History Commons^™

Sister Carrie---Theodore Dreiser, New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1900, Elliot Gorn

Elliot Gorn

Facing the naturalistic, nonjudgmental rendering in Sister Carrie of the stresses of survival in Chicago and New York was seen by some as scandalous. Nonetheless, Theodore Dreiser’s first novel eventually became an American classic and has been published in countless editions. The Heritage edition (1937) includes illustrations by Reginald Marsh (1898– 1954), including one in which the main character, a country girl on a train bound for Chicago, is approached by a salesman whose mistress she will eventually become.

History, Memory, And Historic Districts In Chicago, Theodore J. Karamanski

Theodore J. Karamanski

Across America, National Register Historic Districts have done a better job helping to preserve building stock and stabilize communities than they have of meeting the articulated goal of With a Heritage So Rich, the foundational 1966 study that gave birth to the National Register of Historic Places. According to that report, historic sites were to “give a sense of orientation to our society” and help to implant in people “values of time and place.” This article looks at the evolution of historic districts in Chicago, Illinois through the lens of public memory. It explores the relationship between “official” memory and …

From Back Of The Yards To The College Classroom, Dominic Pacyga, David Gerber, Alan Kraut

Dominic Pacyga

No abstract provided.

In The Jungle Of Cities [Review Of The Book Harold Washington And The Neighborhoods: Progressive City Reform In Chicago, 1983-1987], Nick Salvatore

Nick Salvatore

[Excerpt] At first glance such a spatial transformation of work may seem positive, as indeed it was for the largely white work force that left the city and staffed these new positions. But left behind geographically, economically, and socially were the largely black (and to a lesser extent, Mexican) working-class residents. It was at this juncture, with jobs disappearing and the urban social structure fragmented, that black Chicago, symbolized in the person of Harold Washington, finally assumed political power. In Harold Washington and the Neighborhoods, editors Pierre Clavel and Wim Wiewel have collected a group of essays that examine the …

The Hardscrabble Roots Of The Daley Machine: Bridgeport And The Rise Of Richard J. Daley, Dominic Pacyga

Dominic Pacyga

No abstract provided.

Polish Immigrants And Chicago's Progressive Parks: Creating Public Space In The City, Dominic Pacyga, Agnieszka Malek, Dorota Praszalowicz

Dominic Pacyga

No abstract provided.

Chicago: A Biography, Dominic Pacyga

Dominic Pacyga

Chicago has been called by many names. Nelson Algren declared it a “City on the Make.” Carl Sandburg dubbed it the “City of Big Shoulders.” Upton Sinclair christened it “The Jungle,” while New Yorkers, naturally, pronounced it “the Second City.”

At last there is a book for all of us, whatever we choose to call Chicago. In this magisterial biography, historian Dominic Pacyga traces the storied past of his hometown, from the explorations of Joliet and Marquette in 1673 to the new wave of urban pioneers today. The city’s great industrialists, reformers, and politicians—and, indeed, the many not-so-great and downright …

Responding To The Second Ghetto: Chicago's Joe Smith And Sin Corner, Dominic Pacyga

Dominic Pacyga

World War Two and its aftermath transformed Chicago's African American community. The Great Migration entered a second and more intense phase as black migrants flooded into Northern cities. This massive relocation of Southern blacks resulted in the expansion and reformulation of Chicago's ghettoes on both the West and South Sides of the city. The question of a response to this Second Ghetto from African Americans themselves presents itself. White politicians, cultural elites and businessmen still controlled the city and could impose their will on its neighborhoods simply redrawing ghetto boundaries to reflect the new realities of the postwar era. The …

Polish Immigrants And Chicago's Progressive Parks: Creating Public Space In The City, Dominic Pacyga

Dominic Pacyga

No abstract provided.

Ethnic Chicago: The Development Of A Global City, Dominic Pacyga

Dominic Pacyga

No abstract provided.

Chicago Slaughterhouse To The World, Dominic Pacyga, Paula Lee

Dominic Pacyga

No abstract provided.

The Busiest, The Most Dangerous, The Dan Ryan Expressway, Dominic Pacyga, Jay Wolke

Dominic Pacyga

Cutting across Chicago’s South Side in a broad swath of concrete, steel, and overpasses, the Dan Ryan Expressway is one of America’s busiest, and perhaps most chaotic highways. Yet underneath the cacophony of its ten lanes lies an intriguing world of urban ecology and human networks. In The Dan Ryan Expressway, artist and photographer Jay Wolke unearths an ecosystem unto itself that weaves human and industrial elements into an essential feature of Chicago’s identity.

Between 1981 and 1985, Wolke shot thousands of photographs on and along the Dan Ryan during the day and night, traveling up and down the expressway …

Polish Immigrants And Industrial Chicago, Dominic Pacyga

Dominic Pacyga

How did working-class immigrants from Poland create new communities in Chicago during the industrial age? This book explores the lives of immigrants in two iconic Polish neighborhoods—the Back of the Yards and South Chicago—and the stockyards and steel mills in which they made their living.

Pacyga shows how Poles forged communities on the South Side in an attempt to preserve the customs of their homeland—how through the development of churches, the building of schools, the founding of street gangs, and the opening of saloons they tried to recreate the feel of an Eastern European village. Through such institutions, Poles also …

The Chicago Bungalow, Dominic Pacyga, Charles Shanabruch

Dominic Pacyga

The Chicago Bungalow is more than a housing style indigenous to the city. It epitomizes Chicago's work ethic and its rewards for successive waves of ethnic newcomers to the city since the early 20th century. In this book, the Chicago Architecture Foundation interprets both the design and the meaning of these homes, in keeping with CAF's mission to raise awareness of Chicago's architectural legacy.

After 1915, new neighborhoods appeared across the prairie. The Chicago-style bungalow came to both dominate and symbolize these areas. A one and one-half story single-family freestanding home, it included such conveniences as electricity, indoor plumbing, and …

The Murder Of Alvin Palmer: Polish Americans, Assimilation, Juvenile Delinquency, And Racial Violence In 1950s Chicago, Dominic Pacyga

Dominic Pacyga

No abstract provided.

Moving On Up: Chicago's Bungalows And The American Dream, Dominic Pacyga, Charles Shanabruch

Dominic Pacyga

The Chicago Bungalow is more than a housing style indigenous to the city. It epitomizes Chicago's work ethic and its rewards for successive waves of ethnic newcomers to the city since the early 20th century. In this book, the Chicago Architecture Foundation interprets both the design and the meaning of these homes, in keeping with CAF's mission to raise awareness of Chicago's architectural legacy. After 1915, new neighborhoods appeared across the prairie. The Chicago-style bungalow came to both dominate and symbolize these areas. A one and one-half story single-family freestanding home, it included such conveniences as electricity, indoor plumbing, and …

Chicago's Southeast Side, Dominic Pacyga, Rod Sellers

Dominic Pacyga

Steel and the steel industry are the backbone of Chicago's southeast side, an often overlooked neighborhood with a rich ethnic heritage. Bolstered by the prosperous steel industry, the community attracted numerous, strong-willed people with a desire to work from distinct cultural backgrounds. In recent years, the vitality of the steel industry has diminished. Chicago's Southeast Side displays many rare and interesting pictures that capture the spirit of the community when the steel industry was a vibrant force. Although annexed in 1889 by the city of Chicago, the community has maintained its own identity through the years. In an attempt to …

Chicago, City Of Neighborhoods: Histories And Tours, Dominic Pacyga, Ellen Skerrett

Dominic Pacyga

No abstract provided.

Chicago: A Historical Guide To Neighborhoods, Dominic Pacyga, Glen Holt

Dominic Pacyga

No abstract provided.