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One of the great American metropolises,
Chicago rises out of the prairie in the heart of the country,
buffeted by winds coming off the plains and cooled by the
waters of the inland sea of Lake Michigan. Chicago is a city
of size and mass, the cradle of modern architecture, the freight
hub of the nation, a city built on slaughterhouses and cacophonous
financial trading tempered by some of the finest cultural
institutions in the world. While many histories have been
written of the city, none can claim the scope and breadth
of the long-awaited Encyclopedia of Chicago.
Developed by the Newberry Library with
the cooperation of the Chicago Historical Society, The
Encyclopedia of Chicago is the definitive historical
reference on metropolitan Chicago. More than a decade in the
making, the Encyclopedia brings together hundreds
of historians, journalists, and experts on everything from
airlines to Zoroastrians to explore all aspects of the rich
world of Chicagoland, from its geological prehistory to the
present.
The main alphabetical section of the Encyclopedia,
comprising more than 1,400 entries, covers the full range
of Chicago's neighborhoods, suburbs, and ethnic groups, as
well as the city's cultural institutions, technology and science,
architecture, religions, immigration, transportation, business
history, labor, music, health and medicine, and hundreds of
other topics. The Encyclopedia has the widest geographical
reach of any city encyclopedia of its kind, encompassing eight
of the region's counties, including suburbs. Nearly 400 thumbnail
maps pinpoint Chicago neighborhoods and suburban municipalities;
these maps are complemented by hundreds of black-and-white
and color photographs and thematic maps that bring the history
of metropolitan Chicago to life. Additionally, contributors
have provided lengthy interpretive essays--woven into the
alphabetical section but set off graphically--that take a
long view of such topics as the built environment, literary
images of Chicago, and the city's often legendary and passionate
sports culture.
The Encyclopedia also offers a
comprehensive biographical dictionary of more than 2,000 individuals
important to Chicago history and a detailed listing of approximately
250 of the city's historically significant business enterprises.
A color insert features a timeline of Chicago history and
photo essays exploring nine pivotal years in this history.
The Encyclopedia of Chicago is
one of the most significant historical projects undertaken
in the last twenty years, and it has everything in it to engage
the most curious historian as well as settle the most boisterous
barroom dispute. If you think you know how Chicago got its
name, if you have always wondered how the Chicago Fire actually
started and how it spread, if you have ever marveled at the
Sears Tower or the reversal of the Chicago River--if you have
affection, admiration, and appreciation for this City of the
Big Shoulders, this Wild Onion, this Urbs in Horto, then The
Encyclopedia of Chicago is for you.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Maps
Staff and Consultants
Acknowledgments
Contributors
Introduction
Metropolitan Reference Map
A-Z Entries
City as Artifact
Color Inserts
Timeline and Year Pages
Maps in Color
Dictionary of Leading Chicago Businesses, 1820-2000
Biographical Dictionary
Chicago Mayors
Appendixes
Chicago Metropolitan Population
Illustration Credits
Index
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