Chicago A Pictorial History Author:Herman Kogan, Lloyd Wendt From its earliest days to the present, the pageant of Chicago's growth unfolds. In lively and entertaining text and in the unique collection of illustrations, Herman Kogan, and Lloyd Wendt show their city from its beginnings to the present. — All the great-and some of the small-moments in Chicago's history are caught in this ric... more »h and fascinating chronicle. Although the town did not come into official existence until 1830, it already had a past. Joliet and Pere Marquette found the Chicago Portage. In 1803 came Fort Dearborn, the United States outpost that was to be the scene of a brutal massacre in 1815. But despite this early setback, Chicago grew quickly. and by 1858 had a population of over 90,000. In 1860, the young Republican party met there and nominated Abraham Lincoln for President.
Chicago and its growth has always exhibited a rough and bawdy vigor, a quality that helped it recover so quickly from the disaster of the great fire in '71. It has also been a town of great contrasts. While thousands of Chicagoans suffered from the bitter strikes of the latter part of 1800's. writers like Theodore Dreiser, Frank Norris, and Hamlin Garland were making Chicago the literary capital of the country.
The authors' fondness for and familiarity with Chicago appears on every page, and they have captured its essence perfectly. The color, the contrast, the vigor, the excitement, the sparkle of one of the great cities of the world is here for the reader to savor. This book is the next best thing to a visit to the big town itself. « less