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Great Chicago Places and Spaces

Wednesday, May 9th, 2007

places.gif

From May 18-20, the city of Chicago will be hosting the “Great Chicago Places and Spaces” event.

On Saturday and Sunday, explore Chicago with more than 200 free tours throughout downtown and many of the city’s historic neighborhoods. Some exciting jaunts include tours of movie sites, gardens and parks, theaters, sculpture and stained glass, bungalows and skyscrapers. On these tours, visitors will discover the works of world famous architects including Daniel Burnham, Louis Sullivan, Holabird & Roche/Root, Mies van der Rohe, Frank Gehry and Frank Lloyd Wright.

There are also several events planned for children, so there should be a tour for everyone. For more information or to register in advance, visit the Great Chicago Places website.

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Posted in Architecture, History, Kid Friendly, Loop | No Comments »

A pictorial look at the history of Chicago transit

Monday, April 23rd, 2007

Although the Chicago Transit Authority (”CTA”) receives a lot of criticism from daily commuters, an examination of the Chicago transit of the past should make Chicagoans grateful for the conditions (like air conditioning) that they have today.

In 1859, Chicago residents would have ridden in a horse drawn vehicle like the one below. It held 18 passengers and traveled the length of State Street from Randolph Avenue to 12th street. This vehicle, which is on exhibit at the Illinois Railway Museum, is believed to be the oldest intact example of the “animal railway” in North America.

horsedrawn.jpg

From 1936 to 1958, Chicagoans traveled through downtown in streetcars, like the “green hornet” shown below from 1948. It had 57 seats and there were nearly 700 streetcars like this in use in Chicago.
1948_hornet1.jpg
1948_hornet2.jpg
In addition to the streetcars, the elevated trains (”el”) also served as an effective mode of transportation throughout the city, as they do today. The photos below shows few different trains through the years.

1907-elevated.jpg Elevated train 1907

1922_elevated.jpg
Elevated train 1922

1985.jpg Elevated train 1985

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Posted in History, Kid Friendly, Museums | No Comments »

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