4 products
Old Joliet Prison
9781467147361
Regular price $21.99 Sale price $16.49 Save 25%
In 1857, convicts began breaking rock to build the walls of the Illinois State penitentiary at Joliet, the prison that would later confine them. For a century and a half, thousands of men and women were sentenced to do time in this historic, castle-like fortress on Collins Street. Its bakery fed victims of the Great Chicago Fire, and its locks frustrated pickpockets from the world’s fair. Even newspaper-selling sensations like the Lambeth Poisoner, the Haymarket Anarchists, the Marcus Train Robbers and Fainting Bertha became numbers once they passed through the gates. Author Amy Steidinger recovers stories of lunatics and lawmen, counterfeiters and call girls, grave robbers and politicians.
Hidden Chicago Landmarks
9781467143509
Regular price $23.99 Sale price $17.99 Save 25%
Take in the sights of Chicago's forgotten byways, including a cow trail through a downtown hotel. Pause reflectively at the cemetery in a working scrapyard and the church built without a nail. Stop by the one-time homes of Walt Disney, Joe Louis, Hillary Clinton and Al Capone. Along the way, greet forgotten Chicago notables like the vice president who won a Nobel Prize and wrote a number-one pop hit. From the shortest street to the oldest house, John R. Schmidt visits the sites of Chicago's neglected history.
The Chicago Water Tower
9781467144971
Regular price $23.99 Sale price $17.99 Save 25%
Contaminated drinking water killed thousands of Chicago's original citizens, so the city took the unprecedented step of digging a tunnel two miles long and 30 feet below lake bottom. Since the facilities on shore included an unsightly 138-foot vertical pipe, famed architect William Boyington concealed it with a limestone, castle-like tower that soon became a celebrated landmark. Through the first 150 years of its existence, Chicago's iconic Water Tower has survived the Great Fire--the only public structure in the burn zone to do so--and at least four attempts at demolition. John Hogan pays tribute to the beloved monument that accompanied the evolution of Michigan Avenue from cowpath to Magnificent Mile.
Chicago in 50 Objects
9781467146753
Regular price $21.99 Sale price $16.49 Save 25%
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.
