From Horses to Cars: Chicago in 1894 and 1923

One Chicago block in 1893. Yellow designates stables for horses.

In the process of cleaning up and organizing things during our move, I came across some material from a grad school paper I wrote for a historical geography class examining the physical transformation of a micro-neighborhood in Chicago as automobiles replaced horses as the dominant mode of urban transportation. I used Sanborn fire insurance maps to locate buildings designated as stables in 1894 and automobile garages in 1923.

Zooming in to just one block of the micro-neighborhood reveals the extent of the transformation (note that May Street became Mildred Avenue by 1923). There were only 7 horse stables in the block in 1894, but there were 22 automobile garages in 1923. Click for a larger version of each map to make out the highlighted portions.

The same Chicago block in 1923. Yellow designates automobile garages.

If I had the paper to do over again, I would add a comparative census analysis to determine whether the neighborhood had gentrified during this period. In other words, were the people with comparatively few horses in 1894 the same people who had so many cars in 1923? My guess is no.

Anyway, interesting stuff, thought it was worth sharing.

Chicago Parkitecture: Humboldt Park

This is not an exhaustive photo essay, just had a few minutes to run around the park this morning and snapped some quick shots. More on Humboldt Park here.

Churches of Chicago's Ukrainian Village Neighborhood

This week I'm staying in Chicago's Ukrainian Village neighborhood on my month-long research sojourn in the Windy City. I had a chance to take a walk around this morning and take some photos of the great church architecture and iconography. I'm nuts for Eastern Christian/Orthodox religious iconography in situ on church exteriors.

St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic

Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Ukrainian Church (wins for best name)

"Ukrainian Orthodox Church" is all I could make out on this one.

Detail of above.

Have You Seen This Sad Face?

Peugeot Wrap-Around Chain Guard

I love these.

Working Late

Ah, a decent research library.

Random Chicago Bike Stuff

Hanging around my alma mater this week, which has apparently put together a bike share program. There was a whole fleet of these parked outside the library today, all identified with placards. They looked to be mostly refurbished older town bikes and some old mountain bikes. Very cool. Apologies for poor quality cell phone pics.

This bike below I found locked up in the neighborhood. According to the head badge, it's a "Power King" from Japan. I really like the way this bike is appointed. It makes me wonder how many "off" brand bikes like this were either manufactured locally or imported to different markets around the country. Every time I'm here, I see bikes I've never heard of, and most of them are well-equipped as solid transportation/utility bikes. About half are slowly dying, about half are being used. It's really nice to see so many old bikes still doing their jobs.

Color Photography from 1939-1943

The Denver Post has a huge gallery of color photos from the 1930s and 1940s from the Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information, now held at the Library of Congress. In honor of my current geographic location, I posted a Chicago photo above, but it's not the best of the gallery. I love to see color in an era so often represented in black and white. It's a visual affirmation of history's many shades.

DRFN on the Road: Chicago

For the month of August, I'll be blogging from Chicago while on a research fellowship. There won't be much of interest on a daily basis, but I'll try to post some of the more interesting adventures and photos as I go. This used to be home for me, but I haven't spent this much time back here for a few years, so I'll be seeing things with a mix of old and new perspectives. I hope.

Just got in today, and so far it's just hot, sticky, and there are lots of cicadas buzzing. Storms are coming in the next 24 hours, which I'm really looking forward to.