From drug store to currency exchange. From a favorite ice cream stop to an authentic Irish bar, O’Shaughnessy’s building has been a home to businesses in the Ravenswood community for 100 years. Or maybe more.
A recent view of the building at 4555-7 N Ravenswood. The owners have an interesting history, according to blogger LizG14.
Blogger LizG14 has written a love poem to O’Shaughnessy’s on “Tales, Taverns & Towns: Let’s Raise a Glass”. While sitting back over a dark glass of stout she ruminates on the history of a building and its owners.
“What makes this location especially interesting (for this blog anyway) are not the businesses, but the owners of the building. Between 1918 and 1921, the corner property changed hands between Wilder A. Pickard and Foreman Brothers Banking several times,” she writes.
LizG14 goes on to connect the property to one of the famous crimes of the 19th Century, the murder of Louise Luetgart. She writes “in 1897 Adolph Luetgart murdered his wife, Louise, due to financial and marital problems. Adolph chose to dispose of her remains in his sausage factory, yes, just as you imagine…”
