Along Lake Michigan on the Southeast Side of Chicago lies a huge empty tract of land.Probably the largest vacant parcel of land in the city, it was formerly home to the U. S. Steel South Works, the largest integrated steelmaking operation in Chicago. Almost 20,000 people were once
In terms of municipal architecture, firehouses are probably the most recognizable. In Chicago, they have almost always been designed as attractive buildings that fit in with their surroundings, becoming neighborhood landmarks. Hundreds have been built over the years, especially during decades when the city experienced explosive growth. Over time, many
Although Chicago’s once world-class transportation infrastructure has been downsized over the years, many remnants of the past still remain. Streetcars and, later, trolleybuses, once plied many streets of the city. While the last streetcar ran in 1958 and the last trolleybus in 1973, some reminders of their existence still
Once upon a time, if you wanted to see a movie in Chicago, you didn’t have to go to some characterless box in a shopping mall parking lot. Chicago was once a city of neighborhood movie “palaces.” In addition to the big downtown movie palaces, every neighborhood had at
What do Rogers Avenue and Forest Preserve Drive have in common? They both follow an old Indian Boundary line. The Indian Boundary line came about in 1816, when the Fox and Sauk tribes ceded land in a 20 mile corridor to the United States, at the Treaty of St. Louis.