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Village of Broadview -- Business District of the Late 1920s

From the archives of the Broadview Historical Society -- June 29, 1979


In a series of interviews June 1979 Victor Gaddis reports that 2612 Ninth Avenue was the original building of the Muellennist Irrigation Company and was purchased from Gus and Susie Blair of Shawneetown, Illinois.  2620 South Ninth Avenue was the second of the two buildings and addresses acquired by the Muellermist Irrigation Company in 1928.

The 2612 building was a restaurant and bar in the front with a three room apartment in the rear. Six single car garages, in the back were rented to Hines Hospital patients. The restaurant and bar served Hines employees and patients in the 1920s. The main entrance to Hines' Hospital was on Ninth Avenue near 15th Street. The 2620 Ninth Avenue building was a pool room. Presently this structure houses the office of the Muellermist Irrigation Company.

The cement block building at 2400 South Ninth Avenue was a well-known distillery catering to the thirsty employees and patients at Hines. The erection of the fence about Hines curtailed severely the prosperity of the Ninth Avenue business district.

The only structure between the Ninth Avenue "business district" and the heart of Broadview at 17th and Roosevelt was the frame building on the southwest corner of Sam Reda or Reba on 11th Avenue and 13th Street.

Mr. Gaddis also recalls two other business establishments on Ninth Avenue. A coal yard was located north of the Illinois Central railroad tracks on Ninth and a tavern was located south of the tracks on Ninth. The Hines, Illinois railroad station was located on the southwest corner of the Hines grounds. Unpaved Ninth Avenue crossed the Illinois Central tracks and Hines patients used this crossing to reach the pleasures of the old Airdome, present location of Jade Gardens, and the establishment at the northwest corner of 17th Avenue and Cermak. The Calico Inn on the northwest corner of 17th Avenue and the Illinois Central tracks was also remembered as a destination for thirsty Hines patients.

29 June 1979


Sources were used in the compilation of this entry include but are not limited to:

Last Modified:  10/29/2002