Contents

Early Chicago
Biographical essays on some of the first pioneers of Chicago.

John H. Kinzie
Gordon Saltonstall Hubbard
Mark Beaubien
William B. Ogden
John Wentworth

1860-1870 Pre-Fire Chicago – A large collection of photographs to recreate a vision of what the city looked like at this time.
1871 Building Directory
Pre-Fire Engravings
Pre-Fire Gallery

1871 Chicago Fire – A section devoted to the cause and aftermath of the Great Fire.

Aftermath
Damage
South Division
North Division
Gallery

1872-1915 Post-Fire Chicago – Currently still in construction, a collection of great skyscraper architecture that started in Chicago.

1893 World’s Fair – The biggest event of the century was held in Chicago and the White City was born.

World’s Fair Gallery
World Premiere

1909 Chicago Facts – A contemporary listing of Chicago’s accomplishments.

1909 Plan of Chicago – The Burnham Plan is an essay, principally authored by Daniel Burnham in 1909, entitled The Plan of Chicago. The essay was written in response to a request by the city’s social and business upper crust for a detailed city plan.

Baseball – Take a trip to a bygone era where the Cubs were called the White Stockings and had to miss two seasons because a fire in 1871 destroyed their uniforms.

National League
Standings
Chicago Club
West Side Park
16″ Softball

Bicycling – Before the automobile, the bicycle was the new mode of individual transportation and Chicago played a major role.

Bicycle Manufacturers

Camp Douglas – A Civil War prison of war camp that at one time was the setting of an event that could have changed the outcome of the war.

Cemeteries – Chicago is the home to four of the oldest cemeteries in a large city.

Rosehill
Calvary
Graceland
Oak Woods

Chicago Geography – Articles about the street numbering logic as well as who her early streets were named after and why.

Chicago Street Numbering
Early Streets
Chicago Street Names

Chicago Harbor – A detailed description of the activity in Chicago’s harbor in its peak from 1872 to 1884.

Ships of John Gregory

Corporate Chicago – Brief corporate histories of a few of the many large corporations that started in Chicago.

First National Bank of Chicago
Marshall Field & Company
Motorola
Rand McNally & Co.
R. R. Donnelley & Sons
Sears, Roebuck and Co

Fort Dearborn – The fort that started it all.

Mayors 1835-1885

Mayors 1887-2011

Movie Palaces

Newspapers – A complete family tree directory of all the Chicago Newspapers. Organized by each successive owner by date.

Notorious Chicago – A collection of some popular and some unpopular stories that made up Chicago’s notorious past.

The Eastland Disaster
Iroguois Theatre Fire
Streeterville
Haymarket Riot
Everleigh Club
The Lady Elgin Disaster
O’Leary’s Saloon

Population & Ward Maps – A complete set of charts that indicate each ward’s boundaries during Chicago’s early years.
Population & Annexation
1837 Ward Map
1847 Ward Map
1853 Ward Map
1863 Ward Map
1869 Ward Map
1876 Ward Map
City Limits & Ward Map 1835-1869

Raising Chicago – Article describing how the citizens of Chicago got its town out of the mud.

Seal of Chicago – A brief description of the Seal of Chicago.