This photo is the Chase House Library at 318 South Ashland Blvd. in Chicago, where I got books when I was a child. I looked it up as "Chase House" but got nothing. As far as Chicago records are concerned, it no longer exists. The neighborhood had once been a wealthy enclave and stand-alone mansions lined Ashland Blvd. By the time I was reading, most of these had been turned into rooming houses. Although I could find no written record, when I searched the Google map for the approximate address, I found this photo. The building hasn't been torn down yet. Maybe even, it is a landmark, but I wouldn't count on it. Anyway, why is it sitting there neglected? It should be restored and become a museum. When I look at this photo, I get a lump in me troat.

I meant to post something about this sooner but it took a while to locate the photo with the help of Nadine, tech maven, because after I printed it out and scanned it, it went into computer oblivion. I think it was Susil who did a post about the wonders of libraries and that's when I started to look for the Chase House.

The librarian was so generous she let my sis and me take more than our quota of books. We would carry them home in our arms, stacked up to our chins and beyond (it never occurred to us to use book bags, what were those?). The walk took about 15 minutes.

The Chase House also had a rear room that was devoted to art work and free to children who wanted to paint -- they supplied the easels, newsprint and tempura paints and taught you how to clean the brushes when you were done.

Later when I was a young teen, they had youth dances on the second floor with pop tunes on record players where I first learned how to be a wallflower (I was so young looking I never got any action). My friend, Gloria, was the hotshot and she danced all the time.

So these are my memories of the Chase House and I wish I could go back in time and visit it once more as it was, sort of peek in and refresh the past.

xx, Teal