Chicago Past:

[false_aesthetic]

I'm pretty sure that Chicago is the best city E V E R . . . if you forget that the biggest hills are over passes and that Schaumburg is close by.

Some great photos from days of yore.

Chicago Past

[SteveP]

these iconic civic buildings constructed in the late 18th and early 19th century are magnificent.
the train stations are incredible... someone somewhere must have done a train station archive from across the country.
those buildings are without peer.
great pictures.

the blackhawks will not win the stanley cup.
boston has archives like that but our sports teams are much better. you should move here. much better city.
we also have the ocean ...not some trout pond.

[false_aesthetic]

^^^^
I tried Boston.
Maybe it's the E line, maybe it was grad school, maybe the reggaeton at 3am outside my apartment but I didn't jive too well there. It's a real shame cuz I *wanted* to like it.
Also, the whole oil heating thing . . . wtf is up with that?

There's no replacement for Mike's Pastries though . . . and I effin miss D.D . . .

[SteveP]

if you come to visit. ill buy you a cannoli.
make it better.

[Jonathan]

Philly is one of the few cities I haven't loved. Chicago is great, and the architecture is a reminder than man can do things "just because".

[robin3mj]

Thanks for posting.
I follow a few NY photo archive sites but haven't searched for any similar of my current hometown.

The scope and scale of the work done for the Chicago worlds fair is incredible. It's pretty awesome to come across isolated pieces of it here and there. (63rd St Beachhouse etc)

[false_aesthetic]

^^

My GF has been researching the Chicago World's Fair for a while now. In Dec when we went home for Xmas, I took her to the site. It's 6am on Xmas day and she's running around in PJs yelling, " . . . and this is where the ______ building was!"

All I knew was that the Museum of Science and Industry was my favorite place to go as a kid.

Yours is a good reminder to take her to the other locations around Chicago that were influenced by the WF.

[Matthew J]

A great link AF.

The many photos of the street car and trolley systems get somewhat depressing. Rather than update and expand them, Chicago paved them over in favor of cars and street parking. I live near and almost daily ride by Lawrence and Campbell where the young woman is waiting for a street car on a very snowy day. That stretch of road is now set up for cheap street parking along with four lanes of traffic. Although this is a relatively densely populated area, pedestrian traffic is low as it is just a depressing place to be.

Not sure if this makes me maudlin, sentimental or something else, but when I see the pictures showing attractive young people walking about, I cannot help but ponder their fate.

For instance, this shot of the young couple ~ six months before Pearl Harbor: Chicago Past (bottom of the page). The fellow had to have been drafted into service for WWII. Did he make it back in one piece? Do their rug rats honk the horn and yell out the window at me when I am riding down Lawrence?

[Freddy Salgado]

My kind of town for sure! Some of the most profound changes have been on the lakefront my favorite part of the city to ride. Curious City | WBEZ looks at how Chicago’s coastline has changed | WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

[ThomasRZ]

I lived there for six years and may end up back there again.

I never came close to loving it and at times hated it, but I miss it.

[false_aesthetic]

I lived there for six years and may end up back there again.

I never came close to loving it and at times hated it, but I miss it.

My sentiments about Boston.