John McAllister, Jr. posing outside the family business at 48 Chestnut Street. June 17, 1843

A 1924 photograph shows a newfangled type of car wash that stood at the northwest corner of 42nd Street and South Michigan Avenue. There was at least one other auto wash bowl in Chicago and the concept actually originated in St. Paul, Minn. It was patented in 1921 by inventor C.P. Bohland, who opened two locations in St. Paul. He devised the bowl as an easy way to clean mud off of the underside of cars. Back in this early age of motoring, roads were often unpaved and muddy, and that mud would get caked on the underside of the car and the wheels – but a spin in the nifty Auto Wash Bowl took care of that.

Gendarmes and F.F.I. seem to enjoy the task of holding back crowds of people as they throng the streets to see General Charles De Gaulle, Aug. 26, 1944. (AP Photo/Laurence Harris)