Mike,
The 1880 census tract shows him on a "Kramer St". This street no longer exists. It became part of the expressway system in the 1950s. On a modern map it would be close to Roosevelt and Halsted.
Johnson shows Thomas on Clark street with various addresses. He was located in the heart of the Chicago business district. Johnson states this was "The Place"for shooters from across Illinois to gather.
I find this interesting. There was a large shooting club west of Chicago. We know they held many long distance shooting events and had some of the best in the midwest competing there.
Simon was living about 2.5 miles from the Thomas gun shop. He could have gotten there easily via public transportation. Like many other large cities, Chicago was growing at a wild rate because of all the immigrants. There was a sizeable German population during this period.
Nice work on pulling the census and immigration records.
Pete
