Chicago: Metropolis of the Mid-Continent, 4th Edition / Edition 3

by Irving Cutler, James F Marran

Overview

Chicago: Metropolis of the Mid-Continent provides a comprehensive portrayal of the growth and development of Chicago from the mudhole of the prairie to today’s world-class city. This completely revised fourth edition skillfully weaves together the geography, history, economy, and culture of the city and its suburbs with a special emphasis on the role of the many ethnic and racial groups that comprise the “real Chicago” of its neighborhoods. Cutler demonstrates how the geography of “Chicagoland” and the influx of a diverse population spurred transportation, industrial technology, the economy, and sporadic planning to foster rapid urban growth, which brought both great progress and severe problems.

Through insightful analysis, Cutler also traces the demographic and societal changes to Chicago, critically examining such problems as the environment, education, racial tension, crime, welfare, housing, employment, and transportation. Richly illustrated with nearly three hundred drawings, photos, maps, and tables, the volume includes six appendices with sections dedicated to Chicago facts, population growth and income data, weather and climate, significant dates, and historic sites.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780809327027
Publisher:	Southern Illinois University Press
Publication date:	06/21/2006
Edition description:	4th Edtion
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	1,081,841
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Irving Cutler, a professor emeritus of geography at Chicago State University, has published several books and numerous articles on Chicago, including the award-winning The Jews of Chicago: From Shtetl to Suburb. He serves on the board of directors of several historical and geographic societies, including the Chicago Jewish Historical Society, of which he was a founder, and the Geographic Society of Chicago, of which he was the president. He has spent more than twenty years giving lectures and leading tours addressing the sociological, historical, geographical, economic, and architectural features of Chicago.

Table of Contents

Foreword   James F. Marran     xi
Preface     xiii
Introduction     I
Yesterday and Today     1
Chicago's Geographic Attributes     1
The Physical Setting     5
In the Beginning     5
Effect of the Glaciers     5
The Lake Plain     7
After the Glaciers     10
The Chicago River     12
The Calumet River     14
The Drainage Pattern     14
The Vegetation     16
The Climate     17
The Evolution of Chicago     21
Early Settlement     21
Town and City     23
The Street Pattern     31
Mudhole of the Prairies     33
The Fire     36
Rebuilding and Further Expansion     39
Protecting the People's Health     41
From Fair to Fair     44
People and Settlement Patterns: The Europeans     49
Sources of Early Settlers     49
European Immigration     51
An Ethnic Checkerboard     53
Recent Population Trends     55
The Irish     58
The Germans     64
The Scandinavians     73
The Jews     81
The Czechs and Slovaks     96
The Poles     105
The Lithuanians     114
The Italians     122
The Greeks     132
The Ukrainians     136
Other European Groups     140
Chicago's European Neighborhoods     150
People and Settlement Patterns: Recent Migration and Trends     155
Population Changes     155
The African Americans     156
The Hispanics     174
The Asians     188
The Native Americans     206
Socioeconomic Patterns     207
Theoretical Internal Arrangement of Chicago     220
The Economy of Chicago     225
Early Industry     225
The Union Stock Yards     227
Pullman     230
Present Industry     234
Wholesale and Retail Trade     240
Organized Industrial Districts and Parks     244
The Calumet Industrial Complex     245
The Changing Role of the Central Business District     252
Culture, Education, and Recreation     265
Recreation Facilities      265
Education     272
The Literary Field     275
Art     280
Music     286
Architecture     291
Transportation: External and Internal     301
From Portage to World Port     301
The Modern Port of Chicago     304
The Railroads Spin a Web     309
Road Transportation     315
Pipelines     321
Air Transportation     321
The CTA and Its Predecessors     325
Pace, the Suburban Bus System     332
Metra, the Commuter Rail System     333
Transportation Trends     336
Expansion of the Chicago Metropolitan Area     339
Suburban Growth     339
Suburban Characteristics     343
North Suburban Growth Patterns     347
West Suburban Growth Patterns     355
South Suburban Growth Patterns     358
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore     363
Regional Shopping Centers     365
The Rural-Urban Fringe     368
Midwest Megalopolis     370
Planning for the Future     373
Problems and Principles     373
The Burnham Plan      374
Later Chicago Planning     375
Planning for the Metropolitan Area     379
The Challenge     384
Chicago Population     391
Chicago Weather and Climate     393
General Facts about Chicago     395
Significant Dates in Chicago History     397
Chicago Historic Sites     403
Statistical Data for Incorporated Communities of the Chicago Area     411
Notes     419
Selected Bibliography     423
Index     437

Editorial Reviews

You might think a book about the historical geography of Chicago would be a bit flat. Luckily, when it comes to Irving Cutler's "Chicago: Metropolis of the Mid-Continent," this is not the case. Instead, Cutler gives us a popular survey of Chicago's "physical and human processes and phenomena that make it work." Now in its fourth edition, it offers a detailed look at the city's geography, infrastructure, history of immigration and economy in an attempt to explain how "Chicago's remarkable population growth—greater than that attained by Paris in twenty centuries—was achieved in the last century and a half."

This edition features a new section, "Culture, Education, and Recreation," In addition to an overview of the city's many museums and its long literary tradition, this chapter includes a nice summary of the various architectural styles found around Chicago. Cutler looks not only at famous local architects like Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright but also at the residential architectural styles found around Chicago's Bungalow Belt.

While the book is rather scholarly and detailed, it remains accessible to the general reader. It is lavishly illustrated with a large number of original and historical maps. This is a wonderful overview for anyone interested in the geography and development of Chicago.

Chicago Tribune - Aaron Max Berkowitz

For natives and newcomers alike, [this book] has much to say about how the Chicago area took shape through accident, design, and inevitability.”—Clarence Peterson, Chicago Tribune

“Far and away the best brief historical and geographical introduction to the development of the Chicago area.”—Walter J. Kelly, Metro, Chicago Council for Social Studies

“The best short introduction to Chicago.”—Frank Jewell, Chicago Historical Society

“Revised, enlarged, updated . . . [the book] can be read with profit by anyone interested in Chicago, the city, or the region.”—Alden Cutshall, University of Illinois

“Accelerating change demands that the story of a dynamic and influential city be told and retold, each time with a modified or new perspective. . . . It is a scholarly, detailed work, showing not only how Chicago developed but why.”—George Cohen, Chicago Tribune

“The past and present intricacies of the nation’s second largest city are presented by Dr. Cutler in a manner that demonstrates his enormous knowledge of—and fondness for—the Chicago urban complex.”—Ronald E. Nelson, Bulletin of the Illinois Geographical Society

"While the book is rather scholarly and detailed, it remains accessible to the general reader. It is lavishly illustrated with a large number of original and historical maps. This is a wonderful overview for anyone interested in the geography and development of Chicago."—Aaron Max Berkowitz

From the Publisher

You might think a book about the historical geography of Chicago would be a bit flat. Luckily, when it comes to Irving Cutler's "Chicago: Metropolis of the Mid-Continent," this is not the case. Instead, Cutler gives us a popular survey of Chicago's "physical and human processes and phenomena that make it work." Now in its fourth edition, it offers a detailed look at the city's geography, infrastructure, history of immigration and economy in an attempt to explain how "Chicago's remarkable population growth--greater than that attained by Paris in twenty centuries--was achieved in the last century and a half."

This edition features a new section, "Culture, Education, and Recreation," In addition to an overview of the city's many museums and its long literary tradition, this chapter includes a nice summary of the various architectural styles found around Chicago. Cutler looks not only at famous local architects like Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright but also at the residential architectural styles found around Chicago's Bungalow Belt.

While the book is rather scholarly and detailed, it remains accessible to the general reader. It is lavishly illustrated with a large number of original and historical maps. This is a wonderful overview for anyone interested in the geography and development of Chicago.

— Aaron Max Berkowitz

Chicago Tribune