Decades of Deliverance: A History of the Whiting News Agency

Gayle Faulkner Kosalko  June 2022   

It was a Whiting institution.

As an adult you paid bills there, bought greeting cards, rosaries and statues there for gifts. As a kid you went in at least once a day for penny candy. You could even buy a colored postcard of Whiting there to send to out-of-town friends. Today those postcards are part of the Whiting Robertsdale Historical Society Museum stock.

It was the Whiting News Company right in the heart of town but few realize how the history of Whiting News was the history of Whiting and a reflection of national history throughout the years.

One needs to go back to the end of the previous century. Whiting is starting to become much more than just a refinery town. Eastern European immigrants have come to live and work here and the entrepreneurs among them are joining the increasing business community that is growing along with the town.

Among these early merchants were John (Jack) Clark and his wife Ida. Jack, who was born in Toledo, first worked at the railroads and then entered the newspaper agency business. The Clarks took over the Whiting News Agency in 1895. Jack had acquired it from a Robert F. Denham.

According to a newspaper account, when the Clarks took over the agency, the place consisted of enough space for a desk and a display of newspapers and magazines. It was housed in the old Peterson building on 119th Street. Clark shared his limited space with Roy Welsby who conducted a cigar store.

From the March 12, 1915 edition of a Whiting newspaper:

REMOVAL OF NEWS STORE

R.R. Welsby and L.F. Clark are moving their place of business to the Pedersen building, corner 119th and Sheridan Avenue where they expect to be open and ready for business Monday, March 15.

These young men will then be right in the midst of the new downtown of Whiting. Mr. Clark has given his newspaper and periodical business the name of The Whiting News Co. Mr. Welsby will continue his line of leadings brands of cigars and tobacco, stationery, candies and now sporting goods. In the rear of the building are to be found billiard tables, giving to the lovers of that form of sport, a clean and respectable place in which to while away their spare moments.

Whiting News carried newspapers, magazines and a few miscellaneous goods. Now remember this was a time when there was no radio or television. The printed word is what kept the people in Whiting in touch not only with each other but with the world at large. Newspapers, especially those that were written in foreign languages were of particular interest to the inhabitants of the city. The Whiting News carried (and would continue to do so for many years) the Polish Zgoda, and the Jewish Forward along with a multitude of Chicago dailies that had both morning and afternoon editions.

With a growing business, Clark had to find larger quarters and moved to a new location on 119th. His final move came in 1929 when 1417 -119th Street became the permanent home of the Whiting News Co. There was a dentist on one side of the business with a doctor’s office upstairs. Next door was the McNamara Brothers meat shop (later Anne’s Linens and today is Michoacana IN).

Ida Clark, being the wife of a prominent businessman, got involved with the community. She worked with the Whiting chapter of the American Red Cross, the WR Chamber of Commerce, (who would later by the building around 2012), and held a position on the Library Board. When she passed away in 1942 the Whiting Library closed its door the day of her funeral in her honor.

In a different section of town was another merchant named Joseph Chrustowski. Joseph was born in Poland and immigrated to the Chicago area around 1900. Like Clark, he was an early Oil City pioneer. Joseph ran the Chrustowski Tailor Shop. His wife Anna ran their general store at 1928 New York Avenue (it became the site of Midtown Tap).

The Chrustowskis lived upstairs of the shop and according to grandson Jay Chrustowski, all their family were born there. Two of Joseph and Anna’s children became merchants as well. Fran (Kinel) would eventually own the Fashion Hosiery Shop and his son John would be the owner of the Whiting News Company. His other son Stanley would work with John. Keeping in the newspaper business, their third son Steve would be a writer for the TIMES.

As a lad of 16, young John began his training at the agency in 1920. John began his career delivering to sub dealers with a push cart. A few years later, it was quite impressive when Jack Clark purchased a Model T Ford delivery truck and assigned the young John Chrustowski as delivery driver.

According to a biographical news account of Chrustowski’s career, since he now took less time on his delivery route, he spent more time working as a store clerk and janitor all rolled into one.

In his spare time, John was reported to be quite a baseball pitcher. In 1921 he helped his team, the Whiting Newsies, win the Middle West Junior Carrier’s championship. John was known as the Christy Mathewson of his team. (Mathewson - 1880-1927 -was the most prominent pitcher in baseball for the first two decades of the last century. He played for the NY Giants). Throughout his life, there would always be a connection between business, baseball and John Chrustowski.

When Jack Clark died in 1939, Mrs. Clark took over the business and Chrustowski became her chief assistant. Upon her death, he would purchase the business from her estate in 1942.

In the meantime, in 1934, John hired the beautiful Miss Catherine Buckley. (Her sister Mary Buckley was being courted by one of the McNamara boys next door at their meat store) This young lady had become an integral part of the business and soon would become Mrs. John Chrustowski. A newspaper article said that “this happy event will take place just as soon as John and Catherine can find help enough to take over while they make the inevitable journey to honeymooner’s paradise, Niagara Falls.”

Catherine (Kitty) and John married in 1944. Later her sister Mary would, indeed, marry John McNamara and another sister would marry Ed Sandrick which is how the Sandricks, the McNamaras, the Buckleys (James Buckley was the “baby brother” of the six Buckley girls) and the Chrustowskis would all be related…and each of their children would end up working at the store when they were teenagers.

WHAT YOU COULD FIND THERE

The Whiting News Company carried products that made a visit to the store a must for the residents here. In addition to all the foreign newspapers, they carried every issue of the local Whiting Times. Touted as the “Store with Everyday Commercial Needs” and “Whiting’s Only Popular Book Store,” Chrustowski also carried sheet music for the piano. Quite a bargain since you could get three songs for only $1. Besides the latest books, they also carried over 100 different children’s books. In those days you could get your stationery imprinted or monogrammed (remember those days before email and your phone when you actually wrote a letter!). And they carried candles in many colors for many occasions which, of course, were made right here in Whiting at the Candle Factory of Standard Oil.

There were decorations for every holiday for sale. At Christmas you could just do all your shopping at Whiting News. The store carried all the wrapping paper and Christmas ties one could use. There were stuffed and wooden animal toys for the kiddies and shelves filled with radio games, xylophones, block wagon toys, playtime blackboards, and exacto knife sets.

And they advertised “hard to get items” too. Back in the 1940s it was the place, according to one ad, where you could get “that hard to find but very useful item….Scotch Cellulose Tape!”

During the war, the store carried flags and service flags and in every advertisement taken out, Chrustowski showed his patriotism by adding such tag lines as “Buy War Bonds,” “Avoid black markets,” “Salvage waste paper and fat,” “Donate your blood.” On one advertisement of 1943 he added “Tune in to Meet Your Navy every Friday night at 7:30 on WLS.”

Whiting News was the place for those who were on the home front to buys items to remember their loved ones in the service. They carried pocket games, pocket books, diaries and bibles. It’s where you went to buy airmail tablets and envelopes and your V-Mail. They also carried official overseas mailing boxes. There were special greeting cards for men in every branch of the service on their racks.

One ad showed the Heart Shield Bible which had a 20 gauge gold-finished cover that would protect your man’s heart from bullets, shrapnel or bayonets. The ad read “The Heart Shield Bible that may save a life, for God and country” and it was said that there actually were cases in the war when a man’s life had been saved by his carrying one of these bibles in his breast pocket.

John Chrustowski was more than just a prominent businessman. In a sense, he spoke for the community. When the local paper headlines ran “All Whiting Rejoices in VE Days” they asked him for a quote.

He said, “From now on, it’s one way traffic to Tokyo. Being VE day today for the European theater of war, it is up to all of us to back up the boys with the best that we’ve got….that still means harder work and more work to finish the job The best way to do a good job is to buy more war bonds. Watch out, Tokyo, we’re on our way.”

And though a feature article on Chrustowski said that “John’s hobby is the store,” he was a man who enjoyed travel, taking trips in the early 1950’s to South America, Mexico, Cuba and Panama.

Now if you wanted something, you could just call the store by asking your local operator to ring 775 and John would see that you got what you needed.

But newspapers were always the primary business.

The men in charge were John’s brother Stanley and Dutch Serafin who came before WWII and return to the job after the war. The men would have to pick up the papers from the South Shore at night for delivery. These were the days when the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago American also ran later editions. In addition you had the Chicago Herald, the Chicago Tribune, the Hammond Times and the Gary Post the foreign papers he sold. There were also racing forms for the green and the red streak that needed to be picked up and delivered because there happened to be a lot of bookies in Whiting in those days as well.

Whiting News always had baseball teams. In the 1930s and 1940s they had two teams and another one again in the 1960s.

And the paperboys….there were always little paperboys. How many men today remember Mr. Chrustowski saying to them as kids, “Don’t forget the slip!” It meant that you accidentally skipped someone on your route! But every Sunday morning when they finished their routes, they knew that along with their pay, they would receive a complimentary pass to the Hoosier Theatre.

And a trip to the Hoosier was also his gift to the community’s kids as he sponsored the “Whiting News Company Back to School Cartoon Show” on a Saturday morning. The cost was just 25 cents. For your quarter you got to see 10 cartoons, 3 Stooges comedies, an Our Gang comedy and a serial. And if you were one of the first 25 kids there, you received a fresh whistling top and you and the next 75 to arrive, got free candy! All who attended received complimentary free school supplies.

For whatever reason, the newsboy had their names written on the rafters. Jay Chrustowski said that when people came back in town for Pierogi Fest, they would want to come in and look for their names.

“They would laugh and say, ‘I remember your dad screamin’ and yellin’ cause something wasn’t done right’,” Jay remembered.

FROM FATHER TO SON

While John Chrustowski was never in the limelight, he was politically astute and involved in Whiting. And he was good friends with other well known business families as the Vogels, the Smidts and Al Knapp.

But probably few people know that back in the late 1960s he was somewhat involved in an international incident. A young Whiting man, Allan Nye, was being held in Cuba for attempting to kill Castro. The Cuban government agreed to let him go if he promised to never return. And who went to get him? John Chrustowski and Joe Sullivan, Nye’s attorney! There were even photos of their arrival back in the states.

“He was a funny guy who liked to joke around,” said his son Jay. “But a lot of people were afraid of him.”

I was one of those kids myself. As you stood at the penny candy (daily) you would see Mr. Chrustowski standing behind the counter giving you “that look.” You got your candy. You left.

Jay, who officially took over the business in 1973 (though he swears he was there his whole life anyway) said that the flying saucers, licorice wheels, and candy buttons had never lost their popularity.

“The real old stuff is what people wanted,” he said. “When we were still in business, we had people calling to have boxes of our candies sent in the mail because they can’t find them where they were in Arizona or Florida.”

Now unlike his dad, Jay liked the daily candy visits from the teenagers. It was a chance to get to know them and talk about school and sports. He was an assistant varsity football coach for 12 years.

“That bonding was neat before they had to close the lunch hour,” he said. “We’d get a chance to shoot the breeze with the kids but they would still come in before and after school.”

John Chrustowski passed away in 1994. Naturally much had changed through the 70 years that he was at the Whiting News Agency. In a quote he gave in the early 1990s John said, “Reading habits in the US have changed dramatically because of the computer. Though people still want to see who died and they can’t get that on the internet. But people don’t take the time to read anymore because of our helter skelter lives.”

While the store always carried religious items, Jay said there wasn’t a big call for them toward the end… except for the statues of St. Joseph people bought to bury in their yard when they were selling their house.

As the newspaper business was dying, Whiting News looked for other ways to keep up with the times. It became the home of the Beanie Babies, Colonial Home Candles and Cedarburg candles out of northern Illinois. And like newspapers, the sale of greeting cards began to diminish although Jay continued to carry greeting cards in Polish and Slovak and Spanish and Vietnamese

And Jay, like his dad, still hired local high school girls as clerks.

“The Mayor’s wife (Jackie Bercik) used to work here for us and all the Hajduch girls,” he said. “We had them from WHS, Clark and Noll.”

Years ago one paid one’s phone bills at Whiting News. Later it was your cable bill.

But when everything went on-line, there was less and less reason to visit the store. And it was those visits throughout the years, that made Whiting News Co. such a big part of Whiting.

And like his father before him, what Jay enjoyed the most was dealing with the Whiting people.

“They’re good people here. They always have been,” said Jay. “I liked seeing the generations…the grandkids of people who used to work for us years ago. That’s the plus of Whiting, the continuation of those generations.”

And with having been one of the oldest businesses in town, from father to son, that’s probably just how his dad felt too.