Talk:West Elsdon Civic Association
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I would like to add to the information on this page some things about the West Elsdon community and its civic association. My name is Jim Mazenis and I am presently the president of the West Elsdon Civic Association. Our association is the oldest most continous chartered civic association in Illinois. There are some older than us, but chartered after we did. We originally chartered in 1943 as the West Elsdon Civil Defense League. The job of the men and women back then was to put out the natural gas powered street lights along 55th and 59th street(s) after certain evening hours. The aforementioned streets lead up to Midway Airport, back then known as Municipal Airport. The founders of our civic association also took part in war bond sales and picked up recyclables for the war effort. After the war, the founders of the West Elsdon Civil Defense League found it was quite a leverage to approach local elected officals as a group to get things done in the community then request things to be done as individuals. The things I am talking about were basic infrastructure components, such as new streets, sewers, curbs, sidewalks etc. After great success with the local elected officials as a group, the West Elsdon Civic Association was basically cloned from the Defense League. The association was so popular back in the late 1940's and early 1950's, other designated neighborhhoods "joined" with us. They later formed thier own civic associations to better adress the problems they faced on a more local and personal level. To the best of my knowledge, two of the civic associations presently in operation, that were once part of our area, but went out on thier own, were the Archer Heights and Gage Park civic associations. They are located directly west and east of us. The official boundry of the West Elsdon community has somewhat changed over the years. Our recognized boundry today, by the association itself, is Kedzie on the east, the railroad tracks just east of Cicero on the west, the railroad tracks that approximately abut 49th street on the north, and 59th street on the south end. We do have many members who reside outside these "boundries", but remain members because of the lead West Elsdon takes in many vital neighborhood issues. Our meetings are on the first Tuesday of every month and we presently meet at the Divine Word Church Hall, located at 57th & Springfield ave. The meeting time is 7:30pm. We do not meet in July or August unless there is an emergency we have to act upon. In that instance we call for what's known as a board meeting to adress the problem. The neighborhood has been the home of many elected officals, including aldermen, state represenatives, ward committeemen, state senators, and congressmen. One of our more famed former residents is Jenny McCarthy, who used to live on the block across the street from where we presently meet. The West Elsdon community is a small, but vibrant and vital part of the patchwork of neighborhoods known collectively as Chicago. Contributed by: Jim Mazenis, President, West Elsdon Civic Association. I can be reached, by phone, at 773-735-5256.
