My Lincolnwood Story- Frank Chulay

“Lincolnwood has always been a pleasant place for us. I was proud to be mayor.”

Frank Chulay was mayor of Lincolnwood from 1985-1993. Originally from Hungary, Mr. Chulay immigrated to the United States in 1923. He talks about his career, his time as mayor, and serving as a pilot in World War II.

The views and opinions expressed in interviews do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Lincolnwood Public Library, including its Board of Trustees and staff.



TRANSCRIPT:

Lev Kalmens  0:00  
My name is Lev Kalmens. I'm an Information Services Librarian here at the Lincolnwood Public Library. And today I am speaking with Frank Chulay for My Lincolnwood Story. Frank, thank you for being here. And what is your lincolnwood story?

Frank Chulay  0:16  
Well, I'm a resident for 52 years. And I worked for a company for 35 years. And they gave me early retirement. But I wasn't happy to early retire. They said, "Well, the food deposit--Chicago Food Depository--is looking for someone." And I took the job there and worked for them. And then all of a sudden, they were going to make me the director of the food depository. But in the meantime, the Lincolnwood mayor that was also retiring asked me to run for his seat. And I wasn't sure. I was never in politics. But I decided I would run for it. So during the election time, people were against a mall. And that came up after I was elected. I won and became mayor. And we, the board, and with my approval, authorized the mall to be built. Now the other big thing that happened about two weeks after I was made Mayor, I got a nice letter from the Chicago Fire Chief, saying, "Congratulations on your election. As of a month from now, we will no longer do the fire service in Lincolnwood. We have a first aid unit. But we did not have a fire department. We had a police department, but not a fire department. So I got all upset about it. And I talked to the state representative in our district. And he said, "Let's go talk to Mayor Washington." So we went to City Hall, talked to Mayor Washington, and he was very kind, but he didn't think he could do it. So we had to develop a fire department for the city. And I went to the people that were going to build the mall. And I got a million dollars from them to build a new city hall and a fire department. 

Lev Kalmens  3:21  
Well, before we go on, so you said you've been in Lincolnwood for 52 years. So that's what, 1967. How did you end up in Lincolnwood? I kind of want to know where you were born, how your family ended up in Lincolnwood?

Frank Chulay  3:37  
Oh, well, number one, I was born in Hungary. 

Lev Kalmens  3:42  
Okay.

Frank Chulay  3:42  
But I came to the United States when I was two years old. 

Lev Kalmens  3:46  
Okay.

Frank Chulay  3:46  
I grew up in a town in Chicago called Jefferson Park. 

Lev Kalmens  3:53  
Sure. 

Frank Chulay  3:54  
And when I was still there, I graduated from Prussing Grade School. From Schurz High School. And then I went to Chicago Teachers College. And that's where I was when the war came along, and I had to sign up for the draft.

Lev Kalmens  4:19  
So do you mind my asking what year did you come to the United States?

Frank Chulay  4:25  
1923. I was born 1921.

Lev Kalmens  4:30  
Okay, so that makes you 97?

Frank Chulay  4:33  
97. I'll be 98 this year. 

Lev Kalmens  4:35  
Wow. That's quite impressive, I must say. So what do you remember about growing up in Jefferson Park at that time?

Frank Chulay  4:43  
Oh, it was a lovely neighborhood. I remember a lot of things from Prussing. It was a grad school. I was a police boy, and one year, I was the head of the police boys. And one of my classmates is still living. He lives in California. That was great growing up.

Lev Kalmens  5:20  
What prompted you to move to Lincolnwood?

Frank Chulay  5:23  
And then when we got married, right after the war, it was so difficult to find a place to live. So we ended up in Rogers Park. And then we bought a place in Sauganash Park. That was on the other side of Devon. So then, we were enticed with Lincolnwood. And we move to Lincolnwood.

Lev Kalmens  5:59  
So did you serve in the war?

Frank Chulay  6:01  
Oh, yes, I was a pilot in World War II. I tell my friends I've been to Hawaii twice: once on my way to Okinawa, once on my way back. And I served in South Pacific and ended up in Okinawa, when the war was ended there. 

Lev Kalmens  6:32  
So when you move back--

Frank Chulay  6:34  
And I came back to Chicago, and we've had trouble finding a place, but we bought a home in Sauganash Park. 60-something Trip Avenue.

Lev Kalmens  6:53  
What was this area like back then?

Frank Chulay  6:59  
Sauganash was rich people, and Lincolnwood had a section that was the Towers in Lincolnwood. 

Lev Kalmens  7:09  
Right, right. 

Frank Chulay  7:11  
And we always would go through the Towers at Christmas time to see all the decorations.

Lev Kalmens  7:20  
Yeah, I think they still have it now, that house where the Christmas tree goes all the way through all the levels of the home. 

Frank Chulay  7:27  
Right. Yeah.

Lev Kalmens  7:30  
So you moved to Lincolnwood in 1967. Then you moved to Sauganash--was it in the early '50s, late '40s?

Frank Chulay  7:39  
'67. We came to Lincolnwood in '67. 

Lev Kalmens  7:42  
Right, but what about Sauganash Park?

Frank Chulay  7:45  
Oh, we were there for a good number of years. 

Lev Kalmens  7:50  
Okay, so you said right after the war, right? Yeah. So in the late '40s. 

Frank Chulay  7:54  
Yeah. 

Lev Kalmens  7:54  
Okay. So what was the company that you were working for at that time?

Frank Chulay  7:59  
That was Signal Steel Strapping Company, and they were at Western and Logan Boulevard. 

Lev Kalmens  8:10  
Okay. And what did you do there?

Frank Chulay  8:13  
I was an accountant.

Lev Kalmens  8:16  
What was your educational background in? Your education, what did you go to school for?

Frank Chulay  8:25  
After I graduated from Schurz, my dad couldn't afford to send me to the University of Illinois in Champaign. So I spent two years at Wright Junior College. And then I was working at the Palace Theater, Downtown. And one of my teammates there says, "Why don't you take the exam for Chicago Teachers College?" So I took the exam and passed, and I started at Chicago Teachers College. And then the war came along, and I had to go in to serve. And when I got out of service, Uncle Sam sent me to DePaul.

Lev Kalmens  9:19  
DePaul. 

Frank Chulay  9:21  
So I graduated from DePaul with a degree.

Lev Kalmens  9:26  
Okay.

Frank Chulay  9:27  
In accounting. 

Lev Kalmens  9:28  
Okay, so that's--

Frank Chulay  9:29  
And that's when I got my job with Signal Steel Strapping Company, and I was with them.

Lev Kalmens  9:37  
Your entire career? Or your entire career in accounting. And then you said you retired, or your early retirement was--

Frank Chulay  9:45  
In about '84--'83 or '84. And I became mayor in '85. '85 to '93.

Lev Kalmens  9:59  
Why did you think that that was something you were interested in doing, becoming mayor, since you had no political experience.

Frank Chulay  10:07  
[overlapping] Well, what prompted me was the current mayor didn't want to run you for another year. And he lived a couple of houses from me. And he said, "Why don't you go for mayor?" I said, "I was never in politics." But it sounded good. And either I would be mayor, or I'd be director of the Greater Chicago Food Depository. So I took mayor.

Lev Kalmens  10:39  
Tell me about it. What were some of the challenges? What did you like about it? What were the accomplishments? 

Frank Chulay  10:47  
Yeah. At that time, there were people who were against the mall--some people, not everybody.

Lev Kalmens  10:56  
Oh, you're talking about Lincolnwood Town Center?

Frank Chulay  10:59  
Yeah, Laincolnwood Town Center. 

Lev Kalmens  11:01  
Okay. 

Frank Chulay  11:02  
And I went to them, and they gave me the million dollars for that, but I authorized the mall. And then we built the new village hall, fire department, police department, and everything else we needed. Except the building for public's works were no longer in the back with us. We have a new section for them.

Lev Kalmens  11:44  
So you're talking about the building that's now here in Lincolnwood, kind of by Proesel Park. By Proesel Park where that village hall is?

Frank Chulay  11:54  
Yeah. 

Lev Kalmens  11:56  
So where was the facility before? Or where was City Hall before?

Frank Chulay  12:04  
Oh, City Hall was in the same spot as we built it. Only, at that time, it was on the street behind Lincoln. 

Lev Kalmens  12:23  
Okay. 

Frank Chulay  12:24  
So it's by the parks. The parks district. We own that property. Yeah, in fact the police department was in back of City Hall. But the new building was on Lincoln Avenue rather than the street behind it.

Lev Kalmens  12:59  
Gotcha. I understand now, okay. I didn't know that. I didn't know that that's where it used to be. Okay, so you rebuilt City Hall. You added the police department and the fire department. And then during your time, Lincolnwood Town Center was built. What was on the property where Lincolnwood Town Center is now? What was there prior to that?

Frank Chulay  13:22  
I can't think of the name of the place. It was at one time, they made the telephones and stuff.

Lev Kalmens  13:36  
Well, are you talking about Bell & Howell?

Frank Chulay  13:39  
Bell & Howell! That the one.

Lev Kalmens  13:42  
Because I know that Bell & Howell was on the other side, on Pratt, where Lincolnwood Place and Lincolnwood [inaudible] are now.

Frank Chulay  13:50  
Yes. They had a good portion of that area. 

Lev Kalmens  13:54  
Okay. 

Frank Chulay  13:56  
The Town Center bought everything else they needed.

Lev Kalmens  14:00  
So how was it decided that the village needed a big mall?

Frank Chulay  14:05  
Well, they were deciding that they wanted to build a mall there. And the people that lived near that, they didn't want it. But it was a good thing. We put it in because financially it helped the village. 

Lev Kalmens  14:25  
Because Lincolnwood doesn't really have a downtown area.

Frank Chulay  14:29  
No. That's right.

Lev Kalmens  14:30  
So was the mall kind of the closest you could come to that?

Frank Chulay  14:36  
That's right. We had at that time the hotel.

Lev Kalmens  14:43  
The Purple Hotel.

Frank Chulay  14:44  
Purple Hotel, right. But other than that, there wasn't really a downtown. Yeah.

Lev Kalmens  14:51  
What were some of the hardest parts, or what was the hardest thing about being village mayor?

Frank Chulay  14:58  
There were times when you had to make decisions. You didn't know which way to go, and then you had to do something. And those were the times. And when you had to give speeches.

Lev Kalmens  15:17  
After your tenure as mayor--what would you call it--your time as mayor was over? What did you do? You said you were mayor till '93?

Frank Chulay  15:25  
Well, after I was mayor--I mean, just before my job ended--my first wife died. And then the young lady that was in a club that we belonged to, we kind of, after a couple years, we kind of go in together. And it was 23 years ago. And then I got remarried. At 98 I'm still here. 

Lev Kalmens  16:05  
That's amazing.

Mrs. Chulay  16:08  
Yeah, I'm happy to. And I'm not 98.

Lev Kalmens  16:13  
I won't ask you how to old you are. In the time that you've lived here in Lincolnwood--not just your time as mayor--since the late '60s, how has the village evolved in your opinion?

Frank Chulay  16:28  
I think that the village got more modern here than it was here years ago.

Lev Kalmens  16:36  
In what kind of ways?

Frank Chulay  16:37  
Well in people are more active. And there are more things going on. We started with a Lincolnwood Fest, and things like that make it so much nicer. Yeah.

Lev Kalmens  16:55  
So you're saying just more community involvement from the residents?

Frank Chulay  17:00  
I think so, yeah.

Lev Kalmens  17:02  
So what do you do now to keep yourself active? To entertain?

Frank Chulay  17:11  
As we get older, we're very fortunate. My daughter-in-law makes a bunch of meals, different meals, and she freezes them. And then she sends them up here from North Carolina, and we put them in our freezer. And because of that, we're able to live in our apartment, and feed ourselves or get outside things once in a while. Fortunately, I can still drive a car. I flew an airplane. Right. And I just got my notice from Secretary of State that you have to renew your license every year.

Lev Kalmens  18:07  
What do you think has contributed to your just staying so active through the years?

Frank Chulay  18:12  
Well, I don't know. I think it's that being active. For quite a while, I was going to the Skokie YMCA, but then they shut the pool down for a while. And I dropped out. And now I'm getting a little bit older. So I think that I have to be active in order to stay going. I get more tired now than I used to.

Mrs. Chulay  18:55  
We go to Florida for four months. 

Lev Kalmens  18:57  
Okay. Yeah, that certainly helps. 

Frank Chulay  18:59  
That's the other thing. 

Lev Kalmens  19:00  
Yeah. 

Frank Chulay  19:01  
Going to Florida every year for during the winter. 

Lev Kalmens  19:05  
Oh yeah. You don't want to be here during that time.

Frank Chulay  19:06  
And another thing is that we have more friends and companions down there than we do here. So much of our friends are deceased.Yeah.

Lev Kalmens  19:25  
What would you say that you've been most proud of in your life?

Frank Chulay  19:32  
The what?

Lev Kalmens  19:33  
The most proud of? 

Frank Chulay  19:34  
Proud of?

Lev Kalmens  19:35  
Proud of. Yeah.

Frank Chulay  19:41  
Yeah, I guess flying was most because I don't believe it either that I was a pilot. Yeah, you know, it's been a long time. And I say, "Did I really fly that thing?" Especially when I get onto a plane. They had a show here with the B-24s. And we got into it, they had that you could go into it and walk around. And I got into it, and then I said, "This thing is so small. When I got into it, it was big." 

Lev Kalmens  20:27  
Was that the type of plane that you flew?

Frank Chulay  20:29  
Yeah.

Lev Kalmens  20:29  
Do you have any regrets?

Frank Chulay  20:30  
No, I have no regrets because I've been all over the world, either as by myself or during the war.

Lev Kalmens  20:48  
So you've traveled a lot. 

Frank Chulay  20:49  
I've traveled a lot. 

Lev Kalmens  20:52  
What has been the most memorable place that you've traveled to?

Frank Chulay  20:57  
Well, I think that my trip over to the South Pacific. I always remember that. The Philippines, we were there quite a bit.

Lev Kalmens  21:11  
How long were you there for?

Frank Chulay  21:14  
How long in The Philippines? Or all together?

Lev Kalmens  21:18  
All together.

Frank Chulay  21:19  
Well, I think I joined in about '43 to '46. Three years.

Lev Kalmens  21:26  
Is there anything else that you would like to mention/talk about from your time living here in Lincolnwood or anything else at all?

Frank Chulay  21:36  
Well, Lincolnwood has always been a pleasant place for us. And I was proud to be mayor. One thing I remember about the Army Air Corps is that when the war came along, and we had to sign up for the draft, I signed up for the draft. And then somewhere--I don't remember this, whether it was at school or what--they said, "If you sign up for the Army Air Corps, you can finish school." Now, that's wonderful. So I signed up for the Army Air Corps. And three weeks later, I was called out and I was sent to Miami Beach. And there, they decided what I would be. They had us come in to a place where there were three officers at the desk. And they called you up. And they said, "What do you want to be: a pilot, a navigator, or a bombadier?" And I said, "I think I'll be a pilot." "You think you'll be a pilot?! If you want to be a pilot, you'll..." "Sir. I want to be a pilot." "Get out of here." I went out. I was called back, and, "Now, what do you want to be: pilot, navigator, or bombadier?" "I think, what did I do the best in?" "Oh, you were good at all three." "Then I'll take pilot." "Then you'll take pilot?! Get out of here." Well, the third time, I learned. I walked up and said, "Sir, I want to be a pilot." And how it happened, I don't know. 

Lev Kalmens  23:43  
So just like that, it was completely your choice. 

Frank Chulay  23:47  
Yeah. 

Lev Kalmens  23:48  
Well, I want to thank you so much for coming down, for sharing your lincolnwood story with us.

Frank Chulay  23:55  
You'll be able to get something out this. 

Lev Kalmens  23:58  
It was a lovely conversation. Thank you so much.