C.B. & Q. Ry. Proposed Track for The California Man’f Co.

This small blueprint, dated 1902, was created by the Engineering Department of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. It depicts a proposed side track created to serve the California Manufacturing Company near the corner of Troy Avenue and 21st Street. The attached cover letter suggests that approval from the city council may be required for construction. According to a fascinating thread on Forgotten Chicago, the California Manufacturing Company was started in 1899 and got its name from the large concentration of local Bohemians, who called the area ‘Czech California.’ The window-frame business expanded into several buildings nearby, though apparently the warehouse referenced on the blueprint was blown down by a freak storm in the early 1900s. The firm ceased operations in the early 1980s, but the dilapidated office building can still be seen on the corner of Troy and 23rd. Source.