Yesterday at the Newberry library I had the opportunity to look through a book called Selected Directory of Italians in Chicago by Lisa Cipriani. This book is a categorized listing of business owners and addresses from 1928-1929.
The entries I pulled out are as below. They are the surnames of people in my husband’s family. Now I need to determine which people are actually related. I know several of them owned stores, but who exactly? I also copied the Undertaker’s entry because he is listed on several of my Italian death certificates and most of the entries were smudged enough it is difficult to make out anything but the Polk Street.
Page 9 Commerce
LaMantia Brothers, Arrigo Co., 6 So. Water Market, LaMantia, Co. The, 76 So. Water Market, LaMantia, F., 54 So. Water Market, LaMantia, J., 54 So. Water Market
Page 16 Fruits, Wholesale
LaMantia, T., 267 W. 24th Street
Page 18 Grocers (Retail)
Coco, Antonio, 2416 Wentwort
Page 25 Meat Markets
Coco, J., 2262 Wentworth
Page 40 Undertakers
Reda Frank, 1003 Polk
If you have Italian families in Chicago who owned a business around 1928-29, this book is a great resource.
