Certainly the move to Chicago for Vaclav and Katerina Filipek and the Sokolik boys had to be an exciting and interesting change in their lives. For generations they their families had lived in small rural farming villages. Suddenly they were living in a rapidly expanding, vibrant, cosmopolitan melting pot. The neighborhood they lived in Chicago was only three miles south of the city center and in a heavily populated area. Chicago was in the midst of a great building and population boom and their neighborhood was very cosmopolitan. Next door neighbors were immigrants from England, Ireland, Bohemia, Germany, Sweden, and nationalities almost too numerous to count. Most were struggling with the language, new customs and a new way of life. But it was a vibrant society where jobs were plentiful, although not always high paying, and people from all walks of life intermingled at work and in the neighborhood.

Early on Katerina Nemec and the Novaks would have witnessed the completion of the first cable cars down State Street to 29th Street in 1882. This would have provided easy access for excursions to the city center. In 1887 the city adopted a plan to install electric lighting on streets, and in 1890 the city began the planning for the World Exposition. One would guess that the Filipeks and Sokolik boys must have visited the famous Colombian Exposition in 1893, which was only a few miles from where they lived including the still standing Soldier's Field, the Field Museum, and the Art Institute. Later, they would have witnessed the building of the Elevated Train or the "L" as it worked its way south about a mile east of their neighborhood in the late 1890s. And if they were interested in politics, Chicago in those days was the place for Presidential Conventions. This was where Harrison was nominated in 1888, the first Democratic Convention was held in 1892, Roosevelt was nominated in 1904 and Taft in 1908. And of course there was baseball, an emerging sport at the turn of the century. Comiskey Park, home of the White Sox, was at 34th Street just a half mile south of the old Filipek Grocery Store and about three-quarters to the east. It would have been a half-hour walk to the ballpark to enjoy an afternoon game in the sun.

The homes in the neighborhood were small cottages, bungalows, and flats. Many flats of the time held numerous and large families and often had only a few rooms per family. The homes were not well insulated and did not have central heat and generally had only one bathroom. My Grandmother Grace recalled that they would heat bricks to put under their blankets to keep warm at night. She also recalled that around 1900 all the streets were dirt except Halsted Street, which was paved and that in places the sidewalks were made of wood. Without refrigeration, people shopped everyday, but because of the housing density, corner groceries were plentiful and easy to walk to so the Filipeks prospered with their corner grocery at 30th and Emerald. Fresh meat was in good supply since the Chicago Stockyards were only a little over a mile to the south at 40th street, and with southwest breezes a certain odor in the wind. In fact, the whole area must have had a cacophony of sounds and smells from the nearby Vanderkloot Iron Works, small factories, the Filipek Grocery, horses, street cars, coal and wood burning stoves, street vendors, fruit and vegetable carts, and the like.

The early 1890s were difficult for James and Katherine as they struggled with the new city, the new language, low paying jobs, three young children, two nephews and small apartments. But there were compensations, the excitement of the city and the neighborhood and many friends. Certainly it was very different than the small and peaceful farming communities they had come from where everyone knew everyone and everyone's business.

While the Filipeks and Theodore left Chicago and John Sokolik temporarily during their Colorado years, they were all back together in the same home upon their return to Chicago in 1900. Then around 1905, there was a small beginning in the breakup of the bonds and the neighborhood that would start a break with the past and eventually send them onto new journeys.

It all began after JK Sokolik married and decided to move about 5 miles south. He chose to live around 68th and Emerald, placing him a few miles south of the stockyards and into the fresh breezes from the southwest. While the area is heavily populated now, it likely represented more open land and homogeneous neighborhoods then. This area of Chicago was generally filled with only houses and stores, with industry, noise and smells only at the major mile and half mile intersections. In a way, it was an early preview of suburbia. And with the "L" nearby there was convenient access to the city for work and entertainment.

Theodore Sokolik married Lillian about 1909 and then moved in with her parents near 65th and Halsted, a few blocks from his brother John. Then Mary Filipek married and moved to 73rd and Union in 1912. Slowly the group was moving south and when James Filipek died in 1914, the boys and Katherine first moved west and then to Larry and Mary Barrett's home. So by 1916 all had moved from the original neighborhood and lived within a few blocks of each other in the new neighborhood. Here they would stay for a few years before Theodore made the decision after his second marriage in 1917 to move seven miles west to Riverside, a quiet and even more peaceful place. So while JK got the group moving south in 1905, Theodore got the group moving west a decade later. By 1921 Katherine had sold the grocery store and moved with her son John to Riverside, buying the house next to Theodore. By 1925 James and Grace Filipek moved to Riverside too so all except JK Sokolik eventually lived in Riverside in the 1920s and 30s.

The moves from the old neighborhood signaled the end of an era. It had begun with difficult decisions to leave in the Old World. There were constant livelihood struggles, risks, and hard work, but there were also close friends forged by the immigrant neighborhoods and the need to help each other succeed. Eventually an entrepreneurial life emerged for the Filipeks, first in the provision of room, board and meals for the railroad crews in Colorado and then the opening of their own grocery store in Chicago. Success brought them prosperity, a new life, better neighborhoods, and a rich and interesting history for their offspring to discover.