Memories of an era past...of a neighborhood that no longer exists. A time when sidewalks and gutters were swept clean each morning and burning autumn leaves evoked thoughts of baked potatoes.

Hot summer evenings were spent outdoors visiting with neighbors while children played hide and seek or chased fireflies. The first winter snow fall meant sledding down a viaduct grading or ice-skating across the lagoon in Sherman Park.

Memories of the changes that slowly changed a neighborhood, and how one family coped with new beginnings. Tata's Tree was written not only as a reminder of the legacy and the deep roots left by those beginnings, but it is also meant to be an inspiration to a new generation of immigrants and their family that each day should be met with that renewal of hope.

The sketches in this book were drawn mostly from memory, the authors and her elders. The passage of time may have repainted some events and places to the slight injury of accuracy.

Some historical information was obtained from the following books:

Polish Immigrants and Industrial Chicago, Dominic A. Pacyga

Natuare's Metropolis, Chicago and the Great West, William Cronon

Everyday Life from Prohibition through World War 11, Marc McCutcheon

Pat Carpenter-Wood, born in 1928, was raised in the Back of the Yards. Although she now resides in Tucson, Arizona, she has never forgotten the roots that still lay deep on Chicago's south side or her Polish heritage.

She attended Hamline Grammar School, Gage Park High School, and Jones Commercial School. She greets each day, just as her parents did so many years ago, with faith and hope in new beginnings.

At 72, she is planning to continue her writing career. She is now working on a new story that deals with emotional abuse, titled Blue Heaven. She would also appreciate any input from readers of Tata's Tree. All comments will be treasured.

Her e-mail address is: patcwdnetzero.net.

The second building from the corner, it sat on a lot 25 feet wide by 100 feet deep. Tata’s soon to be bakery shop and new home stood flush against the tavern next door. The most interesting story about Tata’s new home was how it came to be on this street.

The front of the house, which was a bakery shop, was the original building built on this site. A fairly large structure, it consisted of the bakery, a baking area, and a small kitchen between the two. The kitchen held a small wood table with three chairs. Before he got married, Tata slept on a cot in this kitchen, cooked on a small stove in this room and ate all of his meals off the little table. He rarely, if ever, used the back of this building for living quarters. The origin of that part of our home was what fascinated me.

When a stockyard company decided to expand, they always bought out a residential block of homes. The homes were either torn down or moved to another area. The back of Tata’s home came from such a block. It must have been quite a sight to see a truck pulling a home down the street. But settling it in place was no doubt not only a remarkable feat but an exciting exhibition for those who watched the placing of relocated homes. Especially Tata’s home. Whoever added this back part to the front wanted it raised so that the roof was ‘architectually’ even with the front part.

First a concrete slab had to be poured, with heavy timber beams and concrete pillars set into it. Once set, the new six room house was raised and set on those pillars. A back porch was built and connected this back part to the front. One would enter this back part from the side gangway, open a door to the porch, climb some porch steps to another door. This led to a few more stairs in a small winding hallway that led to another door. This door opened to the first room of the upstairs back flat: a very, very large kitchen, one bedroom to the left, a small bathroom in the corner. Beyond this room, a good size dining room area, one bedroom to the left, a fair size living room, with another bedroom to the side. With an attic above and a garage below, Tata had purchased a fairly large home for himself.

The garage below was entered from the porch, as was the attic above the front part of this home. A large wooden door separated the porch from the garage. I remember how difficult it was for me to run down the little ramp leading to the garage. It was a time when my toddler legs were still unaccustomed to running up and down hills. There was a little room to the side of this ramp that Tata used as a storage area for his baking equipment: cans of lard, large bags of flour, crates of eggs,etc. Ordinarily such items in retail stores would be kept in the basement in the front part of the store. But that basement in Tata’s home, which one entered from the small kitchen, housed a large furnace that sent steaming water through all the radiators throughout this home. When coal was delivered, about once a month during the winter, it was dumped in front of our home. Tata shoveled the coal down into the basement through a little door at the front of the building, just below a showcase window. Shoveling that coal down into the basement put a layer of coal dust on everything, hence the reason Tata never used it as a storage area for baking needs. Tata not only had to sweep that black residue in the basement, he had to sweep the sidewalk and hose it down as well. The water hose was kept just inside that little door. It hung on a wall, just to the side, and was quite easy to pull out, then reach in to turn on the water. Needless to say, Tata had himself to clean up as well after the coal delivery and clean-up.