Radios

I remember my great-grandmother Rosemary telling me once that, where they lived in Chicago, she was the only person on her street to have a radio. She said this with a sense of pride, as if to imply that her family was the richest on the block.

I decided, for this post, I would pull the information for the 1930 census for her block of Chicago and list who did and did not have a radio on her street in 1930.

16th Ward, Block 10, Chicago City, Cook County, Illinois

S. Marshfield Avenue

South Marshfield Avenue, 16th Ward, Block 10, Chicago City, Cook County, Illinois

• Borden Friend, radio
• Kajsa Williams, radio
• Joseph Bradel, NO radio
• Joseph Reaber, radio (my great-great grandfather)
• William Topel, radio
• Ignatz Koperski, radio
• Louis Koncecki, radio
• George Lucas, radio
• John Trevillion, radio
• Mary Carroll, NO radio
• Margaret Ryan, radio
• John Migliore, NO radio
• Daniel Toomey, radio
• Thomas Whalen, NO radio
• Walter Gregory, radio
• Joseph Conklin, radio

So, out of 16 families, only four families on their street don't have radios. Since she did not tell me when they were supposed to have been the "only" family to have a radio, I can not be sure if she was referring to a time earlier in life or not. I don't doubt that at one time in her life, her story may have been accurate.

Sources:

• 1930 Chicago City, Cook County, Illinois U.S. Federal Census (accessed on Ancestry)