Hello everyone. Today I will be writing about the CTA Bus Route 27 South Deering. The main reason that I am writing about this particular route is that my late father rode on the route every day when I was growing up in the 1960s in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago. My father owned some property on the southwest corner of East 63rd Street and South Stony Island Ave in the Woodlawn neighborhood. He bought the property sometime in the 1950s and sold it in 1980. A YMCA is now located there.

The route began in 1892 as a streetcar route. Its origin started where my father had his property and ended at East 112th St and South Torrence Ave. Sometime later it extended to E 128th St at the Ford Motor Plant. When I lived in South Shore, many people my parents knew took that direct route to their jobs. Whether it was at the Ford Motor Plant, Wisconsin Steel, or any businesses in the South Chicago area, the bus route was reliable. Most people that we knew didn’t have a car. Some people took that route to connect to the Jackson Park Rapid Transit Station to go downtown. When my father was home, sometimes he commuted with the Illinois Central Train at East 75th St And South Exchange Ave. It really depended on when he was heading to work or stopping by at E 63rd St first.

My mother, my brother, and I took that route to go to the South Chicago neighborhood of Chicago to go shopping. She shopped at Goldblatt’s Department Store frequently. There was a clothing store called Gassman’s. It provided the most beautiful clothes. The one store that my brothers and I were looking forward to visiting was Children’s Bargain Town Toy Store, USA. It was located at East 92nd St and South Houston Ave. It was a wonderful toy store. I remembered the television commercials when it aired during Bozo’s Circus on WGN-TV Channel 9 at noon. I seemed to recall as we were on our way, there was a billboard of the toy store on South Commercial Ave. I could be incorrect.

The 27 South Deering local bus route ended on August 31, 2003, when it merged with 71 71st Street route. It is now called 71 71st/South Shore. It’s basically the same route with a few changes. Its origin is presently at the 69th Street Dan Ryan Station and stops at East 112th St and Torrence. I associate with many people who lived in the South Shore, and South Chicago neighborhoods and they instantly remembered that route so fondly. That was the first bus route my mother rode when she arrived in America in 1962. She still calls it the number 27. I reasonably doubt it would return since another local route took it over. There is an express bus route called 26 South Shore Express. It’s on a daily rush-hour service. I will write more stories about discontinued CTA bus routes shortly. Thank you. Pete Kastanes-Admin for Vanished Chicagoland Facebook Page.