Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail
Park Advisory Council of The Bloomingdale Trail
Bloomingdale Trail Memory Project
Residents of Wicker Park, Humboldt Park, Logan Square and Bucktown lived with the Bloomingdale embankment in their midst for a century. They wrote on it's walls, took shelter from the rain underneath it, played ball by it, and climbed on top of it. This page is dedicated to collecting and preserving the photos and stories of those who lived with the Bloomingdale embankment before it's transformation into a Trail.
To contribute your photos or stories email info@bloomingdaletrail.org
"This would've been 1978...79.
This was my garage band at the time. We set up on the north side of [Walsh] park, just west of Ashland. The concrete wall behind us is what is now the 606. I don't know how we pulled this off....i remember we were just sitting around one summer Saturday afternoon drinking Old Style and someone had the bright idea of setting up there and playing. Of course it was a different time and it was a very different neighborhood then. And that land wasn't even a designated park yet, the factory that stood there having burned down only a few years prior. It was just an open field strewn with rubble and weeds. So these are photos of our first, and only gig. But we were Rock Stars for a day. And lastly............i am the the tall, goony kid wearing the red bandanna. I thought i was so cool." - Thomas Track Rzodkiewicz, Posted to Bucktown Community News