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In
the years prior to the opening of branch stores by leading Chicago
retailers, the top department store in Oak Park was Gilmore's. The store
was founded in 1917 by William Gilmore and was initially known as the
Avenue Dry Goods store. Gilmore changed the name of the store to William
Y. Gilmore and Sons when his two sons graduated college and joined the
business. During its early years, the store occupied the northern part
of the Masonic Block building, a large Prairie School-style commercial
structure built in 1908 on the southeast corner of Lake Street and Oak
Park Avenue. Over the years, the store expanded to occupy the entire
building, not only due to the rapid growth of Oak Park and surrounding
communities during the 1940s and 1950s, but also in an effort to
withstand increased competition from rival department stores such as
Marshall Field's and The Fair, both of which opened branch stores in Oak
Park in 1929. Gilmore's closed in 1976. The Masonic Block building, in
which the family-owned department store operated for nearly sixty years,
was restored to its original appearance in 1984.
Masonic Block Building (formerly Gilmore's), Oak Park, March 2004 Suggested Books · David M. Sokol, Oak Park, Illinois: Continuity and Change, Images of America Series (Arcadia, 2000). |
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Page authored: 24
November 2000 -
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