DAYS LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 9ff,731 D84ch I.H.S. ~j Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://www.archive.org/details/chicagoinsevendaOOdrur CHICAGO IN SEVEN DAYS LAKE MICHIGAN CHICAGO RIVER THE GENERAL LAY OF CHICAGO To readily find one's way about Chicago, the first thing to do is to fix clearly in mind the divisions of the city and their relation to the Loop or central business district. CHICAGO IN SEVEN DAYS by JOHN DRURY AUTHOB OP "ARCLIGHT DUSKS' With Five Sectional Maps NEW YORK ROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY 1928 COPYRIGHT, 1928, BY ROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY Published, May, 1928 CHICAGO IN SEVEN DAYS PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO M. B. N. NOTE The reader's attention is called to the fact that the complexion of Chicago's face is constantly chang- ing. The city is growing by leaps and bounds. New buildings and institutions are rising every day out of what were once ancient, and oftentimes his- toric, structures. And so, the author has done his best to capture the Chicago of the present day, indi- cating wherever possible any proposed changes. The author also wishes to thank the editors of the Chicago Daily News for permission to embody in this book the main points of his series of descrip- tive articles, entitled "Byways of the City," which appeared in the Midweek Feature Section of that newspaper. Furthermore, notice is hereby given that the names of shops, restaurants, and other commercial establishments represent the author's personal pref- erence only. None of the firms mentioned were ap- proached in any way. Consequently, the author and the publisher have no "understanding" with these firms. CONTENTS PAGE Monday A "CIRCLE TOUR" OF CHICAGO . .11 Tuesday MICHIGAN BOULEVARD AND THE LAKE FRONT . 37 Wednesday THE WEST SIDE .67 Thursday THE LOOP Ill Friday THE SOUTH SIDE .135 Saturday THE NEAR NORTH SIDE . .171 Sunday THE FIELD MUSEUM 203 Index 215 LIST OF MAPS The General Lay of Chicago . Frontispiece PAGE The Loop or Downtown District 39 The Near West Side 69 The Near South Side 139 The Near North Side 175 MONDAY "XX TELL, to begin with/' I said to Anne, "we \f V/ won't visit the stockyards." » It was nine o'clock of a Monday morning in summer. We were standing in front of the Hotel Sherman—where Miss Morley was stopping for a week —feeling conspicuous. For to stand idly in the Loop, that busy and renowned downtown district of Chicago, at nine o'clock of a Monday morning is indeed to look conspicuous. Yes, even in front of a hotel. "What, you mean to tell me we're not going to the stockyards?" she exclaimed in surprise. "No—at least to begin with," I replied. "Indeed," she said, "that's something new. I thought the first thing you show a visitor here is the stockyards ?" "That was in the days of our parents," I told her. "Since then, Chicago has entered upon a new era. We now show visitors the wonderful architectural rewards of our earlier days of industry and labor—such show-places as the Field Museum, Navy Pier, the University of Chi- cago, Wacker Drive, the great connected park and boule- vard system, Upper Michigan Avenue, the new Bucking- ham Memorial Fountain, McKinlock campus of North- western University, Soldiers' Field stadium, the Art Insti- tute, and the new Civic Opera building and plaza." "Things our parents never saw ?" suggested Miss Mor- ley. "Exactly," said I. "In other words, these are the fruits of our famous pioneer industries, such as meat-packing and farm machinery manufacture; industries which made ii 12 CHICAGO IN SEVEN DAYS Chicago possible and brought the wealth that enabled us to change the city from a workshop into a mansion/' "So that," said Anne, almost disappointed, "we're now going to turn our backs on the famous hog-killing indus- try." "No, indeed," I hastened to explain, "although it is the industry which put Chicago on the map, and still holds sway among a large percentage of tourists, especially visit- ing celebrities from Europe, as the city's most interesting sight. We shall, however, look at it from a new point of view and observe it in its proper place. You will have an opportunity of seeing it, Anne, when we survey the industrial phase of Chicago, visiting or observing other and equally famous manufacturing plants of the city, such as the McCormick Harvester Works, the Western Elec- tric Company, Montgomery Ward & Company, Sears, Roebuck & Company and the Central Manufacturing Dis- trict." "Fair enough," said my companion. "You're the guide and I'm the wide-eyed visiting yokel from the Corn Belt. As a native Chicagoan, you evidently want to show me the best side first. First impressions, eh, Mr. Guide? When do we start?" "The best side first, and also," I added, "the Chicago not in the guide-books." Unlike most native Chicagoans, I know the city. Par- ticularly, the part not in the guide-books. I may even boastfully say that I had once visited the stockyards. Having gone there, I was looked upon by my fellow na- tives as unique, as indeed something of an authority on the city. How did this phenomenon happen ? Alas, I am not entitled to boast. The truth is, to this day I would have remained ignorant of the city if it had not been be- cause of force of circumstances. In short, I was a nosey (or at least supposed to be nosey) newspaper reporter — MONDAY 13 and my job required a working knowledge of the ins and outs as well as highlights of Chicago. And so it came to pass that I met Miss Anne Morley. A mutual friend—knowing me to be a native Chicagoan, a newspaper man, an authority on the city and, withal, a thoroughly dependable fellow—had provided her with a letter of introduction, which she duly presented when we met in the railroad station early last evening. In her eager curiosity to see the big city, which was at once made evident, she was as fresh to me as an ear of ripe corn. She was, to be sure, a product of the Corn Belt, up from Springfield, Mo., wherever that is. And things so happened that my vacation period arrived during the time of her visit, arrived without my having made any plans. Needless to say, before our first evening was up I was already calling her "Anne." No, dear reader, you're mistaken, if you'll pardon my bluntness. It was merely the fact that we were about to embark on an ad- venture—to explore the ingenious jungle of steel and stone that is Chicago—which brought us such easy fa- miliarity. She was eager to see and I was eager to show. Which accounts for the two of us standing in front of the Hotel Sherman at nine o'clock on Monday morning feeling oddly detached from the hurrying mob. "And so," I said, "instead of the stockyards, we'll make the 'circle tour' of Chicago. That is, we'll spend the day making a general survey of the city from a bus-top, driv- ing along the boulevard and park system which has be- come the most famous in the world. In fact, with the excellent itinerary I have mapped out, you can see most of the city in one day. How does that sound?" !" "That's fine, Mr. Guide," laughed Anne. "Let's go Crossing Clark Street, we headed eastward along the Randolph Street Rialto, passing theaters, restaurants, candy-shops, cabarets, movie palaces and "orange-huts." 14 CHICAGO IN SEVEN DAYS In the crowded traffic of the street, Anne called attention to the variety of colored taxicabs. "Yes," I said, "the Yellow Cabs, as they are known, predominate and are the most popular. I suppose it might be just as well to add here that their rates are twenty-five cents for the first fifth of a mile, ten cents for each succeeding two-fifths of a mile, and ten cents for each three minutes you keep it waiting. One may also hire these cabs for three dollars an hour. No charge is made for extra passengers or baggage." "What are the rates on your other forms of transpor- tation?" she asked. "Our street cars," I answered, "which do most of the transporting, charge seven cents for each passenger, which includes transfer privileges. Similar privileges are granted on the comprehensive auto-bus system, which charges ten cents for each passenger. Our elevated roads also have a ten-cent fare." "As for other taxicabs," I added, "the green, or Checker Cabs, occupy second place in point of popularity. The long low closed-in busses are from out of town, as you may guess from the baggage on their tops. Coming in from such widely scattered points as Muskegon, Mich., and Madison, Wis., they serve to bind together the nearby villages, towns and cities which James O'Donnell Bennett of the Chicago Tribune, author of Much Loved Books, has labeled 'Chicagoland.' As with the local cabs, each bus company has its particular bright color to distin- guish it." "I think the use of color is an interesting idea," said Anne, revealing esthetic sensibilities. "We should have more color in our gray smoky cities." Beyond Dearborn Street, the next block after Clark, we passed the new United Artists Theatre and Masonic Temple Building, housing the big Oriental moving picture MONDAY 15 palace on its ground floor.