LINED THE BANKS OF THE RIVER BY THE RIVERVIEW PARK.

>> BUT THIS WAS NOT SOME STREAM IT WAS THE RATHER DUTY POLLUTED CHICAGO RIVER.

WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO LIVE THERE?

>> IT WAS CHEAP.

HOUSEBOAT LIVING WAS A WAY TO AVOID REAL ESTATE TAXES AND HIGH RENTS.

>> MORTGAGES WERE NOT UNDERWATER?

>> THAT IS RIGHT.

>> SORRY.

>> THAT IS OK.

I LEFT ROOM FOR THE SHOT THERE.

AND ONE NEWSPAPER ARTICLE SAYS THAT RESIDENTS PAID AN AVERAGE OF $1 A MONTH TO MOOR THEIR HOUSEBOATS AND MANY HAD THE COMFORTS OF HOME.

SOME BOATS WERE HOOKED UP TO CITY PLUMBING.

ONE HOUSEBOAT WAS A FLOATING BAR FOR A TIME WHICH AS WE CAN SEE WAS RAIDED BY AGENTS.

>> WAS IT LEGAL TO LIVE ON THE RIVER?

>> THE QUESTION OF LEGALITY WAS AS MURKY AS THE WATER.

WHEN THE CAMP STARTED GROWING DURS THE 20s AND 30s, THE CHICAGO DISTRICT DID TRY TO EVICT THE OCCUPANTS CITING WATER POLLUTION AND NAVIGATION CONCERNS.

BUT IN 1930 A JUDGE PREVENTED THE HOUSEBOATS FROM BEING OUT OFFED.

AND WE CHECKED WITH THE METROPOLITAN WATER RECLAMATION DISTRICT EVEN TODAY HOUSEBOATS ARE NOT STRICTLY ILLEGAL.

THEY ARE HEAVILY REGULATED.

BOATVILLE RESIDENTS WERE ADULTS.

MANY RESIDENTS WERE RETIRED BOAT MEN OR EXSAILORS BUT WE FOUND THIS ARTICLE ABOUT THE COLONY WHICH FEATURED A FAMILY WHO LIVED ON THE NORTH BRANCH WITH THEIR INFANT SON CLAUDE AND OUR PRODUCER GOT IN TOUCH WITH CLAUDE.

AND HE DOES NOT REMEMBER ANYTHING MUCH ABOUT BOATVILLE BUT HE WAS FOUND.

FLOATED IN THE STRAW BASKET.

HE WAS A BABY SO HE DOES NOT REMEMBER MUCH ABOUT IT BUT HE HAS A MEMORY OF PLAYING ON THE RIVER BANK NEAR AN ABANDONED CAR WHICH THEIR HOUSE WAS TIED TO SO IT WOULD NOT FLOAT AWAY.

CLAUDE SAID HIS PARENTS DECIDED TO MOVE TO LAND IN 1949 WHEN THEIR HOME NEARLY TIPPED OVER AFTER THE RIVER LEVEL DROPPED AND THE BOAT RAN AGROUND ON A ROCK.

THEY WERE AMONG THE LAST TO LEAVE BOATVILLE.

AND BY THE 50s THE HOUSEBOATS VANISHED FROM THE NORTH BRANCH.

AND THOSE LEFT BY THE 1970s, WERE CONFRONTED BY PERMITTING REGULATIONS AND CRACKDOWNS FOR IMPROPER DISPOSAL OF WASTE.

ACCORDING TO THE METROPOLITAN WATER RECLAMATION DISTRICT RECORDS, A COUPLE HOUSEBOAT HOLDOUTS WERE THERE THROUGH THE EARLY 1990s.

>> NO KIDDING.

AND IT IS STILL NOT ILLEGAL BUT REGULATED.

>> NOTE TO SELF.

>> THINK ABOUT THAT.

RETIREMENT HOME, PHIL.

>> PORTAGE PARK IS WHERE OUR NEXT QUESTION COMES FROM.

>> THERE WAS A BOAT YARD ALONG THE CHICAGO RIVER AND I HAVE HAD A PICTURE ON THE WALL IN MY OFFICE ONE OF MY FAVORITE PICTURES IT WAS ON THE RIVER AT BELMONT, THE HENRY C. GREEDY BOAT YARD ACROSS THE RIVER FROM RIVERVIEW PARK AND THEY DID BUILD MORE THAN 50 NAVAL VESSELS INCLUDING 25 MINE SWEEPS IN 1944.

AND ACCORDING TO THE MARITIME MUSEUM THEY NEVER BUILT PT BOATS.

PT BOATS WERE THE PATROL BOATS MADE FAMOUS BY JOHN F. KENNEDY AND THE PT109.

AND HENRY STARTED THE COMPANYBUILDING LUXURY WATERCRAFT IN MILWAUKEE.

AND WHEN THE UNITED STATES ENTERED WORLD WAR II, HE JOINED THE WAR EFFORT.

ACCORDING TO THE MARITIME MUSEUM, THE SHIPYARD'S EXISTENCE WAS A BIG REASON THAT MOVABLE BRIDGES WERE KEPT IN OPERATION ON THE NORTH BRANCH.

THE BRIDGES NEEDED TO OPEN SO LET THE VESSELS THROUGH.

AND AFTER THE WAR WAS OVER HE RETURNED TO BUILD WATERCRAFT FOR STERLING MORTON OF MORTON SALT AND WHEN HE PASSED AWAY IN 1952, HIS WIDOW TOOK OVER OPERATION OF THE COMPANY WHICH WAS UNUSUAL ENOUGH AT THE TIME TO MERIT NEWSPAPER ARTICLES ABOUT HER.

SHE HELMED THE COMPANY UNTIL THEY BUILT THE LAST BOAT IN 1969.

AND SHE CONTINUED TO OPERATE AT THE SITE AS A BOAT STORAGE AND MAINTENANCE UNTIL UNTIL 1994.

AND IF YOU ARE WONDERING, TODAY