As Others See Chicago
Impressions of Visitors, 1673-1933
9780226668215
As Others See Chicago
Impressions of Visitors, 1673-1933
Sometimes it takes an outsider to capture the essence of an individual place. The impressions of travelers in particular have a special allure—unanticipated and serendipitous, their views get to the heart of a particular region because nothing to them is routine or expected.
First published in 1933 by the University of Chicago Press to mark the occasion of the Century of Progress Exhibition, As Others See Chicago consists of writings culled from over a thousand men and women who visited the city and commented on the best and worst it had to offer, from the skyscrapers to the stockyards. Originally compiled by Bessie Louise Pierce, the first major historian of Chicago, and featuring her own incisive commentary, the volume brings together the impressions of visitors to Chicago over two and a half centuries, from the early years of Westward Expansion to the height of the Great Depression. In addition to writings from better known personalities such as Rudyard Kipling and Waldo Frank, the book collects the opinions of missionaries, aristocrats, journalists, and politicians—observers who were perfectly placed to comment on the development of the city, its inhabitants, and well known events that would one day define Chicago history, such as the Great Fire of 1871 and the 1893 World’s Fair.
Taking us back to a time when Chicago was "more astonishing than the wildest visions of the most vagrant imaginations," As Others See Chicago offers an enthralling portrait of an enduring American metropolis.
First published in 1933 by the University of Chicago Press to mark the occasion of the Century of Progress Exhibition, As Others See Chicago consists of writings culled from over a thousand men and women who visited the city and commented on the best and worst it had to offer, from the skyscrapers to the stockyards. Originally compiled by Bessie Louise Pierce, the first major historian of Chicago, and featuring her own incisive commentary, the volume brings together the impressions of visitors to Chicago over two and a half centuries, from the early years of Westward Expansion to the height of the Great Depression. In addition to writings from better known personalities such as Rudyard Kipling and Waldo Frank, the book collects the opinions of missionaries, aristocrats, journalists, and politicians—observers who were perfectly placed to comment on the development of the city, its inhabitants, and well known events that would one day define Chicago history, such as the Great Fire of 1871 and the 1893 World’s Fair.
Taking us back to a time when Chicago was "more astonishing than the wildest visions of the most vagrant imaginations," As Others See Chicago offers an enthralling portrait of an enduring American metropolis.
Table of Contents
FOREWORD TO THE 2004 EDITION BY PERRY R. DUIS
PREFACE
PART I. THE BEGINNING OF A CITY
INTRODUCTION
JACQUES MARQUETTE
A Winter at Chicago
JOHN FRANCIS BUISSON DE ST. COSME
The Mission of the Guardian Angel
SAMUEL A. STORROW
The Soil of Chicago
The Chicago River
JOHN TIPTON
Fort Dearborn and Chicago
WILLIAM H. KEATING
The Natural History, Indians, and Disadvantages of Chicago
CHARLES BUTLER
Chicago in 1833 in the Eyes of an Investor
Land Soeculation
CHARLES JOSEPH LATROBE
The Pottawattomie Treaty
Fort Dearborn and Chicago
The Pottawattomie Indians
Chicago
The Treaty
PATRICK SHIRREFF
Trade and Hotels in 1833
CHARLES FENNO HOFFMAN
A Ball
The Weather
A Horse Race and a Wolf Hunt
HARRIET MARTINEAU
Houses, Hotels, and People
JAMES SILK BUCKINGHAM
Chicago in 1840
SARAH MARGARET FULLER
The Prairie
The Lake
JOHN LEWIS PEYTON
Seeing Chicago from a "Trap"
Business in Chicago
Wildcat Banking
A Dinner at Chicago
Drainage of Land
A Visit to the Theater
A Winter Morning
Amusements
PART II. AN ERA OF EXPANSION
INTRODUCTION
FREDRICKA BREMER
Prairies
Germans in Chicago
J.J. AMPÈRE
The Physical Setting of Chicago
Houses, Churches, and Schools
The Reaper
Recreation
The Prairie
ISABELLA LUCY (BIRD) BISHOP
An Advertising House
Physical Setting
WILLIAM FERGUSON
Streets, Buildings, Waterways, and Railways
ANONYMOUS
Chicago in the Fifties
The Chicago River
Street and Bridges
The Bridge in Fictious Literature
Buildings
Thoroughfares
Dress of Chicagoans
Fort Dearborn
The Water Supply
Hotels and Hotel Food
Money
Observance of the Sabbath
EDWARD L. PECKHAM
Chicago—A Mean Sport
WILLIAM HOWARD RUSSELL
The Setting of Chicago
Chicago in the Civil War
CHRISTIAN H. JEVNE
A Norwegian Immigrant in Chicago in the 1860s
F. BARHAM ZINCKE
Chicago’s Buildings
City Ordinances
Trinity Church
Secular and Religious Schools
Chicago’s Drinking Water
ALEXANDER FREAR
The Great Fire of 1871
PART III. THE RISE OF A MODERN CITY
INTRODUCTION
SIR JOHN LENG
Five Years after the Fire
Buildings
The Stockyards
The Board of Trade
"The Situation of Chicago," Waterworks and Parks
LADY DUFFUS HARDY
Grand and Stately Chicago
ANONYMOUS
Prominent Characteristics of Chicago
A City Rebuilt
Trade, Traffice, and Building
The Union Stock Yards
Chicago Board of Trade
Influential Men of Chicago: Phillip D. Armour, Marshall Field,
Farwells, Potter Palmer (Palmer House), Bankers, George M.
Pullman
RUDYARD KIPLING
How I Struck Chicago, and How Chicago Struck Me. Of Religion,
Politics, and Pig-Sticking, and the Incarnation of the City among
Shambles
PAUL DE ROUSIERS
The Evolution of Industry
The Pullman Workshops and the City of Pullman
GUISEPPE GIACOSA
A City of Smoke
JULIAN RALPH
A Rapidly Moving and Business-like City
Chicago’s Buildings
Metropolitan Area
A City of Young Men
Manufactures
Clubs
A Distinctly American City
Chicago’s Parks, Streets, and Homes
The Women of Chicago
M.E. BRUWAERT
Chicago and the World’s Columbian Exposition
MULJI DEVJI VEDANT
The White City
JAMES FULLARTON MUIRHEAD
Chicago, the City of Contrasts
WILLIAM T. STEAD
The World’s Fair
Destruction of World’s Fair Buildings
The Trade and Labor Assembly
The Interesting Year 1893
The Romance of Chicago
PART IV. FROM WORLD’S FAIR TO WORLD’S FAIR
INTRODUCTION
PAUL BOURGET
A Strange and Unreal Scene
The Traffic in Meat
The Sunday Edition of a Newspaper
GEORGE WASHINGTON STEEVENS
Chicago, the Amazing
PRICE COLLIER
A City of Pork and Plato
WILLIAM ARCHER
Chicago—Its Splendor and Squalor
COUNT PETER DE VAYA AND LUSKOD
Industry and Strikes
Educational and Religious Institutions
Parks and Recreation
Foreigners in Chicago
The Inauguration of a Church
EDWARD HUNDERFORD
Chicago and the Chicagoans
JULIAN STREET
Chicago’s Individuality
Marshall Field’s and the Chicago Tribune
Skyscrapers and the Stockyears
City Planning
ARTHUR EVERETT SHIPLEY
Universities and Armistice Day
WALTER LIONEL GEORGE
A City without Peace
Mass and Space
Armour’s Packing Plant
Chicago’s "Boosting"
Attitude toward the Arts
HAROLD SPENCER
A Hotel, a Restaurant, and Newspapers
A Lecture at Northwestern University
WALDO FRANK
The Soul of Chicago
SIR CHARLES CHEERS WAKEFIELD
The Tumultuous Magnificence of Chicago
MARY BORDEN
The Soup Kitchen of a Gangster
A University President, a Chinese Mayor, and an Arbian Aristocrat
The Four Hundred
The Chicago Melting-Pot
Chicago, the City of Magic
G. K. CHESTERTON
The Gunman and the Racketeer
MORRIS MARKEY
Chicago’s Dramatic Approach
Civic Pride
Some Chicago Citizenry
A City of Urgency and of Furious Endeavor
LIST OF TRAVELERS’ ACCOUNTS
MISCELLANEOUS CITATIONS
INDEX
PREFACE
PART I. THE BEGINNING OF A CITY
INTRODUCTION
JACQUES MARQUETTE
A Winter at Chicago
JOHN FRANCIS BUISSON DE ST. COSME
The Mission of the Guardian Angel
SAMUEL A. STORROW
The Soil of Chicago
The Chicago River
JOHN TIPTON
Fort Dearborn and Chicago
WILLIAM H. KEATING
The Natural History, Indians, and Disadvantages of Chicago
CHARLES BUTLER
Chicago in 1833 in the Eyes of an Investor
Land Soeculation
CHARLES JOSEPH LATROBE
The Pottawattomie Treaty
Fort Dearborn and Chicago
The Pottawattomie Indians
Chicago
The Treaty
PATRICK SHIRREFF
Trade and Hotels in 1833
CHARLES FENNO HOFFMAN
A Ball
The Weather
A Horse Race and a Wolf Hunt
HARRIET MARTINEAU
Houses, Hotels, and People
JAMES SILK BUCKINGHAM
Chicago in 1840
SARAH MARGARET FULLER
The Prairie
The Lake
JOHN LEWIS PEYTON
Seeing Chicago from a "Trap"
Business in Chicago
Wildcat Banking
A Dinner at Chicago
Drainage of Land
A Visit to the Theater
A Winter Morning
Amusements
PART II. AN ERA OF EXPANSION
INTRODUCTION
FREDRICKA BREMER
Prairies
Germans in Chicago
J.J. AMPÈRE
The Physical Setting of Chicago
Houses, Churches, and Schools
The Reaper
Recreation
The Prairie
ISABELLA LUCY (BIRD) BISHOP
An Advertising House
Physical Setting
WILLIAM FERGUSON
Streets, Buildings, Waterways, and Railways
ANONYMOUS
Chicago in the Fifties
The Chicago River
Street and Bridges
The Bridge in Fictious Literature
Buildings
Thoroughfares
Dress of Chicagoans
Fort Dearborn
The Water Supply
Hotels and Hotel Food
Money
Observance of the Sabbath
EDWARD L. PECKHAM
Chicago—A Mean Sport
WILLIAM HOWARD RUSSELL
The Setting of Chicago
Chicago in the Civil War
CHRISTIAN H. JEVNE
A Norwegian Immigrant in Chicago in the 1860s
F. BARHAM ZINCKE
Chicago’s Buildings
City Ordinances
Trinity Church
Secular and Religious Schools
Chicago’s Drinking Water
ALEXANDER FREAR
The Great Fire of 1871
PART III. THE RISE OF A MODERN CITY
INTRODUCTION
SIR JOHN LENG
Five Years after the Fire
Buildings
The Stockyards
The Board of Trade
"The Situation of Chicago," Waterworks and Parks
LADY DUFFUS HARDY
Grand and Stately Chicago
ANONYMOUS
Prominent Characteristics of Chicago
A City Rebuilt
Trade, Traffice, and Building
The Union Stock Yards
Chicago Board of Trade
Influential Men of Chicago: Phillip D. Armour, Marshall Field,
Farwells, Potter Palmer (Palmer House), Bankers, George M.
Pullman
RUDYARD KIPLING
How I Struck Chicago, and How Chicago Struck Me. Of Religion,
Politics, and Pig-Sticking, and the Incarnation of the City among
Shambles
PAUL DE ROUSIERS
The Evolution of Industry
The Pullman Workshops and the City of Pullman
GUISEPPE GIACOSA
A City of Smoke
JULIAN RALPH
A Rapidly Moving and Business-like City
Chicago’s Buildings
Metropolitan Area
A City of Young Men
Manufactures
Clubs
A Distinctly American City
Chicago’s Parks, Streets, and Homes
The Women of Chicago
M.E. BRUWAERT
Chicago and the World’s Columbian Exposition
MULJI DEVJI VEDANT
The White City
JAMES FULLARTON MUIRHEAD
Chicago, the City of Contrasts
WILLIAM T. STEAD
The World’s Fair
Destruction of World’s Fair Buildings
The Trade and Labor Assembly
The Interesting Year 1893
The Romance of Chicago
PART IV. FROM WORLD’S FAIR TO WORLD’S FAIR
INTRODUCTION
PAUL BOURGET
A Strange and Unreal Scene
The Traffic in Meat
The Sunday Edition of a Newspaper
GEORGE WASHINGTON STEEVENS
Chicago, the Amazing
PRICE COLLIER
A City of Pork and Plato
WILLIAM ARCHER
Chicago—Its Splendor and Squalor
COUNT PETER DE VAYA AND LUSKOD
Industry and Strikes
Educational and Religious Institutions
Parks and Recreation
Foreigners in Chicago
The Inauguration of a Church
EDWARD HUNDERFORD
Chicago and the Chicagoans
JULIAN STREET
Chicago’s Individuality
Marshall Field’s and the Chicago Tribune
Skyscrapers and the Stockyears
City Planning
ARTHUR EVERETT SHIPLEY
Universities and Armistice Day
WALTER LIONEL GEORGE
A City without Peace
Mass and Space
Armour’s Packing Plant
Chicago’s "Boosting"
Attitude toward the Arts
HAROLD SPENCER
A Hotel, a Restaurant, and Newspapers
A Lecture at Northwestern University
WALDO FRANK
The Soul of Chicago
SIR CHARLES CHEERS WAKEFIELD
The Tumultuous Magnificence of Chicago
MARY BORDEN
The Soup Kitchen of a Gangster
A University President, a Chinese Mayor, and an Arbian Aristocrat
The Four Hundred
The Chicago Melting-Pot
Chicago, the City of Magic
G. K. CHESTERTON
The Gunman and the Racketeer
MORRIS MARKEY
Chicago’s Dramatic Approach
Civic Pride
Some Chicago Citizenry
A City of Urgency and of Furious Endeavor
LIST OF TRAVELERS’ ACCOUNTS
MISCELLANEOUS CITATIONS
INDEX