Are you a transit maven? Find out with our quiz from bloggers SarahE and Municipal Reference Guy, who are librarians in the Municipal Reference Collection at Harold Washington Library Center…
The New South Water Market: Relocating the Produce Market
As noted in my last post, the old South Water Street Market was inefficient, lacked regulation and hindered plans to make the city's riverfront beautiful. Shortly after the Plan of Chicago was published, the Chicago Plan Commission waged a campaign in the courts and in the media to force merchants off the street. The commission…
South Water Street Market: Center for Produce Trade
The fruit and vegetable trade in Chicago may not have been lauded in poems—Carl Sandburg called Chicago the "hog-butcher for the world" not the "pumpkin-supplier." But the produce trade of the South Water Street Market was, and still is, an important center of agricultural trade and commerce. According to a history of The South Water…
Maxwell Street Market Today
In my last post, I explored the history and economic heart of the Maxwell Street Market. As a business area that served many of the city’s marginalized populations, Maxwell Street Market became culturally significant, too. Street musicians and buskers developed their own take on Chicago blues. You can hear this style on albums as well…
Maxwell Street: The Market of the Third Coast
Chicago may not have the oldest municipal public market in the country–Pike’s Place Market in Seattle claims that title. But Chicago's Maxwell Street Market may be the most colorful. Some may argue that Maxwell Street's heyday was between the 1930s and the 1960s, the same period discussed in the One Book One Chicago selection, Thomas…
Researching Chicago’s Streets Over Time
As I wrote in my last post, the tireless efforts of Edward Brennan simplified the street names and house numbers of Chicago. These street name and number changes cause confusion for researchers. Tracking down an address can be difficult if you do not have a modern street name. Some streets have had many name changes…
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