Nostalgia

A curated collection of photographs, clippings, and keepsakes from the families of Sansone’s Subdivision — capturing everyday moments, milestones, and the quiet rhythms of neighborhood life from the 1940s through today.

Nostalgia: 1950’s – 1970’s

Growing up in the Sansone Subdivision

Kids in Sansone’s subdivision who went to public schools attended Fourth Street school in the heart of Geneva for grades K-6, Coultrap Jr. High School for grades 7-8 and Geneva Community High school for grades 9-12. Even though Fourth Street school was 12-14 blocks away, students were not bused to school. Despite never having a neighborhood park, Sansone’s subdivision benefited from generous open space, parks and recreation nearby for adults and kids. It was an attractive location in the midst of the parks and recreation swirl in McKinley Avenue, Logan Avenue and Center Street.

The building of Sansone’s subdivision coincided with the new McKinley Park and Geneva High School and Civic Center gymnasium-cafeteria-auditorium wing on Logan Avenue. McKinley Park, complete with a “Tot-Lot” for young kids, ice skating rink, tennis courts, shuffle board, horseshoe pits, ball diamond and tree-lined mall leading to the Civic Center was the center of recreation in town. It was the home of the city’s mid-summer carnival and festival sponsored by American Legion Post 75, industrial league softball, recreation league baseball and tennis. More ball diamonds for recreation baseball were situated on Logan Avenue near the water tower and on Center Street near Maple Lane. Burgess Field at Ford Street and McKinley Avenue offered more tennis courts, basketball courts, and was the home of Geneva Viking Friday night football in the fall.

There was a small grocery store at the corner of Anderson Boulevard and Stevens Street affectionately known as the “little store” formally Miller’s Boulevard Grocery, where a kid could buy candy and pop. A little bit further away from the neighborhood across State Street, but still reachable by walking or bicycle, the new community swimming pool on Western Avenue hard by the Chicago & NorthWestern Railroad opened in 1957 offering swimming lessons in the morning and open swim in the afternoon. These venues disappeared decades ago, replaced with something new at a different location, and now exist only as memories for longtime residents. Growing up in Sansone’s subdivision in the early years, kids enjoyed being able to roam in vacant lots, under construction homes, fields of row crops, tree lines and drainage ditches; attractive if unauthorized play areas in the new and still raw neighborhood.

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