All Non-Digital Titles

A Portal to Rock ‘N’ Roll History

During the 1970s, Chicagoland venues hosted an eclectic mix of legendary rock ‘n’ roll acts that thrilled audiences. Fans flocked to historic venues like the Auditorium Theater, International Amphitheatre, Arie Crown Theatre, Kinetic Playground and B’Ginnings to forge relationships and hear music that shaped their youth and endured a lifetime. Acts like Led Zeppelin, the Who, Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Wings, Genesis and so many others took the stage here during rock’s most prolific and memorable era.  Jim Summaria and Mark Plotnick bring those mind-blowing performances back to life with exclusive concert photos, histories, trivia and more.  

But The National Pastime arrived in Chicago well before the 1876 season, as is proven in this fascinating new book, 19th Century Baseball in Chicago, illustrated with over 150 vintage images.Any local fan of the modern game-whether the action takes place at the Friendly Confines, 35th & Shields, or the cozy setting of a minor league ballpark out in Kane or suburban Cook County-will enjoy the wealth of information offered in 19th Century Baseball in Chicago.

The history of one of the most important airports in the US comes to life in over 150 historical photos.

In 1942, a stretch of Illinois prairie that had served as a battleground and a railroad depot became the site of a major manufacturing plant, producing Douglas C-54 Skymasters for World War II. Less than twenty years later, that plot of land boasted the biggest and busiest airport in the world. Many of the millions who have since passed through it have likely only regarded it as a place between cities. But for people like Michael Branigan, who has spent years on its tarmac, they know that O'Hare is a city unto itself, with a fascinating history of gangsters and heroes, mayors,  presidents and pilots.

Here is the black Chicago family album, of African Americans leaving the violent, racist South and goin' to Chicago to find the American Dream.

The story of black Chicago is so rich that few know it all. It began long before the city itself. Wells, the Eighth Regiment, Jesse Jackson, Oprah, and much more . . . including a guy named Obama. The first white man here was a black man, Potowatami natives reportedly said about Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, the brown-skinned man recognized as Chicago's first non-Indian settler. It's all here: from the site of DuSable's cabin—now smack-dab in the middle of Chicago's Magnificent Mile—to images of famous and infamous residents like boxers Jack Johnson, Muhammad Ali, and Joe Louis. Here are leaders and cultural touchstones like Jesse Binga's bank, Robert S. Abbott's Chicago Defender, legendary filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, Ida B. Here is the black Chicago family album, of folks who made and never made the headlines, and pictures and stories of kinship and fellowship of African Americans leaving the violent, racist South and goin' to Chicago to find their piece of the American Dream. Chicago has been called the Second City, but black Chicago is second to none.

Alton, Illinois, is a historic river town with a fascinating history. It was the home of multiple Native American tribes and later served as a busy river port. It played an important role in the Civil War and became a major industrial town. The end of the 20th century marked great changes as Alton lost much of its industrial base and population, although it was rejuvenated by new industry and commerce.

Michael Barr Mossman, a graduate of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, grew up in Alton. The main sources for this book are Robert K. Graul (longtime photographer for the Alton Telegraph) and the Hayner Public Library District.

Inside the life of Amos Alonzo Stagg, a man who not only witnessed great change, but was responsible for much of it in college football.

The arc of Amos Alonzo Stagg’s life spanned the presidencies of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. His career flourished on the Chicago Midway and found an encore on California’s Pacific coast and in Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna Valley. Stagg pioneered use of the tackling dummy, the huddle, the forward pass, the shift, the man-in-motion, the quick kick and the short punt. He developed the raw talent of young men with little or no athletic background long before the age of scholarship athletes, and his championship teams at the University of Chicago established the school’s national reputation before it became famous for producing Nobel laureates. He helped shape the modern Olympic Games, and the coaching tree he nurtured continues to bear fruit in football programs across the country. Author Jennifer Taylor Hall traces the remarkable life of the “Grand Old Man of Football.”

Arriving in Chicago in the mid 60s, the first wave of Indians were mostly professionals who intended to return home. But as they stayed on and were joined by others, their population began to reflect the tremendous ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversity of India. Today, Indians are the largest Asian-American immigrant group in the Chicago area.

Recognizing that first-hand resources would still be available for compiling their history, the Indo-American Center appealed to Chicago area residents of Indian origin and to their organizations to select photographs and documents from their personal collections to tell the story of the community. This book is a result of their enthusiastic response. Here, then, is a history in the making,-the record, in pictures, of the life of a diverse and vibrant community as told by the people who live it and shape its course.

The pictorial history of Assyrian immigration to Chicago that encompasses more than 100 years.

The first Assyrian pioneers came to the United States in the late 1800s. Eventually, by the turn of the century, they began to reside in Chicago. Following several waves of persecution in their homeland, these indigenous people of Mesopotamia continued to migrate to America, and now the largest concentration of them reside in Chicago.

Through the medium of historic photographs, this book captures the evolution of the Assyrian community of Chicago from the late 1800s to the present day. These pages bring to life the people, events, and industries that helped to shape and transform this vibrant ethnic community in Chicago. With more than 200 vintage images, Assyrians in Chicagoincludes photographs from the collection of the Assyrian Universal Alliance Foundation.

This book depicts the many faces of the Assyrian American in various facets of American life interwoven with traditions from their homeland.

Take a fascinating journey through the history of Aurora, Illinois with more than 200 vintage photographs and anecdotes from the locals who experienced it.

The history of Aurora, Illinois is one of diversity. This is the first book to trace the city's early days of its first white settlement through World War I and the early 1920s, as seen through the eyes of its diverse ethnic groups. Immigrants from northern, southern, and eastern Europe, southern Blacks, and Mexicans all came to provide their talents to the massive railroad industry and the dozens of factories in the city, which were producing various products to be used by the entire nation and as well as in the construction of the Panama Canal.

Discover the history most Chicagoans don’t know---the real Chicago Way. The Windy City is full of forgotten landmarks and unusual stories that rarely get the benefit of a guided tour. Meet the African-American congressman who paved the way for Harold Washington and Barack Obama, the South Side Jewish girl who became the president of a South American country, and the visiting Romanian queen who charmed the city. Learn when Chicagoans were paid to smile, how furniture sprouts on Windy City streets after a blizzard and why Smell-O-Vision seemed like a good idea. From an in-city ski resort to the nation’s greatest train robbery, author John R. Schmidt offers a glimpse of the overlooked scenery of Chicago’s past.

Home to Chicago's Polish Village, impressive examples of architecture, and the legendary Olson Waterfall, Avondale is often called the neighborhood that built Chicago.

Images of America: Avondale and Chicago's Polish Village sheds light on the little known history of the community, including its fascinating industrial past. From its beginnings as a sleepy subdivision started by a Michigan senator, it became a cultural mecca for Chicago's Polish community, playing a crucial role in Poland's struggles for independence. Many people from all over the world also called Avondale home, such as Scottish proprietors, African American freedmen, Irish activists, Swedish shopkeepers, German tradesmen, Jewish merchants, Filipino laborers, and Italian entrepreneurs; a diversity further enriched as many from the former Soviet Bloc and Latin America settled here. Avondale would be unrecognizable today from its humble origins, but the strong sense of community these neighbors have will never change.

Visit the Back of the Yards neighborhood and setting for Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.

The Back of the Yards neighborhood, located in back of the Union Stockyards and composed of Packingtown, Town of Lake, and New City, was the setting of Upton Sinclair's classic 1906 novel, The Jungle. Permeated by an unforgettable smell, Back of the Yards was a melting pot of immigrants, many who worked in the stockyards. In 1894, Mary McDowell started the University of Chicago Settlement House in Back of the Yards. She improved living conditions and in 1905 helped create Davis Square Park. The Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council was founded in 1939 by Joseph Meegan, Saul Alinsky, and Bishop Bernard Sheil and is America's oldest not for profit community based organization. It consisted of 185 delegate organizations involving residents, business owners, churches, parks, schools, and social clubs that worked to advocate improvements. The council motto continues on as We the people will work out our own destiny. Relive the bustling activity and the lives of the people in the neighborhood through the historic images in Back of the Yards.

The story of the Baha’i House of Worship is one of how very few believers in a new faith built the “Great Bell” of the North Shore.

Sitting on the shores of Lake Michigan, just five miles north of Chicago, the Baha’i House of Worship’s story begins with the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. Inspired by news of the first Baha'i¬ Temple in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, members of the Chicago Baha'i¬ House of Spirituality drafted a petition in 1903 asking for permission to begin their own. Fifty years later, in 1953, a completed Baha'i¬ House of Worship was dedicated in Wilmette. With archival photographs, readers can see the complete timeline of the temple from the Great Depression and World War II years up to the present, including ongoing restoration projects preserving the beauty of the “Temple of Light.”

Rockford's baseball history continued with minor league teams, industrial league teams, and other teams both semi-pro and amateur. The city again gained national attention with the four-time champion Rockford Peaches of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (1943-1954). The excitement of professional ball in the Forest City continues today with the Rockford River Hawks of the Frontier League. Baseball in Rockford tells the players' stories from 1865 to the present, illustrated with vintage photographs throughout.

Berwyn, a suburb of Chicago, saw rapid expansion in the 1920s and traces its roots back to the 19th century, representing the American Dream.

Eight miles west of downtown Chicago sits a suburb with a rich, vibrant history. Berwyn began in the 19th century as two separate communities with vast stretches of marshland and farmland between. By the early 1900s, this booming municipality successfully kept industry at bay while remaining a strictly residential development. As thousands of bungalows were constructed in the 1920s, the City of Homes, as it was known, became the fastest-growing community in the United States. For many generations, the suburb has attracted hard-working people who take pride in their homes and exemplify the fulfillment of the American Dream.

The history of west central Illinois is presented here through memorable photographs and rare documents dating back to before, during, and after the Civil War. This book introduces a wide variety of characters, including 18th century explorer Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, pioneer Free Frank McWhorter, and comedian Richard Pryor.

In January of 1963, Bradley Hall, and the student records it contained, was destroyed by fire. No effort was made until now to reconstruct or document the African-American population and its contributions to the institution. Using annuals, student newspapers, and photos provided by African-American alumni, this nearly lost history is being documented for the first time.

These images capture historic events such as the Street Car Strike of 1917 in which workers took their demands to the streets. The businesses that closed-up shop years ago are opened again through these historic postcards, many of which were originally produced by Bloomington-based postcard publisher C.U. Williams.

Situated on a prehistoric ridge, Blue Island is among the earliest established communities in northeastern Illinois, first settled in 1835, later becoming a village in 1872 and a city in 1901. This hardworking town was connected to the American economy through its rivers, canals, and railroads, including the Rock Island Railroad shops. Its brickyards led the nation in production and supplied the very blocks of Chicago’s rebirth after the Great Fire. The architecture of immigrant merchants and significant institutions has largely been preserved, along with many homes of working-class and prominent residents. Renowned architects, including George Washington Maher, Bertrand Goldberg, and Blue Island’s own Robert Seyfarth, designed local landmarks. Blue Island is a community of immense pride that is as aware of its uniqueness as it is eager to share it.

Jason Berry lives in Blue Island and is a life member of the Blue Island Historical Society. Kevin Barron is a special education teacher and creator of the free historic resources organization SouthCookExplore. The images for this book were selected from the Blue Island Historical Society archives and museum. For more than 50 years, the society and its vibrant programming have kept Blue Island’s history a vital part of its continued discovery.

Start your engines! Relive the energy and intensity Blue Island's Raceway Park offered for decades with numerous rarely-seen images.

On September 24, 1938, Raceway Park officially opened its doors, and the track remained open for over 60 years. The first race was won by Harry McQuinn, who went on to compete in the Indianapolis 500 and become the chief pit steward of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In 1948, Raceway Park added stock car races to its regular program, and the track became a popular entertainment venue throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s as thousands of Chicagoans filled the stands. The track held its last race in 2000 and was torn down the following year. Although Raceway Park is now a part of history, the ""World's Busiest Track"" is still in the hearts and minds of many Chicagoland race fans.

Uncover the secret Chicago laboratory of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie Style.

Before Frank Lloyd Wright officially launched America’s most famous architectural career, he was designing the building blocks of his legendary prairie style on the side. In violation of his contract with his employers, Adler and Sullivan, Wright moonlighted as an independent architect from his Oak Park studio. From 1892 through the spring of 1893, he experimented with the elements that would become his signature in houses in Chicago, La Grange and Oak Park. The full roster of these “bootleg homes” has remained a matter of mystery and debate. Robert Hartnett seeks to provide the first definitive account of the hidden artifacts of Wright’s storied legacy.

The village name Bourbonnais is attributed to Fran§ois Bourbonnais. He was a 19th-century French Canadian fur trader who maintained a post in a grove of trees along the east bank of the Kankakee River. This location became known as Bourbonnais Grove. Noel LeVasseur, a former American Fur Company employee, bought two sections of land in the grove in 1834 and established a settlement of immigrant French Canadians. At first, the village was called variously La Point, La Ville, and Vasseurville. A post office named Bourbonnais Grove opened in 1838. The village was known as Bourbonnais Grove until 1875, when it was incorporated as Bourbonnais. By the 1860s, Bourbonnais Grove had 1,719 inhabitants, a blacksmith shop, livery stable, hotel, and a new church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Nativity and built of native limestone. The images in this book depicting life in Bourbonnais have been gathered from local private and museum collections.

Explore Bridgeport, the most political neighborhood in the most political of cities - home to five Chicago mayors and parades of politicians honoring its power at national conventions.

Once a Native American village traversed by Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet, as Chicago grew the area was called Hardscrabble, then Cabbage Gardens, and finally Bridgeport. Immigrants built it: the Irish dredged a canal and mined a quarry that led to slaughterhouses, cooperages, rolling mills, and breweries that were worked by Germans, Bohemians, Swedes, and Poles. Held dear as the Heart of Lithuania, muckrakers described parts of it as a heartbreaking jungle. More immigrants came: Italians, Croatians, Mexicans, Chinese. Against the backdrop of prairies, labor strife, gangways, and Joe Podsajdwokiem, this sometimes uneasy mix lived, worked, and voted together. Bridgeport still has streets that defy the city's orderly grid, settlement houses, language stews, and, for each nationality, churches and taverns. Today, it may welcome artists and expensive housing, but on summer nights stoop sitting and rooting for the White Sox remain social obligations.

Unlock the secrets of shopping estate sales—and why doing so is good for your home, your style, your wallet, the planet, and even your sense of empathy.

Have you ever wanted to get into shopping estate sales but felt intimidated by the unspoken rules and norms? Bring Cash is your pocket-sized guide to navigating estate sales like a pro. Whether you’re wondering when to arrive, if haggling is allowed, or how to identify true vintage, Kate Davis of Midwest Estate Sailing on Substack is your intrepid captain. You’ll learn how to decode sign-up sheets, how to date clothing, and that—of course—cash is king.

With helpful photos, practical tips, and thoughtful insights into why estate sales are worth exploring, especially in the Midwest, Bring Cash is as entertaining as it is informative. Davis shares advice and personal anecdotes like a savvy friend, and crowd-sourced stories of great estate-sale finds help inspire you to find your own Big Find—or small prize. Slip this into your bag and take it with you to turn weekend outings into rewarding adventures.

Take a trip underground and see how Chicago's I Will spirit overcame challenges and persevered to help with the successful building of the subways that move millions today!

While the elevated Chicago Loop is justly famous as a symbol of the city, the fascinating history of its subways is less well known. The City of Chicago broke ground on what would become the Initial System of Subways during the Great Depression and finished 20 years later. This gigantic construction project, a part of the New Deal, overcame many obstacles while tunneling through Chicago's soft blue clay, under congested downtown streets, and even beneath the mighty Chicago River. Chicago's first rapid transit subway opened in 1943 after decades of wrangling over routes, financing, and logistics. It grew to encompass the State Street, Dearborn-Milwaukee, and West Side Subways, with the latter modernizing the old Garfield Park L into the median of Chicago's first expressway. Building Chicago's subways was national news and a matter of considerable civic pride - making it a Second City no more!

The Village of Burr Ridge is aptly named—and not merely for the bur oaks, nor the limestone ridges as the land nears Flagg Creek.

Before there was Burr Ridge, frontier German, English, French, Scottish, and Native Americans came to these forests. The Plainfield and Joliet trails were early Native American and frontier routes to and from trading posts, and oral histories recount the Potawatomi stopping near what would become County Line Road. The angled routes of Plainfield Road and Historic Route 66 are silent reminders of these past trails and travelers. In 1917, International Harvester Company opened a research facility along County Line and Plainfield Roads to perfect agricultural equipment, namely the iconic Farmall tractor. This inspired the namesake village, Harvester, in 1956, which was renamed Burr Ridge in 1962. The modern Illinois Interstates 55 and 294 intersect near Burr Ridge, spurring growth. Today, the village has the distinction of being one of the wealthiest communities in the United States.

With vivid, design-centric illustrations that and short whimsical rhymes, C is for Chicago Board Book shows off the iconic people, places, food and music of Chicago. This A-Z tour of the Windy City takes readers through iconic landmarks in the Second City, including Millennium Park and "The Bean", Grant Park and Buckingham Fountain, The El, The Chicago River and Navy Pier. "C is for Chicago" also highlights the food and music that make Chicago great: Chicago Hot Dogs, Deep Dish Pizza and the Chicago Blues.

Chicago ports fans won't be disappointed either with a stop at Wrigley Field and iconic Chicago sports legends' jerseys. Can you guess them all?

This Chicago children's book is a durable version of the beloved picture book C is for Chicago and is great for traveling and little hands. Whether on a coffee table or on the nightstand, this large-format book is sure to make any local or visitor smile.

With vivid, design-centric illustrations that and short whimsical rhymes, C is for Chicago shows off the iconic people, places, food and music of Chicago. This A-Z tour of the Windy City takes readers through iconic landmarks in the Second City, including Millennium Park and "The Bean", Grant Park and Buckingham Fountain, The El, The Chicago River and Navy Pier. "C is for Chicago" also highlights the food and music that make Chicago great: Chicago Hot Dogs, Deep Dish Pizza and the Chicago Blues.

Chicago ports fans won't be disappointed either with a stop at Wrigley Field and iconic Chicago sports legends' jerseys. Can you guess them all?

This Chicago children's book is a full-size picture book with gorgeous illustrations printed on premium gloss paper. Whether on a coffee table or on the nightstand, this large-format book is sure to make any local or visitor smile.

Now you can put your own creative touch on the images of the Windy City found in the beloved alphabet book "C is for Chicago". With the same images and text found in the book, C is for Chicago: The Coloring Book features iconic places, food and music that make Chicago so special.

From the world-famous Art Institute Lions and to the Lincoln Park Zoo, C is for Chicago: The Coloring Book walks you through an A-Z tour of the Second City. Images include famous locations like the Millennium Park "Bean" and Grant Park's Buckingham fountain, as well as Deep-Dish Pizza, Chicago Hot Dogs, The El, and iconic jerseys of Chicago's greatest sports legends.

C is for Chicago: The Coloring Book makes a great gift for a visitor or a native Chicagoan.

From Holy Family Log Church to Jarrot Mansion, the over 300 year history of the close knit Cahokia community is detailed in this photographic history.

In 1999, Cahokia will celebrate 300 years as the historic, close knit community located directly across the great Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri. The village's proximity to St. Louis allows residents to enjoy all the cultural opportunities of a large city, while keeping its small-town atmosphere. Cahokia has a distinctive French heritage and is today still inhabited by many of the same families whose ancestors came to the community in the 18th and 19th centuries. Among the many fascinating pieces of Cahokia's history featured in this book is the Holy Family Parish, founded by missionary priests from Quebec. The first Mass was said there on December 8, 1698, establishing Holy Family as the oldest continuous parish in the United States. Today, the treasured Holy Family Log Church, dating from 1799, occupies this site. Other images among the 200 shown here include the historic sites of the Cahokia Courthouse and Jarrot Mansion, as well as scenes of daily life around town.

About one thousand years ago, a phenomenon occurred in a fertile tract of Mississippi River flood plain known today as the American Bottom. This phenomenon came to be called Cahokia Mounds, America's first city.

Interpreting the rich heritage of a site like Cahokia Mounds is a balancing act; the interpreter must speak as a scholar to the general public on behalf of an entirely different civilization. Since even those three groups are splintered into myriad dialects of perspective, sometimes it is hard to know what language to use. But William Iseminger's work at the site has given him nearly four decades of practice in Cahokia Conversation 101, and he tells the story of the place and its ancient culture (as well as its place in contemporary culture) with the clarity and confidence of a native speaker.

Kelly Pucci explores the dark history of this historic prison, located only three miles from the Chicago Loop, that was used as a POW facility during the Civil War.

Thousands of Confederate soldiers died in Chicago during the Civil War, not from battle wounds, but from disease, starvation, and torture as POWs in a military prison three miles from the Chicago Loop. Initially treated as a curiosity, attitudes changed when newspapers reported the deaths of Union soldiers on southern battlefields. As the prison population swelled, deadly diseases—smallpox, dysentery, and pneumonia—quickly spread through Camp Douglas. Starving prisoners caught stealing from garbage dumps were tortured or shot. Fearing a prisoner revolt, a military official declared martial law in Chicago, and civilians, including a Chicago mayor and his family, were arrested, tried, and sentenced by a military court. At the end of the Civil War, Camp Douglas closed, its buildings were demolished, and records were lost or destroyed. The exact number of dead is unknown; however, 6,000 Confederate soldiers incarcerated at Camp Douglas are buried among mayors and gangsters in a South Side cemetery. Camp Douglas: Chicago's Civil War Prison explores a long-forgotten chapter of American history, clouded in mystery and largely forgotten.

The story of Camp Grant cannot be told simply through the forming of the camp, the training that took place, or the camp's eventual demise. Each part is a story unto itself, retold through the memories and photographs from the World War I troops, Illinois National Guardsmen, World War II draftees, medical personnel, and German POWs that passed through. Those photographs are gathered together here, narrating and preserving the story of Camp Grant.

Explore the history of Camp Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan as two camp staff members Ian Hopkins and Matt Horbal detail the adventures and adversities of the camp throughout the years.

Camp Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan opened in the summer of 1929 with a vision of providing an outdoor experience for young people. It is owned and operated by the Northeast Illinois Council, Boy Scouts of America (BSA), in Highland Park, Illinois, and located in Pearson, Wisconsin. The camp's name comes from the Native American phrase meaning spring fed lake and originated in a contest won by a Scout from the North Shore Area Council, BSA. Thousands of young people and adults have hiked the trails, boated on the lakes, developed their scouting skills, and had countless adventures at the camp. The stories of how the camp was developed, built, and maintained by the North Shore Area Council, BSA, during difficult times, including war and the Great Depression, are shared within. Camp Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan still serves young people, adults, and families from more than 40 communities.

The discovery of a rich coal vein in northeast Livingston County, Illinois, in 1899 turned an open prairie into the large coal mining town of Cardiff within months. An explosion in the mine in 1903 that killed nine men looked like it might be the end of the mine and the town, but another mine shaft was sunk, and the town grew bigger than ever. However, the quality of the coal ran out in 1912. This time it was the end. The mine closed, and the buildings were transported elsewhere. The only thing left of Cardiff was its ghost town reputation. The town lasted only 13 years, but they were exciting years. This book brings the town and its people to life once again.

Through historic images, discover the story of Central Illinois’ most integral place in the mid-19th to 20th century: the train depot.

These buildings, home to wooden benches, telegraph equipment, and old train schedules hanging on the wall, were the gateway to the rest of the world. One could catch a train to almost anywhere in the United States back in the day, but during the postwar years of America, the railroad depot faded into history. Decreased train ridership due to the increasing popularity of air travel and automobiles led to thousands of these once-important buildings closing and later being burned or torn down. From larger union depots in cities like Bloomington and Peoria to smaller isolated stops, Central Illinois Train Depots tells the story of buildings that once played vital roles in the development of communities throughout Central Illinois.

Thomas Dyrek, a resident of Central Illinois, is a railroad and history buff who has spent years researching and documenting the area’s railroad history. Historic photographs from his collection as well as several other local railroad fans and historians were selected for this book to tell the story of the area’s railroad depots and their interesting history. Jack Keefe is a noted Central Illinois historian who has written many articles on the area’s railroad history and photographed many local railroad depots in the 1960s and 1970s.

The Chain O' Lakes has been one of Chicago's premier vacation spots since the 1880s. Witness its rich history in this collection of vintage postcards.

The nine major lake basins that make up the Chain O’ Lakes region - Catherine, Channel, Grass, Bluff, Marie, Fox, Nippersink, Petite, and Pistakee - are all connected by the Fox River waterway and have, for over 100 years, been northern Illinois's leading destination for inland boaters, fishermen, picnickers, or those just hoping to relax and play at the beach. Luxurious mansions and swank resorts once dotted the more than 6,000 acres of shoreline. Many are gone today; some remain but have been vastly changed, but none are forgotten.

Captured here in over 200 vintage postcards are scenes from the chain's heyday, scenes that will seem at once faraway and familiar to the water-skiers, windsurfers, and other outdoor recreationists who populate the Chain O' Lakes today.

Unforgettable Vintage Images of an All-American City.

Headquartered in Chicago, the Illinois Central Railroad was known as the Main Line of Mid-America.

This was a major railroad cutting through the middle section of the United States with two major routes.The Main Line, which ran south out of Chicago toward New Orleans, and the Western Lines, which ran west toward Iowa. The Illinois Central Railroad had eight major freight yards in Chicago, which in 1937 handled nearly two million freight cars. It was also well known for its passenger service and operated some of the finest passenger trains: the Green Diamond, the all-Pullman Panama Limited, and the City of New Orleans. Chicago and the Illinois Central Railroad covers the railroad's operations within the city of Chicago, plus the outlying suburbs, from the late 1800s to 1960. It explores, through vintage photographs, the passenger and freight trains, suburban trains, locomotives, shops and repair facilities, and people that made the railroad function.