Maxwell Street is west of the center of Chicago and has long been a thriving second heart.
Named after Chicago's first practicing physician, Dr.
Philip Maxwell, who came as an army surgeon to Fort Dearborn, it was up until the 1880s a rich residential area for the Lace -Curtain Irish.
Then a market opened on Jefferson Street to serve the needs of the new Russian Jewish and Eastern European immigrants who were moving into the area.
By the 1890s this market moved to Maxwell Street and became known as the Maxwell Street Market, or simply Maxwell Street.
By 1896, Maxwell Street was a bustling commercial area set in a wilderness of narrow, dingy by streets with garbage boxes everywhere.
It was said that if a man had enough suspicion of his fellow man and enough greed for money, he would do well in the business world of Maxwell Street.
From 1900 to 1912, the increase in immigrants expanded the clothing trade and Maxwell Street became an outlet for sweatshops, where cheap labor resulted in cheap prices and good business.
By 1919, it was recognized by the city council.
At first there were no fixed stands.
All the sellers would assemble at 13th and Union Streets at 8 in the morning.
The market master would blow a whistle to start the race for locations, which were rented from the city council for about 11 cents each.
In the 20s, sideshows and free shows began to appear.
The stores employed pullers, who would stand outside and firmly entice customers into interiors heavily laden with merchandise.
Competition between stores was at an all -time high, and amid the many smells were heard voices of sellers and beggars in many different languages.
With the coming of prohibition, the 42nd Street Gang roamed the street.
Gradually, the pullers and sideshows disappeared.
The five -block area was cut by the Dan Ryan Expressway to less than four.
The O 'Leary's, Dooley's, Flanagan's gave way to the Jews, with Italians on the outskirts, Greeks along Blue Island, Lithuanians and Bohemians to the south and west, and finally to the blacks and Mexicans.
As part of a near westside redevelopment project and its location importance to the expanding University of Illinois Circle campus, the life of Maxwell Street is nearing its end.
Well, it's peck, would peck, would peck, would peck your head so red.
Working under the living, the sun done bright, honey, Lord, Lord, the sun done bright.
John Henry says, why did you get your, put a little shoe on your dress so fine? I got the shoe off of Maxwell, the dress off of Halstead.
Lord, Lord, the dress off of Halstead.
Yeah, John Henry was a steel driving man.
Lord, Lord, Henry was a real man.
Thank you.
Don't get us ashamed, you know, a place that has the flavor of Maxwell Street has to move, you know, because of, when a lot of people turn, progress.
I'm proud, I'm probably some of the best entertainer down here.
I was watching the street man last time I was down here.
Nigga, nigga, nigga, don't care what you do.
Play the research tonight.
I read, read it in the door with you.
Play the research tonight.
The madness pours up round your throat.
Play the research tonight.
Red from their last day of life.
Play the research tonight.
Come along, let's show them, come along.
Wild and warm and shiny bright.
Millionaires and rich people, they come out here for the change of pace and the mangle with the people, you know, and they kind of be lonesome.
And some of them just come out for the kick.
Now I know there was a couple of young girls from up here on the Gold Coast.
They come over here and they just say they just want to rub elbows with different classes of people.
I want everybody down here.
There has been a time that half of the people out here was policemen.
I'll tell you why they come in, is because your hijackers and things used to get truckloads of shirts and any other merchandise, radios and things, they come out here.
Sell them so the police come out here and sometimes you see them take a whole stand and everybody with them.
It's all in the game.
Coach, why don't you buy me a coat? Don't you love your wife? Don't you think she deserves something like this? Look, man, feel it.
Standing like this in the world, come on.
If the police don't meet you, go and say the rap to the man.
He understand your points.
This is the eye of Chicago, another drawer.
I don't care if you're not buying nothing.
You walk around and see the different things.
It's like a sight tour.
Here's the pitchman on selling medicine on all these corners.
My sister was on the other corner over there with a snake.
Years ago, selling medicine, you'd work out the back of a car or a platform like I got right here.
And believe it or not, we've been on the market with that particular liniment over 33 years.
No complaints.
I've been kicking around here with these musicians on the street.
As a matter of fact, there was a little Walter got his start from his own Macpherson Street, Muddy Waters on Macpherson Street, Jimmy Rogers on Macpherson Street, Big John Meek on Macpherson Street, with Howlett and Wolf.
He came from down in the rural piece, Mississippi.
This used to be a good prostitute place for the women's too.
And I would ask the women, I said, because some of them was doctor wide and business men wide, I said, why you come over here, you know, and do something like that when you got all the money you need.
And they just said, just come over here for the change of pace.
Yeah.
I'm like a roamer.
I'm here with the AM gone tomorrow.
This is not my work.
I'm a construction worker.
I like vacuum out of this more for the fun and the kicks out of anything else.
That guy called me up here one time.
He needed somebody to come and get it.
I'm here on the Sundays for him, you know, but ordinarily I don't do this for the money.
There's too much aggravation.
You know, the poorest people and the chattin people are the hardest damn people in the world to sell anything to.
They want everything for nothing.
All over the world.
I've had people who can't say come from Italy.
I was in Italy during the war.
They even told me about, hey, you ever eaten hot dogs on the next street? In Germany, France, in London.
They asked me the same thing.
You ever eat hot dogs on the next street? I'm a toad.
Give me one toad.
It's doomed to go.
No, Max's been snacking on it.
See those buildings that are tearing down over there? I think Max's people last went on the evening.
About two years at most.
There used to be two crowds.
A morning bunch and then a bunch that went to whatever church they went to.
They would come in the afternoon.
They don't get that no more.
Because everybody was afraid of all that was going on there.
It was wild.
Everybody tell me, baby.
Max the Spree is coming to town.
Everybody tell me, baby.
Max the Spree is coming to town.
Well, I know, I know, you know, man.
They're up in the little street of town.
They walked down Max's street, baby.
Right down by town.
Walked down Max's street, baby.
Ran our homes out.
Well, that's why I had all my fun, man, you know.
Right down in Newtown.
I was around here when this was a beautiful place here, just like a column bowl.
And they stayed open until two and three o 'clock in the morning.
They had lights strung across the street.
You know, like they do at the wedding, you know, go up and curve down.
They couldn't have a Max's street like they had back in them days because anybody out here could hustle and make, you know, a little change, you know, survival.
Because you could get out, just go out here in the suburb and pick up some dirt and come in and say, some dirt from our jails.
Get you some peanut shells or anything.
It was a way you could, you know, make it in them days.
And you wasn't hurting nobody either, you know.
These young people there, they're wide -eyed and bushy -tailed.
They don't even know what's happening.
They're going too fast.
