The Planets Align

April 28, 2022

Serendipity, fortuity, coincidence, karma – call it what you want. But when it happens, it can be mind blowing.

After making first contact with AW Dickinson’s granddaughter in January, 2022, she informed me that she would be coming to Chicago in a few weeks (Feb. 2022) and would like to meet. Not entirely sure of their relevance, Susan brought a few photos to Chicago. Not only are they relevant, they are some of AWD’s real estate marketing tools – the photos are actually postcards of some views in our neighborhood. WOW! Serendipity!

I made sure to take pictures with my cell phone of the front and back of these photos before Susan left with them. One of the photos is labeled ” Scene on Berteau Ave” and is a picture of two houses. At that moment in Sharon Johnson’s kitchen my mind was reeling, so I wasn’t sure which houses they were and which block of Berteau they were on.

Needless to say, as soon as I got home, I started studying the Berteau photo. The quality of the photos/postcards is quite good and were undoubtedly taken by a professional photographer. I noticed that there were house numbers on the house on the left that were readable when I zoomed in.

1738 !! 1738 W. Berteau !

That means it is 5013 W. Berteau, so the one next door is 5017 W. Berteau. These are houses on my block ! Holy cow!

But wait, it gets even more mind blowing…

For the “How To” video that I created – The History of Your House – the house that I used as the example house is —-> 1738 (5013) W. Berteau. That’s right – 1738 W. Berteau. What are the odds of that? I mean, really. Not only is there a photo of houses in our neighborhood right after they were built, they are on my block, and the full history details of one of them is outlined in the video I created last year. I peed my pants (not really but I did figuratively). Awesome.

The planets align.

5013 and 5017 W. Berteau Avenue, circa 1909. Source: Estate of AW Dickinson
Back side of photo/postcard
5013 and 5017 W. Berteau, February 2022. Source: Ruta L.

Here are two additional photo postcards that were shared:

4800 W. Berteau block, south side of street, facing east, circa 1910 Source: Estate of AW Dickinson
Cicero between Warner and Berteau, west side of street, circa 1910. All houses (flats) built by AWD except the furthest one, which is a store. Source: Estate of AW Dickinson

Visit the Then&Now page to see current views alongside these photos.

Note the date of the postmark. AW Dickinson had a lake property in Interlochen, MI.

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