Printers’ Row

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Printers’ Row, Printing-House Row
Life Span: 1883-Present
Location: Dearborn Street between Van Buren and Polk Streets and Clark Street to Plymouth Court
Architect: Various

The original boundaries of Printers’ Row were generally Polk Street to the south, Van Buren to the north, Clark Street to the west and Plymouth Court to the east. However, there are a few buildings dedicated to printing services that were built just outside of these boundaries. They have been included because they were very significant in the development of the Printing District. Note that Congress Parkway (Ida B. Wells Drive) was not a through street. It truncated at Wells Street in the west and emerged again east of State Street.

Prior to 1911 Street Numbering Changes, East and South addresses were not designated as E or S, as they were left blank. Only North and West addresses were designated as N & W respectively.

CLARK STREET
① Rand McNally Building, 1912
538 South Clark
② Pacific Block, 1873
281-289 Clark (old)
③ Louis Weber Building, 1903
281-289 Clark (old), 401 South Clark
④ Thom Building, 1922
547 South Clark Street
⑤ Dwight Building, 1911,
366 to 376 South Clark street (Old), 626 South Clark
⑥ Artcraft Building, 1916, Board of Education Building
646-652 South Clark Street
⑦ Wells Building, 1898/1911, Poole Building
116 Harrison (SE Corner Harrison and Clark Streets)

DEARBORN STREET
⑧ Old Colony, 1893
287 Dearborn (Old), 405 South Dearborn Street
⑨ Girard Block, 1888
298-306 Dearborn (Old), 412-420 South Dearborn Street
⑩ Manhattan Building, 1890
307-319 (Old), 431 South Dearborn Street
⑪ Plymouth Building, 1899
303 Dearborn (Old), 417 South Dearborn Street
⑫ Dale Building, 1899, Lowell Building
308-318 Dearborn (old); 422-434 S. Dearborn
⑬ Monon Building, 1890
320-326 Dearborn (Old), 436-444 South Dearborn Street
⑭ Como Block, 1887
323-325 Dearborn (Old), 441-445 South Dearborn Street
⑮ Kaskaskia Building, ~1891
327-329 Dearborn (Old), 501-505 South Dearborn Street
⑯ Caxton Building, 1890
328-334 (Old), 500-508 South Dearborn Street
⑰ Conkey Building, 1888, Franklin Building I, Old Franklin Building
341-345 Dearborn (Old), 519-31 South Dearborn Street
⑱ Duplicator Building, 1886
346-350 Dearborn (old), 530 South Dearborn Street
⑲ Star Insurance Building, 1896, Morton Building
352-360 Dearborn (Old), 538 South Dearborn Street
⑳ Ellsworth Building, 1892, Terminals Building
353, 355 & 357 Dearborn (Old), 537 South Dearborn Street
㉑ Pontiac Building, 1893
362-366 Dearborn/97-101 Harrison (old), 542 South Dearborn Street
㉒ Heisen Building, 1911, Transportation Building
368 Dearborn (Old), 600 South Dearborn Street
㉓ Dearborn Building, About 1908
367-373 Dearborn (Old), 601-607 South Dearborn Street
㉔ 637-641 South Dearborn Building, 1920
㉕ Rowe Building, 1892
418-420 Dearborn (Old), 714 South Dearborn Street
㉖ Franklin Building II, 1912, New Franklin Building
720-734 South Dearborn Street
㉗ Donahue Building, 1887
407 to 429 Dearborn (Old), 701-21 South Dearborn
㉘ Donahue Annex, 1913
729 to 733 South Dearborn Street

FEDERAL STREET Custom House Place, Fourth Avenue, Buffalo Street
㉙ Borland Manufacturing Buildings, 1910
610-732 South Federal Street

LA SALLE STREET, Pacific Avenue
㉚ Memory Building, Exchange, 1884
SE Corner La Salle and Van Buren
㉛ Brock & Rankin, 1902
110-116 Pacific Avenue, 318 La Salle (Old), 615-627 La Salle Street

PLYMOUTH COURT, Third Street, Edina Place
㉜ W. H. Hall Printing Co. I, 1895
21-25 Plymouth Court (Old), 327 S. Plymouth Court
㉝ Printers Block, 1886
65-71 Plymouth Ct (Old), 501-509 S. Plymouth Court
㉞ Stag Athletic Club, 1897, Commonwealth Edison Sub-Station
77-79 Plymouth (Old), 521 South Plymouth Court
㉟ Regan Printing House, 1888
87 to 91 Plymouth (Old), 523 South Plymouth Court
㊱ Peterson Linotype Building, 1917,
87 to 91 Plymouth (Old), 523-29 Plymouth Court
㊲ Mergenthaler Linotype Building, 1917,
87 to 91 Plymouth (Old), 531 Plymouth Court
㊳ Moser Building, 1909
111-119 Plymouth Court (Old), 631 South Plymouth Court
㊴ Pope Building, 1904
121-127 Plymouth (Old), 633-641 South Plymouth
㊵ Plymouth Court Parking Garage, 1927
701-717 South Plymouth Court
㊶ Lakeside Building, 1897/1901 (Addition)
141-159 Plymouth (Old), 731 South Plymouth Court

POLK STREET
㊷ Dearborn Street Station, 1885
47 West Polk Street
㊸ Rogers & Hall Building, 1912 , W. P. Dunn Building
124 West Polk Street

SHERMAN STREET, Financial Place
㊹ Printers’ Building, 1908
732 South Sherman Street

WABASH AVENUE
㊺ Ludington Building, 1891
523-533 Wabash (Old), 1100-1110 South Wabash
㊻John Quincy Adams Building, 1883-1886
315 Wabash, corner of Wabash avenue and Congress street

M. A. Donohue Building

HISTORICAL MAPS OF PRINTER’S ROW. 1886-1928
Prior to 1911 Street Numbering Changes, East and South addresses were not designated as E or S, as they were left blank. Only North and West addresses were designated as N & W respectively.

Rand McNally’s Birds’-Eye-Views of Chicago, 1893

Printing-house Row, from Van Buren Street.
The page (below) portrays faithfully the extraordinary double row of high buildings which lines Dearborn Street between Van Buren and Harrison streets. This is Printing-house Row so called from the large number of printing-offices included within its limits. Among the high structures of this group, described elsewhere, are the ① Old Colony, the ② Girard, the ③ Manhattan, the ④ Monon, the ⑤ Como, the ⑥ Caxton, the ⑦ Pontiac,, and the ⑧ Ellsworth.

Story of Chicago, In Connection with the Printing Business, Regan Printing House, 1912

CHICAGO’S GREAT PRINTING CENTER
In order to preserve for the future a few of the innovations which trade exigencies have wrought upon what was formerly an established residential district the views here shown were made and embrace what is today known as the printing and publishing house district, covering the territory from State and Clark streets and from Polk to Van Buren streets.

The various plants located within the boundary outlined above need no introduction to the world of production, they being known to every one conversant with the art of printing, binding and engraving, as well as to the collateral branches of the art. By reference to the drawing it will be seen that where the Dearborn Station now is there stood an antiquated Methodist house of worship, while the Clark and Polk street corner still holds the old St. Peter’s Catholic Church, its venerable walls having withstood the gnawing tooth of more than a halfcentury. At the northeast corner of Clark and Harrison streets stood the old Jones School, where so many of the embryo business men of a former generation, and whose names are familiar to all in Chicago, first acquired the primary precepts of education. At the corner of the alley and Van Buren street. between Clark and Buffalo streets (now Federal street), stood another house of worship, while on the north side of Van Buren, corner of Edina place (later Third avenue), now Plymouth place, stood Sinai Congregation. On State street, almost opposite Congress, a little to the south, the Old Eagle No. 7 Engine House had its quarters, and was often the scene of town meetings of the character common in the early days.

Between these public buildings stood many homes with their picket fences inclosing green front yards bordered with trees and shrubbery on both sides of the street. On Edina place (Third avenue), and Buffalo street (Fourth avenue), were located the homes of many men whose names are still perpetuated in the fore- most circles of commercial life in addition to those of the substantial old settler who contributed his best efforts to make the city what it is today, the acknowledged wonder of the world and the superb metropolis of our country.

It must be understood that what is known as Dearborn street, at least that portion south of Monroe street, was not opened until the latter part of ’71. What is now Dearborn street, as shown in the illustration, originally was the alley for the houses which fronted on Edina and Buffalo streets, forgotten names except to the survivor of the early period of which we write.

To the Chicagoan familiar with the city before the conflagration of 1871 and also conversant with its growth up to the early ’80’s, who might have been absent during that period, upon again coming on the scene would find the marvels of Aladdin’s lamp outdone and even the fairy stories surpassed by realities. A Chicago resident, harnessed by the claims of business to his immediate locality, upon surveying another section’s growth might well wonder at the changes which a brief period had brought about; even if familiar with old landmarks he would have cause for amazement in contemplating the city’s future possibilities. In all respects Chicago has moved forward, but in no portion of its limits has this been more pronounced than within the printing-house zone of activity.

Real estate values have kept pace with the rapid transformations in other directions, property valuations within the section sketched having doubled in the last dozen years, while in the previous twenty-five it has quadrupled. Thus has printing been a magnet in stimulating investment and has contributed to the upbuilding of the locality materially as well as esthetically.

This section of Chicago may well be likened to the inner workings of a watch, one of the most important parts of which is the mainspring, as here is located the power which drives the machinery and develops the energy that has made this the foremost city of the continent—the great printing center of Chicago.

Chicago Tribune, June 18, 1993

Printers Row, or Printing House Row as it is sometimes called, consists roughly of a two-block area along Dearborn Street between Congress Parkway and Polk Street in the South Loop. Nearby Plymouth Court and Federal Avenue also are contained in the district. Printers Row is part of the greater Burnham Park area.

Between 1883 and 1912, most of the buildings along and in the immediate vicinity of South Dearborn Street accommodated the needs of the various printing and publishing businesses that thrived there. In fact, Printers Row was just one of several business “districts” in the central city. Farther north, State Street, with its grand department stores, had become Chicago’s retail center, while nearby LaSalle Street emerged as the financial hub. The presence of the Dearborn Street railroad terminal at the foot of Dearborn and Polk Streets made the Printers Row area an ideal spot for commercial development..

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The History of Printers Row, the Publishing Capital of the Midwest | eATLAS says:

September 18, 2024 at 12:30 pm

[…] for typesetters and bookbinders in the days before automation. From 1886 until 1922, more than 40 buildings for the printing industry were constructed in the shadow of Dearborn Station, and Chicago […]

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