Name: Lost Chicago Department Stores
Brand: Leslie Goddard
SKU: 9781467147712
Price: 16.49 USD
Availability: InStock

Lost Chicago Department Stores

9781467147712

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Within thirty years of the Great Chicago Fire, the revitalized city was boasting some of America's grandest department stores. The retail corridor on State Street was a crowded canyon of innovation and inventory where you could buy anything from a paper clip to an airplane. Revisit a time when a trip downtown meant dressing up for lunch at Marshall Field's Walnut Room, strolling the aisles of Sears for Craftsman tools or redeeming S&H Green Stamps at Wieboldt's. Whether your family favored The Fair, Carson Pirie Scott, Montgomery Ward or Goldblatt's, you were guaranteed stunning architectural design, attentive customer service and eye-popping holiday window displays. Lavishly illustrated with photographs, advertisements, catalogue images and postcards, Leslie Goddard's narrative brings to life the Windy City's fabulous retail past.

Remembering Marshall Field's

9780738583686

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or more than 150 years, Marshall Field's reigned as Chicago's leading department store, celebrated for its exceptional service, spectacular window displays, and fashionable merchandise.

Few shoppers recalled its origins as a small dry goods business opened in 1852 by a New York Quaker named Potter Palmer. That store, eventually renamed Marshall Field and Company, weathered economic downturns, spectacular fires, and fierce competition to become a world-class retailer and merchandise powerhouse. Marshall Field sent buyers to Europe for the latest fashions, insisted on courteous service, and immortalized the phrase "give the lady what she wants." The store prided itself on its dazzling Tiffany mosaic dome, Walnut Room restaurant, bronze clocks, and a string of firsts including the first bridal registry and first book signing.

Marshall Field's

9781596298545

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Anyone who has waited in a Christmas line for the Walnut Room's Great Tree can attest that Chicago's loyalty to Marshall Field's is fierce.

Dayton-Hudson even had to take out advertising around town to apologize for changing the Field's hallowed green bags. And with good reason--the store and those who ran it shaped the city's streets, subsidized its culture and heralded its progress. The resulting commercial empire dictated wholesale tradeterms in Calcutta and sponsored towns in North Carolina, but its essence was always Chicago. So when the Marshall Field name was retired in 2006 after the stores were purchased by Macy's, protest slogans like "Field's is Chicago" and "Field's: as Chicago as it gets" weren't just emotional hype. Many still hope that name will be resurrected like the city it helped support during the Great Fire and the Great Depression. Until then, fans of Marshall Field's can celebrate its history with this warm look back at the beloved institution.

Cover image for Marshall Field's, isbn: 9781596298545

Made in Chicago

9781467103077

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For much of the 20th century, the Chicagoland area was a manufacturing mecca due to its central geographic location and ready access to rail and water transportation. The city and suburbs mass-produced a wide range of products, including appliances, bicycles, electronics, furniture, globes, pianos, pinball machines, radios, railroad cars, sporting goods, telephones, televisions, typewriters, tools, toys, tractors, and watches. This book traces the origins of manufacturing in Chicago and explores the city's proud history of making steel and shaping metal. It also provides extensive coverage of the golden age of manufacturing in the region, including Chicago's unique contribution to the arsenal of democracy during World War II. The nostalgic journey includes stops at famous Chicago companies from the past, such as Bell & Howell, International Harvester, Pullman, Schwinn, Stewart Warner, Sunbeam, Western Electric, and Zenith.

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Historic Sears, Roebuck and Co. Catalog Plant

9780738539775

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Located on the site of the original Sears Tower, the historic Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog plant is one of the nation's most unique landmarks. Representing American ingenuity at its best, Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald combined technology, commerce, and social science with bricks and mortar to build "the World's Largest Store" on Chicago's West Side. Completed in 1906, the plant housed nearly every conceivable product of the time: clothing, jewelry, furniture, appliances, tools, and more. The complex employed 20,000 people, and merchandise orders were processed and delivered by rail--within the same day. During the first two decades of the 20th century, almost half of America's families shopped the over 300 million catalogs published in that era. WLS (World's Largest Store) Radio broadcasted the Gene Autrey show from the top of the tower, and the first Sears retail store opened here on Homan Avenue and Arthington Street. In 1974, Sears moved to the current Sears Tower. Thanks to many individuals who fought to save these architecturally and historically important treasures, the administration building, the original Sears Tower, the catalog press-laboratory building, and the powerhouse remain today. There are currently plans for redeveloping these buildings into housing, office, and retail space. A new Homan Square Community Center stands on the site of the merchandise building.

Cover image for Historic Sears, Roebuck and Co. Catalog Plant, isbn: 9780738539775

Illinois Oil and Gas

9781467109642

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The search for petroleum in Illinois occurred years before the boom days of the early 1900s. Wells were first drilled in 1865 near the town of Casey and then in other areas within the state for the next 40 years with very limited success. Renewed interest in the Casey area resulted in an oil discovery in 1905, followed by significant discoveries in Crawford and Lawrence Counties in 1906, pushing the state's oil production that year to 4.4 million barrels. Towns near the oil fields, such as Oblong, Robinson, Casey, Lawrenceville, and Bridgeport, experienced rapid population growth. Oil refineries near Chicago and St. Louis and in southeastern Illinois provided additional employment. The discovery of the Salem oil field in Marion County in 1938 initiated a major oil boom. By 1940, Illinois ranked third in the nation in oil production, providing a boast to the Allied forces' effort in Europe. Illinois continues to contribute to the petroleum industry of the United States, ranking fourth in crude oil refining and 16th in oil production.

Carson's:

9781609497347

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Carson Pirie Scott and Company always enjoyed a sterling reputation in Chicago, even among the merchant princes of State Street. For more than one hundred years, in architect Louis Sullivan's stunning commercial masterpiece, Carson's stood shoulder to shoulder with retail icon Marshall Field's, establishing itself as an anchor of contemporary style. It was a place that brought the world to the Midwest, from Parisian fashion to the authentic ambiance of the Mediterrenea dance numbers and the Santa's Village displays. Relive the friendly shopping experience that has kept the Carson's name alive for over a century and a half.

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Sears in Chicago

9781467139946

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From watch catalog to international retail empire, revisit Sears's Windy City history with author Val Rendel and remember how good the “Good Life” once was.

In 1887, Richard W. Sears started a Chicago mail-order house that quickly outpaced its competitors, including Montgomery Ward. For millions of rural Americans over the next hundred years, Chicago was the place where dreams came from. Here, the “World’s Largest Store” opened its first retail buildings, debuted its WLS radio station and transformed the global marketplace from the Great Works headquarters complex. Today, Sears has faded from the city of its birth, but many marks of the once-great business remain, from repurposed iconic department store buildings to the Sears kit homes still scattered across the suburbs. The 110-story skyscraper that dominates the skyline will forever be known to locals as the Sears Tower. Sears greatest legacy, however, was the role it played in shaping the lives of generations of Chicagoans.

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Randhurst

9781609491475

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At the time of its completion in 1962, Chicago's Randhurst Shopping Center was billed as the world's largest shopping center under one roof. Its brash and flamboyant architect, Victor Gruen, the man known as the "Father of the Shopping Mall," declared Randhurst different from any established building type in the world. Gruen turned commercial architecture into an art form, in turn making himself a household name. This is the narrative of the people who walked Randhurst's corridors, from Robert F. Kennedy to Mr. T; of stores and their stories; of the parties, pomp and personalities involved in the life, death and rebirth of an exceptional and atypical place. This is Randhurst.

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Mr. Selfridge in Chicago

9781626197367

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In early 1909, a new retail emporium readied for business on the wrong end of Oxford Street in London. The man behind it was an odd little American with a waxed mustache and frenetic nature. Harry Gordon Selfridge had spent the previous twenty-five years in Chicago honing his skills at the venerable Marshall Field and Company before unleashing his concept of retail theater in the United Kingdom. Follow Selfridge's astounding rise through the ranks of the Windy City's merchant princes, his tumultuous attempt to challenge Field's mastery of Chicago and his triumphant introduction of the American department store to London.

Cover image for Mr. Selfridge in Chicago, isbn: 9781626197367

Schaumburg's Woodfield Mall

9780738551029

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Woodfield Mall opened on September 9, 1971. Built in the village of Schaumburg, Woodfield Mall was a major factor in the rise of that city and all of Chicago's northwest suburbs. At the time of Schaumburg's incorporation in 1956, approximately 130 people lived in the area. The mall opened with 59 stores on that fateful day in 1971, and actor Vincent Price served as master of ceremonies. By 1973, Woodfield Mall had grown to nearly 190 stores, and at 1.9 million square feet of retail, it was the largest mall in America at the time. Retailers and corporations began to flock to the area, and many top companies now call Schaumburg home, existing in the shadows of Woodfield Mall. Today Schaumburg holds a population of over 75,000 residents, and Woodfield Mall brings 27 million visitors per year to its 2.7 million square feet of shopping space, making it the number one visitor destination in Illinois. New stores continually reshape the shopping experience in this place where society and commerce collide.

Cover image for Schaumburg's Woodfield Mall, isbn: 9780738551029

The 1937 Chicago Steel Strike

9781626193437

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A violent period of American labor history reached its bloody apex in 1937 when rattled Chicago police shot, clubbed and gassed a group of men, women and children attempting to picket Republic Steel's South Chicago plant. Ten died and over one hundred were wounded in what became known as the Memorial Day Massacre. A newsreel camera captured about eight minutes of the confrontation, yet local and congressional investigations amazingly reached opposite conclusions about what happened and why. In the first book on the subject, John Hogan sifts through the conflicting reports of all those entangled in that fateful day, including union leaders, news reporters and an undercover National Guard observer revealed after seventy-six years..

Cover image for The 1937 Chicago Steel Strike, isbn: 9781626193437

Winfield

9781467127288

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Winfield's history traces back to the mid-19th century, well before its official incorporation in 1921. It began as the Gary's Mill settlement and nearly became Fredericksburg and Frederick Park due to the German heritage that its early people brought with them. It became Winfield when it was believed that Gen. Winfield Scott passed through the area during the Black Hawk War of the early 1830s. Winfield's history is attributed to people, businesses, and social activities. Its people included unique individuals such as Jacob Mueller and John Hamm, as well as the Higgins, Enders, and Besch families. Its businesses included longtime staples Higgins Store and Schmidt's Meat Market, as well as popular gathering locales like Hamm's tavern. Early social activities usually centered at Forester's Hall. Many residents attended mass at St. John the Baptist Church, which started in 1867, burned in 1906, and was rebuilt and rededicated one year later. While Central DuPage Hospital is a staple of today's Winfield, early Winfield had the Forsythe Rest Farm and the Chicago-Winfield Tuberculosis Sanitarium.

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Hawthorne Works

9781467111355

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Discover the maufacturing plant that typifies the era when American industrial giants dominated the global economy and generations of blue-collar workers strived for a fair share of the ""American Dream.""

A burgeoning town on the fringes of Chicago rose and fell with the successes of the Western Electric Company. For almost 90 years, the Hawthorne Works plant employed, educated, entertained, and defined the township of Cicero. As the manufacturing arm of Western Electric, Hawthorne contributed greatly to the prosperity and national defense of the United States. As the site of the controversial Hawthorne Studies of workplace motivation and behavior, the plant reconfigured business and social science models. A community within a community, Hawthorne had its own sports teams, social clubs, hospital, railroad yards, and savings and loan. At its peak, the works was the largest single-site employer in Illinois and one of the biggest manufacturing establishments in the country, second only to the Ford plant in Detroit.

Fading Ads of Chicago

9781467141284

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Like the Cheshire Cat, much of Chicago’s history fades away while perched in plain sight.

For more than a century, the brick walls of the city served as a ready canvas for advertisements that married artistic experimentation and commercial endeavor. Intrepid painters planted signs for horseshoers and Hamlin’s Wizard Oil in places where they would outlast the way of life they represented. Since author Joseph Marlin began documenting the city’s advertisements more than thirty years ago, many of them have completely vanished beneath the onslaught of blizzard and bulldozer. From national brands to mom-and-pop shops, his collection offers the last glimpse of a bygone era.

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Chicago in 50 Objects

9781467146753

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When investigating the mysteries of Chicago's past, it's helpful to examine the physical evidence. From a fiddle played by a Chicago pioneer and a jersey worn by Michael Jordan to a relic of the Great Chicago Fire and the guns used in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, these talismans chronicle the city's tragedies and triumphs. Some heirlooms shed new light on familiar figures like Louis Sullivan, while others commemorate the contributions of less heralded visionaries like Frances Glessner Lee. Joseph Gustaitis explores Chicago's history through fifty carefully chosen objects, a collection that includes stockyard knives, the world's first portable radio and Nelson Algren's typewriter.

The Great Chicago Beer Riot

9781467118903

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In 1855, when Chicago's recently elected mayor Levi Boone pushed through a law forbidding the sale of alcohol on Sunday, the city pushed back. To the German community, the move seemed a deliberate provocation from Boone's stridently anti-immigrant Know-Nothing Party. Beer formed the centerpiece of German Sunday gatherings, and robbing them of it on their only day off was a slap in the face. On April 21, 1855, an armed mob poured across the Clark Street Bridge and advanced on city hall. The Chicago Lager Riot resulted in at least one death, nineteen injuries and sixty arrests. It also led to the creation of a modern police department and the political alliances that helped put Abraham Lincoln in the White House. Authors Judy E. Brady and John F. Hogan explore the riot and its aftermath, from pint glass to bully pulpit.

Cover image for The Great Chicago Beer Riot, isbn: 9781467118903

Chicago Motor Coach Company

9781467102452

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Chicago Motor Coach Company chronicles an era in Chicago when buses first traversed the city's park district boulevards, including the Magnificent Mile. Streetcars were not allowed on the boulevards; this situation paved the way for the first motor bus operation, Sheridan Road on the North Side, in 1917. By 1922, John D. Hertz would purchase the Sheridan Road line and secure franchises to operate over the boulevards on the South and West Sides. The Chicago Motor Coach Company was now born, along with the bus-building industry. From a Hertz plant in Chicago, it would become General Motors Truck and Coach Division at Pontiac, Michigan, the largest producer of transit buses in the world. In 1952, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) would purchase the Chicago Motor Coach Company.

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Cardiff

9781467160759

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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.

Homewood

9781467127271

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From its beginnings as one of the first stops on the Illinois Central Railroad in 1853, to its position as "the jewel of the south suburbs" today, Homewood has had a rich and varied history. Located 25 miles south of Chicago, Homewood has capitalized on its location along a major rail line, Canadian National Railway today, and the network of interstate expressways that continue to fuel its growth and prosperity. This access to transportation allowed the industrious Gottschalk family to make a fortune selling hay to Chicago's stockyards and, later, bricks to communities throughout the area. Rail access, combined with the abundance of hayfields surrounding Homewood, allowed the area to be transformed into a golfer's paradise at the start of the 20th century and into a suburban bedroom community by mid-century.

Joliet's Gerlach Barklow Calendar Company

9780738577265

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The Gerlach Barklow Company was organized in 1907. The construction of the factory building in Joliet began and was completed that same year. The prime movers in the organization of the company were Theodore R. Gerlach, Edward J. Barklow, and K. H. Gerlach. Over the next decade, the company quickly grew into one of the largest calendar and advertising companies in America. A leading employer in Joliet for several decades, the company sponsored many sports teams as well as an annual picnic for its employees. This book, through vintage photographs and calendar prints, offers a unique view of the Gerlach Barklow Company's rich history. It includes calendar prints from the many artists employed by Gerlach Barklow, photographs of the various departments that made up the factory, photographs of company-sponsored sports teams, Volland books, as well as examples of Rust Craft greeting cards.

Joliet's Gerlach Barklow Calendar Company

Bensenville

9781467129305

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Bensenville is more than just an immediate neighbor of O'Hare International Airport. Taking its name from the German town of Bensen, it was established by a group of devout Lutherans. When it was incorporated in 1884, Bensenville was already a vibrant community of hardworking dairy farmers. Settlers first arrived in the mid-1830s; the growth of the dairy industry was a response to demand for dairy products at Chicago markets. The railroad brought these products into the city but also brought a demand for more laborers, which introduced a more diverse population, including many Mexican families. O'Hare dramatically impacted the village, wiping part of it off the map, but Bensenville is coming back. Since 1960, the Bensenville Park District has afforded locals with recreational opportunities ranging from a golf course to a water park. The Bensenville Park District is also in charge of the preservation of Fischer Farm, a museum on the site of one of the area's oldest remaining homesteads that hosts educational programming, reenactments, and festivals.

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Chicago by the Pint

9781609491253

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Belly up to the bar and take a swig of Chicago's beer history with this new look at the Windy City's best and most historic brews and breweries. Included are Chicago's most prominent and significant craft breweries, with intricate details on history, important personalities and events in the breweries' past, top beers and more.

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Beardstown Revisited

9781467129879

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In 1819, Thomas Beard decided to build his town along the Illinois River. He was able to finance it immediately by selling lumber and honey, which were abundant in the region. On Main Street, next to the riverbank, Beard had a ferry and a hotel. Business was good. The town was platted in 1829, and by 1833, a pioneer wrote that people were living in tents because they could not build houses fast enough to meet the demand. Soon there were farms, orchards, flour mills, and a pork-packing plant. Most of the supplies for the inland farms and even Springfield came through the Beardstown waterfront. Beardstown has lost most of its industry, but it still has a pork-packing plant. The company hires a number of foreign employees, and when they retire, many choose to stay in Beardstown. It remains a safe, pleasant place to live.