Berwyn

The Berwyn train station, now serving Metra Rail commuters, has been in service for more than 100 years.

Berwyn is a Chicago suburb about 10 miles southwest of the Loop, Chicago's downtown area. Established in the late 19th century, Berwyn soon became an important bedroom community, thanks to commuter transportation provided by the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad, "The Burlington" for short, and known today as Metra Rail.

I was born in Berwyn in 1940 and raised there. My family lived in an old, two-story frame house (see photo below) built in the 1870s, only two blocks from the CB&Q train station in South Berwn. My mother's family bought that house in 1922. In 1944, my parents bought it from my mother's father. They had agreed that my grandfather, my mother's two youngest sisters, Ruth and Dorothea, and her youngest brother, Bob, could live there as long as they wished. That was at a time when families stuck together and helped one another. To get an idea of how we lived back then, and how many other families lived back then, watch The Pride of the Marines or John Boorman's autobiographical Hope and Glory (1987), two of my favorites films depicting the way we were.

I had a pleasant childhood in Berwyn, living with my parents and my aunts and uncle, away in the Navy from his 17th birthday in 1943 until he returned in 1946, and my dog, Bootsie, a mixture of Springer Spaniel and a couple of unknown breeds. Bootsie joined us as a pup in 1944 and soon became my best friend.

My father was always working on our house in his spare time. He expanded the first and second floors in the late 1940s, as you can see in this photo taken by my buddy Mike Willett in 2000. Uncle Bob and I visited Berwyn in 2003 and met the current owner of our old house, a young contractor in his mid-20s who bought the house in 1996 and, like my father 50 years earlier, renovated the house completely. He was kind enough to give us a tour. I hadn't been inside since my mother sold it in 1962. I am glad I had a chance to go home again, to experience again the warmth of that home, a sense of profound loss for my deceased parents and aunts, and a deep, deep regret that I no longer lived there and hadn't for some 40 years....

Our home in Berwyn. Photo courtesy of Mike Willett (2000).

In the late 1940s, Berwyn was named "The Most Livable City in America." We thought that was great! Later in life, I learned that distinction went to a different city every year. Berwyn was a great place to grow up. People were very friendly. We knew everyone on our block. And they knew us, too. Whenever I got into trouble, you can bet one of our nieghbors would phone my mother right away!

My father passed away in January 1957. He was just a few weeks shy of his 47th birthday. My mother's relatives had begun their move to Santa Barbara, and by 1958, they were all out there except my mother and me. We remained living there until 1962, when my mother finally sold it, not because she wanted to, but because it was too expensive for her to maintain. She moved into an apartment nearby. I was attending Northwestern University and visited her some weekends and over the holidays. In 1964, she moved to Santa Barbara.

I attended Stanford for graduate study in 1963-1964. I returned to Chicago in November 1964 to look for work. My mother returned to Chicago in 1980 and lived near me until we moved to California in 1986.

Now, to answer the question I raised on our Home Page, what is the name of the mega rock band from Berwyn that is still playing after some 40 years?

The Ides of March -- Read about their Berwyn roots on this page. Then visit their homepage.

George Spink

The Berwyn Kid

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