Rosin Eyecare History

History of Rosin Eyecare

Starting a business in 1930 in the throes of the Great Depression, as one can imagine, was no small feat. In fact, Joseph and his soon to be wife Freda decided to take the money Joseph had saved for an engagement ring for Freda and use that to open up a modest optical shop along with Joseph’s brother Maurice Rosin. The first Rosin Eyecare office was located on Cermak Road in Cicero, Illinois. Joseph and Maurice’s main goal for their optometry practice was to provide a reliable, courteous and comprehensive experience for every patient.

Great service was Joseph’s focus. Not only did Joseph provide Chicago area eye care and eyeglasses (contact lenses had not been invented yet) but he also hand-produced spectacle lenses for his patients, grinding lenses after business hours. In fact, Rosin Eyecare was one of the very few optical shops to offer patients the convenience of same day eyeglasses decades before one-hour optical retail chains.

Little did they know that soon they would be serving customers like Placido Domingo, Billy Williams, Joe DiMaggio and the Pope! Rosin Eyecare has made some of the most recognizable eyeglasses in the world, including Harry Carey’s signature specs.

Dr. Sorrel Rosin joined the practice in 1957 working at both the Cicero and Devon Avenue (corner of Devon and California Boulevard) offices. He noticed a migration of the Cicero and Devon Avenue patients moving to other communities. His reason for expanding into new locations was to continue to offer excellence and convenience of care to those patients who had moved. This strategy of “following” Rosin Eyecare patients was a huge success.

Now run by the third generation of Rosins, James Rosin and Jonathan Rosin, M.D., Rosin Eyecare has been providing Chicago eye care for more than 80 years with its talented team of doctors and staff members. Today, the practice includes optometry, opticianry and ophthalmology, and has been named one of the top 50 eye care practices in the U.S. We have 31 offices, 2 of which are managed by Rosin Eyecare for Loyola University Health Systems (Loyola Optical, Maywood, and Burr Ridge).