Chicago History Today

Today Chicago police launched its lake patrol. Two officers were sent out in the department’s new speedboat. Noisy boats had become a nuisance, and the cops were going to stop it. The city’s jurisdiction extended three miles out into Lake Michigan. Crafts with loud outboard motors would be ordered to move out past the boundary, […]

1937–Winthrop Avenue @ Sheridan Road, view north 2026–the same location We are at 1100-west, on a section of Sheridan Road that runs east-west along the line of Devon Avenue. The 1937 photo shows what was then the southern boundary of Loyola University’s campus. Thirty years later, I was a Loyola undergrad and knew this location […]

Chicago has hundreds of statues, monuments, and historical markers. But unless you do a little exploring, you are likely to miss the oldest one—the Illinois-Indiana State Line Boundary Marker. Indiana became a state in 1816, Illinois two years later. Originally, the northern border of each state was supposed to be a line drawn through the […]

Ever get bored riding the ‘L’?  Tired of texting, or talking on the phone, or reading the paper, or daydreaming?  Want to just look out the window and watch the city go by? In the early days, there wasn’t much to do on the train except read the paper or look out the window.  That’s […]

1892–Madison Street @ Union Street, view west 2026–the same location We are a short block east of Halsted Street. In 1892 there is well-established commercial development here along the Madison Street cable car line, with many pedestrians going about daily life. Lots of horse-drawn vehicles Today the Kennedy Expressway cuts through this part of Madison. […]