Keeping Track of Those Properties

Several of Frank Stevens’ letters home during the war include discussions about the various Chicago properties his father, Will, has for sale. Despite being one of five sons, Frank seems, more than his brothers, to have a keen interest in his father’s business. I thought that somewhat unusual, but chalked it up to a close father-son relationship, nothing more—that is, until I found a newspaper clipping tucked away in the collection of family papers saved by Frank’s mom, Agnes Tully Stevens.

In a photograph published on Sunday, July 27, 1941—when Frank was not quite seventeen yet—the Southtown Economist explained in the caption:

            Members of the South Side Real Estate board held their annual golf outing last Wednesday at the Glen Eagles golf course, but horseshoe pitching came in for a good share of attention. In the photograph at the right Clarence O. Rosain, president of the board, shows excellent horseshoe pitching form. In the photograph at the left Frank Stevens, 17 years old, youngest member of the board, and Charles Thayer, 80, oldest member, turn in their scores to Ferdinand Christgau, secretary of the organization.