Those Places Thursday - Radauskas Homes in Chicago, 1923-1973

After our visit the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture and eating some Lithuanian food at Mabenka on August 8, 2017, during our visit in Chicago, we drove around to look at sites where my Raudauskas (kin on my Guokas side) Lithuanian relatives used to live.

Leo Radauskas (1889-1973) stated on his 1926 petition for naturalization that he had been residing in Illinois since August 15, 1920.  He was definitely there on October 18, 1923, when he submitted his declaration of intent to become a citizen, and listed 3548 S. Halsted in Chicago as his address, in the Lithuanian neighborhood of Bridgeport.  Here is how that address looked in August 2017.  It's the same building; the Cook County Accessor's website says the building is (at least) 114 years old.  Leo lived here through at least September 1928, when he returned to Chicago after his trip to Lithuania to find a bride (Ona Tamošiūnas Radauskas Marcinkus, 1907-1988).  They were not at this location in 1930, and based on the Census that year, this location consisted of a single apartment above the main floor storefront.

3548 S HALSTED ST

Leo Radauskas home, from at least October 1923 to at least September 1928

I haven't found Leo and Ona in the 1930 Census (yet), but by 1935 they are living at 3258 S. Union, according to Ona's naturlization petition dated in January of that year.  This is half a mile away from the Halsted address, on the less-busy street of S. Union Avenue, but still in an apartment building.  Here's how that building looked in August 2017.  That's how it looked in 1935 too, as the accessor's office says this building is 104 years old.  Leo and Ona were here until at least 1947, so their daughter Bernice Ann Radauskas Dylo (1940-2004) spent her early years here.  

3258 S UNION AVE

Ona and Leo Radauskas lived here from at least January 1935 to at least 1947

Leo's youngest sister, Agota Radauskas Phillips Zaker (1902-1980), was living at the address pictured below in 1930, according to the Census, with her then-husband John Phillips (b. Jonas Pilipavičius in 1889) and their son Albert Phillips, born in 1928.  John and Agota were divorced by 1938, and on the 1940 Census, Agota and Albert are living with Leo and Ona just a few addresses down at 3258 S. Union.  Here's how 3315 S. Union looked in August 2017 - the building is 103 years old, so it looked about the same in 1930.

3313 S UNION AVE

home of Agota Radauskas Phillips Zaker and first husband John Phillips in 1930 Census

Sometime after 1947, Leo, Ona, and Bernice moved to the more residential Marquette Park neighborhood, to an apartment at 6223 S. Albany Avenue.  (Agota remarried in 1942.)  Ona and Leo were living at this address when Leo died in 1973.  Here's how this building looked in August 2017.  This building is 95 years old.

6223 S ALBANY AVE

Leo and Ona Radauskas moved here sometime after 1947, and were living here at the time of Leo's death in 1973

Below are views of 3258 S. Union, 3313 S. Union, and 6223 S. Albany, showing more of each building.

And here is a map showing the locations of the buildings - the first three in Bridgeport in the upper right corner, and the last is the green peg near the bottom of the page in Marquette Park.  The diamonds mark other features in the area, such as the Balzekas Museum in West Lawn, and a couple more sites I'll discuss in a future post.

© Amanda Pape - 2018 - click here to e-mail me.