Laurette Williams provides a pictorial look at her childhood neighborhood in Englewood, Chicago. The photos show her old grammar school, St. Raphael Catholic Elementary School, which is now run down with boarded up windows. Her childhood church, St. Raphael Catholic Church, has been converted to a community center but failed and is now empty. The buildings and lots where she used to play as a child are overgrown and abandoned, no longer maintained as they once were. The neighborhood has clearly declined significantly since her childhood there.

1. You Can Never Go Home Again WHERE I GREW UP: A pictorial look Laurette Williams

2. Here is a brief pictorial look at the place of my childhood.I remember the well manicured lawns, well-maintained buildings, and my old school.

3. But it certainly does not compare to what it looks like today…What a difference a day – (or a few decades) makes…

4. My Grammar school St Raphael Catholic Elementary School in the heart of Englewood. NOW they have good windows…The room sticking out was used for art and science classes.

5. My childhood church St Raphael Catholic Church…oh the memories – stolen communion hosts, false confessions. Oh what fun!

6. It used to be… After the Archdiocese closed the church, they turned it into a community arts and cultural center. It didn’t last long.

7. Boy, oh boy! Theatre-Gallery-Nothing. Progress and change – neither happened here.

8. How do you let this happen? So many weddings, baptisms, graduations, and funerals came through these doors…

9. What can you say?... Can you say, “A HAWTTT MESS!”?

10. Sisters of Charity Can you say, “Love (Charity) don’t live here anymore”. Don’t think too many nuns stay here anymore… I think some of the teachers stay here now. Who knows??

11. The grotto Doesn’t look much better in the summer.

12. Statues, statues everywhere Whose bright idea was this? It looks as bland as the buildings behind it. They had the nerve to have duplicates of Picasso statues both here and on the lawn where the rectory used to be.

13. The Gym Bingo on Tuesday night, roller skating on Mondays after school, Monday night, Friday night, and Saturday afternoon, not to mention the sets thrown by Y.G.O. in the late 70’s…Fun! Fun! Fun!

14. Saint who??? I still say they made this guy up.

15. West side of school Lower left hand is the Principal’s office. I should know…I spent the better part of 7th and 8th grade there…

16. The Gym – Justine entrance Where you entered for fun and insanity…(ticket office just inside at the top of the stairs.) Now it’s a center for pregnant teens – a help center.

17. THE REAL NAME OF THIS PLACE I don’t care what they call it – it will ALWAYS be this to me.

18. ??????????? I ain’t got nuttin’ ta say…

19. This used to be my playground… We called this “the Little Playground”. It had a carousel, slide, swings, and monkey bars…wth??? The “big playground” was/is the parking lot. It’s where the big kids used to play…

20. Semi-panoramic view of campus (From left to right) School, gym, “parking lot, garage, convent, and church. There used to be a rectory. It was torn down over a decade ago…

21. For my first year.. I lived here (3rdflr off the alley on left) from birth to 1978. Moved around the corner. I had a cousin that lived on the first floor right below us.

22. From 1962 until 1978 – the second floor My room was in the rear. It was HUGE. My mom and grandmother shared the room to the right

23. A slightly closer look My favorite place – the balcony. Spent many a summer night looking up at the stars, listening to my radio. (For a short while, I slept in the room off the balcony.)

24. This used to be my playground, too The white car to the right of the tree is where 2nd base was when we played baseball. There was a large stone birdbath. Now look…

25. Empty lot There used to be a small house and a large apartment building, just like the one next to my old place.

26. Guess where the grass is growing now… Lawns used to be better kept when I was a kid

27. There used to be a view If you look just above the truck, you’ll see what used to be windows. I used to sit in them and look down the block to see if anyone was outside to play with. Now, there’s a wall. I guess it’s ok, there’s not much to look at on the other end…

28. "How far we all come. How far we all come away from ourselves. So far, so much between, you can never go home again.” — James Agee (A Death in the Family)