231. Guess Where Wednesday & Last Week’s Winner

So it’s clear to me now that local history is no mystery in Barrington! We had a record-breaking number of guesses come in last week when we published our “mystery photo” from the Barrington Area Library archives. More on that in a minute. But first, we have an AWESOME prize for the winner of our new mystery photo contest. So let’s get to it! I cropped this picture to make it a little more challenging. Can you guess what this is a picture of?

We’ll get to this week’s prize in a minute. But first, let’s talk about last week’s winner. Just moments ago we drew the winning name and it is…

Thanks for your guess and congratulations, Stephanie. I’ll be emailing you this afternoon with details about how to receive your $25 gift certificate to Wool Street Grill & Sports Bar. Click HERE to view all of our guesses from last week. It is, indeed, a picture of the old Jewel Tea Company Headquarters that once stood here in Barrington.

Local preservationists fought hard to keep the old “Gray Lady” standing, but the 5-story building where Citizens Park is today was demolished back in 2003. The office, warehouse and coffee roasting facility was built by architects Holabird & Root in 1930, when the Chicago-based Jewel Tea Company decided to move its headquarters to Barrington. Several years later, the company acquired a number of grocery stores, creating the Jewel grocery store chain we have today. Homes in the neighboring “Jewel Park” community were built to house many of the company’s executives.  There’s a great exhibit about the history of the Jewel Tea Company and its ties to Barrington going on now at the Barrington Area Historical Society at 212 W. Main Street.

Not long after the old Jewel Tea Company Headquarters was torn down, Barrington photographer, Susan McConnell, was driving past the site very early one morning and caught this beautiful image with an eerie fog covering that long stretch of road leading up to where the building once stood. Take a look at the trees in Susan’s photo below, compared to the trees in the library’s image above.  They speak volumes about the passage of time.  Susan won an award for this photograph, which she calls “Gray Lady’s Ghost”.

This Week’s Prize

Susan McConnell is offering a limited edition 8×10 print of her “Gray Lady’s Ghost” photograph as the NEW PRIZE for this week’s mystery photo contest winner. How cool is that! It would make a great gift for yourself or your favorite art collector or history buff. So take another look at today’s mystery photo and guess away.

Here’s how it works:

• You can submit your guesses about where today’s mystery photo was taken in the comments area for this post.
• You have until midnight on Friday to submit your guess.
• The following Wednesday, we’ll draw a name, reveal the winner at 365Barrington.com and contact the winner with instructions about receiving the prize of the week.
• Only one guess per person is allowed.
• Only guesses posted here on this website, not on Facebook or Twitter, will be entered into the weekly drawing.
• Your email address must be valid, so we can contact you if you win.

Your Two Clues:

1. This little kitty has ties to Cleveland, Ohio
2. How funky is your chicken?  How loose is your goose?  So come on all you cheerleaders!  And shake your _______!

There you go! All you have to do is SUBMIT YOUR GUESS IN THE “COMMENTS” BOX BELOW. If you’ve guessed in our previous contests, please feel free to participate again this week! We’d love to see as many guesses as possible. We’re also working on finding more great prizes for future “Guess Where Wednesdays”. If you would like to offer one of our upcoming “Guess Where Wednesday” prizes, please drop me a note at Liz@TheLubyGroup.com. Good luck with your guessing and here’s one more look at this week’s Mystery Photo.