lobby that claims The Tivoli Theater (opened in 1928) was the "Second theater in America designed and built for talking movies".  That's wild.   When I went home, I found this page from the Downers Grove Historical Society (the same folks who put the plaque up) and it has a few more details.  And, it included this photo (below) of the original marquee on opening day (Christmas Day, 1928).  The family behind Classic Cinemas have done a great job with not just the Tivoli in Downers, but with historic, mainstreet theaters across the suburbs.  We previous lived in Elmhurst and the York Theater was one of our favorite spots in town.  I wrote about the York a number of times when we lived in Elmhurst.  Here are those [York Theater] archives .   ...

I just noticed these two plaques on the Fairview Avenue Metra Station in Downers Grove.  The bottom one says 2016, so it has been there for some time.  But, perhaps the top one is newish?  At least, I've never really noticed it despite walking by it a few times a week. They both mark the same thing:  the station as a 'landmark'. I found t his set of minutes from the Village of Downers Grove Village Board that recommended a resolution making the station a "Landmark Designation" . Here below is a closer look at the story in the bottom plaque: If you read closely, you'll see that this isn't the original station, but was built in 1916. I'm a little bit 'get off my lawn' on this landmark status.  Have you seen the Fairview Station?  Go look at it here in all of it's stucco glory . I love me some old, vintage buildings.  But it isn't the original station.  And now we've effectively handcuff our government into NOT changi...

We took a drive one afternoon through the backroads to downtown Woodstock (or as Nat calls it ' Stars Hallow ') and on Route 47 there were a series of signs that said "historical marker X Miles ahead" until we finally saw a sign that pointed to a turn-off where about 20 yards away, in the snow was this sign you see above.  You can see the little path that has been worn out to the sign and even footprints in the fresh snow, so I wasn't the first person to get out of their car to check out this sign/historical marker on this day.  While Nat and the kids stayed in the car, I got out and walked closer. Until I came to this: The Historical Marker Database or HMDB (which is a pretty incredible site!), you can find all the details .  It was put up in 1982 but the sign calls out the fact that Nathaniel Pope fought for Illinois to have its northern border moved further north - which gave Illinois the City of Chicago and the 14 most northern counties (includi...