The photograph above shows Western Avenue, looking North from Winnemac, before the street was widened in 1924. According to Mark Dawson’s historical account, approximately six feet of buildings along Western were shortened to make the avenue 24 feet wider in 1924. 

Photographs of the Watkins house below, located at 5059 N. Western, show there was not much change to the structure between 1920 and 2015.

The writing on the back of the Watkins family photograph states that Mr. Watkins worked as a dairyman. “Mr. Watkins was a Bowman milk delivirir [sic] for many years. He past [sic] away in 1938 .” Bowman Dairy was purchased by Dean Foods in 1966, according to a page on Rogers Park West Ridge Historical Society. I searched for the Watkins address in Chicago Public Library’s archived Chicago Examiner files and found Phillip Jungel living at the address in December 1914. He was listed as a juror in a criminal case. I am certainly glad the practice of listing juror information in a public newspaper has stopped.

Walgreen Co. is on the corner in this 1922 photograph of Western and Lawrence. Walgreens is still located at the intersection on the Northeast side.

This pictorial ends with two photographs taken from the train platform, just south of Leland. The older photograph was not dated.