Fotografen Von Dieck vid 92 St. & Ontario Ave.

[Anders Johansson]

Jag har sett ett foto på en utvandrad släkting. Det är taget av en fotograf vid namn Von Dieck och adressen anges 92nd St. & Ontario Ave. Stadens namn står inte. Är det någon som vet från vilken stad detta kan vara, eller hur man tar reda på i vilken amerikansk stad det finns en 92nd St. som korsar Ontario Avenue? Kortet är nog taget kring sekelskiftet 1900.
 
Mycket tacksam för svar.

[Jan Jutefors]

Anders,
 
Det finns så många ställen som det finns Ontario Ave på. Jag använde Google och skrev Ontario Ave och fick många sidor att leta på.  
Några av platserna som har ett Ontario Avenue är:
Ontario, Canada
Corona, Californien
Cleveland, Ohio
Mildura, Australien
Saskatoon, Saskathewan, Canada
 
Du hittar säkert fler.

[Nina M. Nordby]

Kanksje det finnes et fotografregister i statene?
Kjenner noen til det?
 
Leter du etter din slektning? Har du prøvd folketellingen for 1900?

[Nancy Wiberg Jones]

Anders,
 
Ontario and 92nd Streets fall within the boundaries of Chicago's Sweden Town.  This is where my family settled after emigrating from Blekinge.  
 
In 1900 there were more Swedish born residents in Chicago than there were Swedes in Götenberg!  You can read a little bit about America's Sweden Towns on the website:
 
http://www.svenskaemigrantinstitutet.g.se/sv10-7-3.html
 
Best regards,
 
Nancy

[Anders Johansson]

Jan, Nina och Nancy!
 
Jättemycket tack för hjälpen! Nu har jag litet utgångspunkter för fortsättningen.
 
Jag hittar inte korsningen 92 och Ontario Avenue i Chicago på Mapquest. Jag hittar överhuvudtaget inte Ontario Av. där, utan bara Ontario St. Den korsar inte 92a gatan. Gör jag något fel, eller har någon av gatorna bytt namn?
 
Hur kommer jag åt 1900 års census?

[Nancy Wiberg Jones]

Anders!
 
I hope I haven't misled you.  I am looking at a 1900 map of Chicago.  92 E Ontario Street or 92 W Ontario Street would be in the downtown area and approximate to Chicago's Sweden Town. Now, if we are looking at 92nd street, that is very far south and does not intersect with Ontario Avenue.
Keep in mind that many of the streets from that era are no longer in existence.  Milton Avenue, the street my great grandparents lived on, will not be found on a modern map.  
 
A good resource for maps from this era is:
 
Jack Simpson
Reference Librarian
Local and Family History
Newberry Library
Chicago, Illinois
Phone: (312) 255-3671
e-mial: jsimpson@newberry.org
 
He was able to locate my family's home. He copied the appropriate map and mailed it to me.  There is no charge for this service.  The library will suggest that they do accept donations however.
 
Also, please excuse me for writing in English.  I don't read Swedish without abundant help from a dictionary.  Consequently, I can only hope that I am responding appropriately to your questions. In regard to the 1900 census, I was able to locate my family in the Sweden Town section under the following headings:
 
State:  Illinois
County:  Cook
City:  Chicago
Township or other division:  North Town
Ward of City:  23
 
Best regards,
 
Nancy

[Anders Johansson]

Dear Nancy,
 
I was away, so I did not answer before. I will write English. The inscription on the photograph says exactly: Von Dieck (in a frame) and then 92nd St. & Ontario Ave. I think this means the crossing of these two streets. Perhaps something has changed in Chicago. I will write to Mr. Simpson and ask. Or perhaps the photographer lived in an other town.
 
Thank you for your help!
 
Anders

[Judy Olson Baouab]

There was a renumbering of street addresses in Chicago around 1909. Some streets were also renamed over the years.
 
Ontario runs east and west, not north and south, so the 92 refers to east or west, as Nancy said.  
 
I'll try to look in a city directory at the South Suburban Genealogical and Historical Society Library and perhaps I will learn the specific address. It is easy for me to check since I am an officer and board member in this society and have a key to get in whenever I wish. :-)
 
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ssghs/
 
If you know the name of the person you are seeking and not just this photographer, I could also see what the directories say about his address. (assuming he was listed) Please provide a time frame too, since there are a lot of directories to check and print is really tiny.
 
Judy

[Jan Ek (Janek)]

The photographers name is Theodore VonDieck, and in the 1900 census he resides at 184 92nd Street, Hyde Park township, Chicago. (This is ward 33, ED 1061, p. 1B)
 
Theodore is 56, and immigrated 1880 from Germany. He is married to Emma 48, and their children's names are Theodore 31, Arthur 25, Hermann 23, Maude 18. Theodore Jr is also photographer, and that can be interpreted as they are running two studios, one in 92nd St and one in Ontario ave. Since the photographer isn't really your family of interest I leave out the details, but your emigrant relative could surely be placed in Chicago somewhere near these two locations.
 
Do you have a name for him/her?

[Judy Olson Baouab]

Hyde Park is on the southside of Chicago. It was a separate town for a while but became incorporated into Chicago in 1889. There still is a neighborhood in Chicago called Hyde Park.
 
I have a cd with street numbering changes, street name changes, etc. in Chicago. (I'm not quite sure how to interpret the information about street name changes.) I looked in the street name change section and found:
 
Ontario Ave., Brandon Ave. 3200 E.
Ontario St., Christiana Ave. 3800 to 4000 N.
Ontario St., W. Ohio St. 4600 to 6000 W.
Ontario St., 620 N 1 to 468 E. 1 to 4000 W. Named after the Lake. Indians of the Wisconsin nation word means beautiful. Centennial Pl, W. Cork St., Metropolitan Pl.
 
There is no explanation on this cd about what all of that means, but I wonder if the second street name might be the newer name.
 
Your source mentions that the photographer's location was Ontario AVENUE, so perhaps it is now called Brandon Avenue. A modern atlas of Chicago shows a Brandon Avenue. It looks as if it could have intersected with 92nd avenue, but the numbering system might have been different since the streets were renumbered in 1909. I think I read somewhere that the renumbering didn't affect streets on the southside of Chicago.
 
If you have a map of Chicago which also shows street names, you will find 92nd and Brandon Avenue is a bit east of a highway called Interstate 90, which is also called the Chicago Skyway since it rises above the ground.  
 
This might be the Hyde Park neighborhood, but I'm not completely sure. Hyde Park is described in Chicago and Cook County: A Guide to Research (by Loretto Dennis Szucs) as including all the territory bounded by 39th Street on the north, Lake Michigan and the Indiana state line on the east, State Street to the Calumet River, then the Calumet to the center line of 130th Street, then to the eastern line of the Illinois Central Railroad Company's right of way to the Calumet River, from Indiana Avenue to the Illinois Central Railroad bridge on the south. (I'm even confusing myself.)
 
At any rate, it seems as if your relatives might have lived somewhere on the southeast side of Chicago. Please provide more information about the individuals you are seeking.
 
Judy

[Judy Olson Baouab]

I looked again at the cd with street renumbering. There was an East 92nd Street and a West 92nd Street, but only the East 92nd Street had any numbering similar to the 184 92nd Street address found by Jan Ek.
 
The cd didn't show any old numbering of 182 on East 92nd Street but it did have a 185 which is fairly close. The old number 185 was changed to 3134 in 1909. That would mean that 185 East 92nd Street would have been renumbered to 3134 East 92nd Street in 1909 and later.  
 
The Street Name Changes part of the cd had Ontario Ave., Brandon Ave. 3200 E. I checked an atlas for Chicago and found that Brandon Avenue is at 3200 East on whatever the cross street would be.(It is 32 blocks or four miles east of State Street.) Perhaps the number where the photographer lived, 182 Ontario, would have become equivalent, at least approximately, to Brandon Avenue and 92nd Street, or 92nd Street south and 3200 east. (In Chicago, the modern addresses are listed as being north or south of Madison Street in downtown Chicago and east or west of State Street (also in downtown Chicago).
 
I suppose it is also possible that Jan's hypothesis that the photographer had two locations may also be true. Perhaps the city directory will be helpful with this matter.
 
It is quite possible, however, that the relatives used a trolley or bus or elevated train, etc. to travel a distance within the city to visit this particular photographer, since those means of travel would have been available in the late 1800s.  
 
Judy

[Judy Olson Baouab]

The 1899 Lakeside Chicago Directory lists the photographer and his address as:
 
Von Dieck Theodore 184, 92d
 
That was the same address where he was found by Jan in the 1900 U.S. Federal Census.
 
Judy