Indexes and maps chicago and vicinity and chicago northern section on verso. Anniston, alabama charlotte, north carolina chicago cincinnati holyoke. Place title given to street running the 12 block between streets. And yet, as hannah higgins makes clear in this engaging and evocative book, the grid has a history that long. Chicagos grid fit neatly into the township pattern first established for the region by the 1785 land ordinance.
The urban design of chicago has come a long way since founded in 1832. The article takes up at length the more prominent thoroughfares of the city and traces the origin of their names. Most cta bus and former streetcar routes operate over these streets. Costs for streets depend largely on four variables. Roads and expressways in chicago summarizes the main thoroughfares and the numbering system used in chicago and its surrounding suburbs. Compare city grids with this street network tool next city. Click on the links below to access scans of some of the sheet maps of chicago from the years between 1900 and the onset of world war i that are held at the university of chicago librarys map collection. Of grids and the great chicago fire the mit press reader. He is a lifelong resident of rogers park, though he spends much of his free time on the south side. He has taught newberry library seminars since 1992.
An aerial view of the chicago street grid system at night. Although design infuses every object in the material world and gives form to immaterial processes as well, it is only recently that design itself has become the focus of intellectual debate. In andreas history of chicago is an article devoted to the street nomenclature of the city which is of the greatest interest to the oldtime residents of the city. Author first and last name, title of the book in italics city of publication. The people behind the street names are the movers and shakers that shaped our city. Madison street divides the city north and south, while state street divides it east and west.
Its fascination arises from the imaginative and visual appeal of its stirring prose and stunning illustrations, which combine to persuade the. There are other facts about the streets that gives one a feeling of belonging, because of the extra knowledge. Board meeting minutes 18581937, admissions registers listing names, ages, religion, and reasons for coming to the home, 18581898, old ladies dept. Public land survey the grid behind chicago s street grid chicago in 4d has done a series of posts discussing the history behind chicago s street number and naming schemes. Click on the links below to access scans of some of the sheet maps of chicago from the 1860s, 1870s, and 1880s that are held at. Wonderful way of looking at the history of chicago. Burnhamis one of the most fascinating and significant documents in the history of urban planning. Chicago loop explore downtown chicago choose chicago. Norwood park is a suburblike neighborhood way up at the northwestern edge of the city, and as our viewer notes, the street layout in norwood park departs quite a bit from chicagos prevailing grid pattern.
Cafes, diners, dives street naming city streets, chicago, history, historia, history books. Chicago will lead you straight to the best attractions the windy city has to offer visit the lincoln park zoo or the art institute of chicago, shop on michigan avenue, enjoy the rides at the navy pier funfair, take in the view from the willis. The maps and plats section of cdot manages several programs that can be used to facilitate changes to the configuration of public streets and alleys. The grid has been used continuously throughout the world as a development pattern since hippodamus first used it at piraeus, greece in the 5th century bc. Now when i travel on pulaski ave, i can feel the contributions to the american revolution made by the polish immigrant.
Surveyor james thompson laid out the town for the canal commissioners in preparation for the sale of lots to finance the proposed illinois and michigan canal, with the first lots selling on september 4, 1830. Outdoor and climatecontrolled indoor seating is firstcome, firstserved so its best to book. Modernday wilshire began after the arrival of the spanish in 1769, when the city was given its first street grid according to the 1573 laws of the indies, which mandated the creation of a. Streetsblog chicago connecting people to information. Oct 16, 20 chicagos grid system and street coordinates. To put an end to this epidemic, it created a completely new and foolproof chicago street coordinates grid system for all addresses. Courtney discusses chicagos open streets movement with fox chicago. Brennan, wrote a letter to the committee on street nomenclature and suggested that chicago be ordered as a large grid with a uniform street numbering system, and proposed state and madison streets as the citys primary northsouth and eastwest axis. Addresses are relative to the distance from this point, with eight blocks to every mile. Since 2002, our website collects as much as possible about this area through recollections, information, and photographs. As new additions to the city were platted, city ordinance required them to be laid out with eight streets to the mile in one direction and 16 in the.
Chicago streets avenue title applied mostly to streets running north and south. We are a local tour company that brings curious people to explore chicago stories and places locals dont know since 2010. Chicagos streets are laid out primarily on a grid system, with major roads running on straight eastwest and northsouth routes. List of street names in chicago, illinois, maps and steet. Streets following the public land survey system section lines later became arterial streets in outlying sections. Chicago street guide chicago neighborhoods chicago. Named after ferdinand ernst who was an author of travel books. History of chicago street coordinates in 1909, the city of chicago decided to fight back against the growing menace of local residents continually getting lost and throwing temper tantrums. Explore all three branches of the chicago river on a journey through the heart of the city. Bill savage teaches chicago literature at northwestern university and is at work on a book about edward brennans reformation of chicagos street name and numbering system, tentatively entitled the city logical. Wall street journal this book, about our aging electrical grid, fits in one of my favorite genres. There are 800 address numbers per mile, 400 address numbers per half mile. Chicagos streets were laid out in a grid that grew from the citys original townsite plan platted by james thompson.
The south loop is our main base, but we elbow our way throughout chicago. The great american grid a history of the american grid. For instance, the streets running east and west, south of the chicago river, are. The contributors argue in different ways for a rethinking of design in light of its. The infrastructure cost for regular grid patterns is generally higher than for patterns with discontinuous streets. Chicago s streets do not have to go around mountains or other features that can interrupt an orderly street grid. He is at work on a book about chicagos street grid and is the sort of person who has favorite bridges, viaducts, and alleys.
Chicagos major streets chicagos major streets are a mile apart, running either northsouth or eastwest. As chicagos only public research university with more than 33,000 students, 16 colleges, a hospital and a health sciences system, uic provides students access to excellence and opportunity. Some of the credit for our grid system of streets is due to the public land survey system. A book was published in 1909 by the chicago directory company indexing. It has been called the single most important document in new york citys development, and the plan has been described as encompassing the republican. Otis moss iii is the senior pastor of trinity united church of christ. Chicagos streets do not have to go around mountains or other features that can interrupt an orderly street grid.
Books about mundane stuff that are actually fascinating. Subdivisions how streets are laid out technology that changed chicago. Alleys and the making of chicagos shadow city wbez chicago. At trinity ucc, giving is an important part of who we. The state and madison intersection in downtown chicago marks the starting point of chicagos grid system.
Chicago manual of style cheat sheet lewis and clark. Financial considerations again played a role in its implementation. Chicago street guide chicagos streets are laid out primarily on a grid system, with major roads running on straight eastwest and northsouth routes. Electrification history 1 early years we mostly take the ready availability of electricity for granted, turning off the radio alarm in the morning, switching on the bedside lamp, pouring a cup of coffee from the machine that automatically started brewing it a few minutes before the alarm went off, tuning in to the morning news show on tv. A brief history and guide to city of chicago streets and an explanation of how street addresses are laid out. The grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right. This riverboat excursion introduces passengers to chicagos legendary architecture, narrated by a professionally trained architectural guide. Blvd title given to streets where trucks over 5 tons are not permitted. The commissioners plan of 1811 was the original design for the streets of manhattan above houston street and below 155th street, which put in place the rectangular grid plan of streets and lots that has defined manhattan to this day. Belle plaine ave w 4100 n 800 w to 8399 w bellevue pi e 1030 n 1 e to 149 e belmont ave w 3200 n 300 w to 8999 w bennett ave s 1900 e 6700 s to 9599 s bensley ave 52500 e 9525 s to 559 s. Anyone who is interested in the history of chicago will love this book.
A lot happened over the next 2,000 years after that, but in 1682 william penn used the grid as the physical foundation for. The maps portray a city where much that was true of chicago in the 1890s remained the case. The grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. This article is adapted from hannah b higgins book the grid book, a. Chicagos grid system and street coordinates chicago street. Emblematic of modernity, the grid is the underlying form of everything from skyscrapers and office cubicles to paintings by mondrian and a piece of computer code. Located in the heart of one of the worlds great cities, the university of illinois at chicago is a vital part of the educational, technological and cultural fabric of the region. The loop is the heart of the city and its bursting with iconic chicago attractions, including historic architecture, river cruises, millennium park, the chicago riverwalk, a vibrant theatre district, incredible dining, shopping along state street. The plan of chicago of 1909, more familiarly known as the burnham planafter its principal author, architect and city planner daniel h.