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Tessville renames itself Lincolnwood to lose the speakeasies
1936
Lincolnwood, Illinois
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Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Tessville sat just outside Chicago police jurisdiction, which during Prohibition made it a convenient address for roadhouses, gambling rooms and speakeasies. Henry Proesel, elected in 1931 and eventually mayor for 46 years, put the village's unemployed to work planting ten thousand elms with federal money, capped liquor licences with an ordinance other towns copied, and in 1936 renamed the place Lincolnwood after the trees and Lincoln Avenue. The new name was the last step in burying the old reputation.
That was 1 of the hidden places.
Location: city-level
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