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The first settlers came to the area that would become Palatine in 1837, shortly after a treaty with the local Indians. Farmers arrived first, merchants and tradesmen followed, and Palatine Township was formed in 1850. Joel Wood laid out a town and brought the railroad in 1855, and men of the area formed a Palatine company that fought in the Civil War.
 On April 2, 1866, 73 men voted to incorporate the Village of Palatine. The town served as a commercial center for the farms surrounding it. Growth was slow, and the population of Palatine in 1945 was still only 4,000. Then came the post-World War II boom. Chicagoans spread out searching for affordable housing, and the jobs and highways followed. Palatine, 35 miles northwest of the city, thus came to be considered a suburb of Chicago and is one of its oldest to the northwest. Its population today exceeds 72,000 residents. The village held special events throughout 2016 to celebrate its sesquicentennial. The articles in this book, which were published in the Daily Herald, were part of that celebration.

The Chicago World's Fair lifted a city, state, and nation and helped visualize a lift post-Great Depression. Revisit the Fair in this visual history!

It took six years and cost $100 million, but on May 27, 1933, the gates swung open on the biggest birthday party the city of Chicago had ever seen. The Century of Progress Exposition, better known as the 1933-34 Chicago World's Fair, commemorated the amazing progress that had been made since the founding of the city just 100 years earlier.

Many of America's largest companies joined with countries from around the world to showcase their histories and advertise their newest products. The road to opening day was not an easy one, with the Great Depression making it look like the fair might never be built, but thousands of small investors stepped forward to help close the financial gap. The fair went on to an unprecedented second season, and when the gates finally closed after the last of the 39 million visitors went home, it had achieved something quite rare among world's fairs: earning a profit.

This collection of rare photographs, previously unpublished, highlights the major attractions of the fair and the astonishing changes made between seasons. This book is a must-have for fans of Chicago, Illinois, and Great Depression-era history.

"You will enter A Century of Progress for the first time perhaps like an explorer-curious and eager-penetrating an amazingly rumored domain in search of treasure."

-Official Guide Book to the Fair, 1933

One century after Chicago's incorporation, the city hosted the 1933 World's Fair, which was so successful it was held over for 1934. Aptly named "A Century of Progress," the fair confirmed Chicago's emergence as a major American city. Like the phoenix from the ashes, Chicago emerged from its devastating fire of 1871 as one of the most architecturally significant and aesthetically inviting cities in the world.

On 424 lakeside acres located on Chicago's near south side, the Fair brought together innovators and inventors from around the world. Chicagoans hosted visitors from all corners of the globe, commemorating human progress, despite the Great Depression that was devastating the nation's economy.

Chicago has been called by many names--that Toddlin' Town, the Windy City (for its politicians, not weather) and Chi-town, to name a few. Today, it might be called Lollapalooza Land after its fun-loving and somewhat rowdy summer fest. But this nickname tracks back to 1908's boisterous Democratic Party fundraiser for the city's 1st Ward political machine. Chicago, from 1893 to 1934, was indeed alive with raucous people, as well as reformers, and this book not only tells their fascinating stories but also the following: Chicago's first McDonald's served up beer and politics, not burgers; the devil embodied Clark Street, but its tail swished all the way north to the opera; the city was a cartoonist's paradise; world-famous artists, writers, singers, and musicians drew, wrote, sang, and played in Chicago; and the Levee District boasted two madame sisters who ran a world-famous palace of pleasure. Readers will also meet a prizewinning horse without pants, wonder over an elephant named Princess Alice, hear of the world's biggest red wagon, find out about the first dinosaur in town, and discover how Chicago helped mother jazz, ragtime, and the blues.

Chicago singularly honored nurses, our "Angels of Mercy," for a decade (1949-1958). Father Clarence M. Brissette O.S.M., director of the Sorrowful Mother Novena, originated both Chicago's "Nurses Day" and Chicago's Nurse Parade in 1949. The purpose of the parade was twofold: to give the nurses a "day of glory" and to also encourage others to join this undermanned, noble, and caring profession. The first Chicago Nurse Parade (1949) had two floats, four bands, and included many nurses marching in capes. The 10-year anniversary parade (1958) had 4,000 marching uniformed nurses, over 30 bands, and over 100 decorated floats representing nearly all Chicagoland hospitals and schools of nursing. In 1958, over 100,000 spectators lined Jackson Boulevard to honor nurses in what would be the final parade.

Located on scenic Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, Soldier Field was designed in 1919 and opened on October 9, 1924, as Municipal Grant Park Stadium. The stadium--modeled in the Greco-Roman architectural tradition with classic Doric colonnades--was designed by the Chicago architecture firm Holabird and Roche as a memorial to American soldiers who died in World War I and previous wars. Soldier Field has been the home of the Chicago Bears team since 1971; it served equally as a civic and athletic venue throughout the early and middle 20th century. It played host to the Army-Navy game in 1926, the second heavyweight boxing championship between Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney in 1927, speeches by Charles Lindbergh and Franklin D. Roosevelt, rodeos, circuses, the first Special Olympics in 1968, the 1994 World Cup, and the final concert by the Grateful Dead. In 2001, the Chicago Park District faced criticism when it announced plans to renovate the stadium, which had been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1987. An extensive remodeling plan was initiated and the "new" Soldier Field drew mixed reviews when it reopened in 2003. After being rebuilt, the modern stands dwarfed the historic Doric columns, and seating was reduced by approximately 5,000, to 61,500.

One of the grand annual events in Chicago's history is the spectacular Christmas Parade on State Street. Filled with pageantry, these parades showcase amazing floats and displays, often featuring local VIPs along with Hollywood stars. In this companion to Christmas on State Street: The 1940s and Beyond, Robert P. Ledermann continues his celebration of Christmas in Chicago. Over 200 photographs, including 16 pages of full color, lead you on a wonderful trip down memory lane; you will also share the recollections of many famous personalities who participated in the parade. Crowds viewed the famous windows at Marshall Field's and Carson's while awaiting the parade; complete sets of those windows are featured here. Finally, Chicago can be cold in the winter, so to warm up we'll stop in at Miller's Pub and the Berghoff Restaurant.

Journey to a region where all the perennials are said to bloom at midnight on Christmas Eve and where a family's luck is determined by the first person to walk through their door on New Year's Day. Spend a literary Christmas in Herrin, listen to the twelve bells of Belleville ring out the coming year and greet the Three Kings of Germantown at Epiphany. Whether you are a newcomer to southern Illinois or whether you feel like you have been singing La Guiannee" since the tradition started in Prairie du Rocher in 1720, join John J. Dunphy for a season of sacred memories and merry recollections."

The first Lake Forest Day in 1908 included a hot air balloon ascension, a cutest baby contest, a mind-reading dog, and a vaudeville show. Proceeds from this event, organized by the Lake Forest Woman's Club, funded the Contagious Hospital, which eventually merged into Lake Forest Hospital. American Legion Post 264 took over in 1921 and has maintained this extraordinary tradition ever since. This annual celebration has changed over the years to reflect local interests, national events, and even cultural shifts. With the advent of World War II, the themes became patriotic, such as "Home Defense," "Prelude to Victory," and "On to Tokyo." Lake Forest Day, held on the first Wednesday of August, continues to inspire civic pride. This book represents a fascinating look at Lake Forest in 1908 and the century thereafter, as parades, carnivals, and contests energized community spirit.

Since 1959, Santa's Village in Dundee has entertained millions. The park was born of a man who as a child had no real Christmas. Glenn Holland grew up in California during the Great Depression. His parents died by the time he was 18 years old, leaving him to care for his younger sister. As a father, he tried to give his own children the type of Christmas that he only knew in his dreams. In the early 1950s, struck with inspiration, Holland sat at his kitchen table one day and started to sketch his idea for a Christmas fairyland where all the magic of the holiday would come to life: Santa's Village. Holland and general contractor Putnam Henck built
three Santa's Villages, two in California and one in Dundee.

Chicago's North Michigan Avenue, known as The Magnificent Mile®, has a long and rich tradition of celebrating the holiday season in grand style. Today the illumination of this world-famous avenue with more than one million white lights is considered by many the official start of the holiday season. The Magnificent Mile Lights Festival® draws some one million visitors each November. Millions more watch the televised broadcast. The development of North Michigan Avenue, known in its humble early days as Pine Street, and the creation of its holiday and tree-lighting traditions are largely attributed to a dedicated group of entrepreneurs and business leaders, known as the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association. Over the years, this line of visionary Chicagoans recognized the avenue's potential and committed to making North Michigan Avenue a world-class street with world-class holiday traditions. The North Michigan Avenue district now features 56 hotels, 275 restaurants, 460 retail locations, and numerous educational, cultural, and health care institutions--and more than 18 million visitors annually. It is one of the great avenues of the world, offering one of the most iconic holiday images when it is aglow.

The Mississippi River Festival began as a partnership promoting regional cooperation in the realm of the performing arts, since expanding into a festival of legendary status.

In 1969, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville initiated a remarkable performing arts series called the Mississippi River Festival. Over 12 summer seasons, between 1969 and 1980, the festival presented 353 events showcasing performers in a variety of musical genres, including classical, chamber, vocal, ragtime, blues, folk, bluegrass, barbershop, country, and rock, as well as dance and theater. During those years, more than one million visitors flocked to the spacious Gyo Obata-designed campus in the countryside near St. Louis. The Mississippi River Festival began as a partnership promoting regional cooperation in the realm of the performing arts. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville invited the St. Louis Symphony to establish residence on campus and to offer a summer season. To host the symphony, the university created an outdoor concert venue within a natural amphitheater by installing a large circus tent, a stage and acoustic shell, and a sophisticated sound system. To appeal to the widest possible audience, the university included contemporary popular musicians in the series. The audacity of the undertaking, the charm of the venue, the popularity of the artists, the excellence of the performances, and the nostalgic memory of warm summer evenings have combined to endow the festival with legendary status among those who attended.

Baseball lives, whether one interprets that as meaning that the country's national pastime is still breathing and well after nearly two centuries or as a reference to the people who work in the "industry."

More than 50 years ago, one young man became employed by the Chicago White Sox and began photographing virtually everybody with whom he worked. His intention was to have pictures of his friends and coworkers for the future. Now, Arcadia Publishing is proud to add Lloyd Rutzky's memories of his "team" experiences to its Images of Modern America series in this volume, a companion to the groundbreaking Wrigley Field's Amazing Vendors, published in 2018.

Witness a never-before-seen perspective of the personnel who have become legends in their own in the stands of The Friendly Confines.

In 1970, a vendor at Wrigley Field had an amazing idea to turn his personal camera away from the baseball diamond and toward his fellow ballpark hawkers as they went about their daily jobs of selling souvenirs, programs, hot dogs, ice cream, and soft drinks. Along the way, he also captured images of other employees - ushers, security staff, commissary workers, and union officials. The result, Wrigley Field's Amazing Vendors, offers an inside look of Major League Baseball that Arcadia Publishing is proud to include in its Images of Modern America series. The subjects themselves are amazing: a blind Frosty Malt vendor; a singing peanut vendor; a Coca-Cola vendor who went on to become an economic adviser to the president of the United States. Many of the vendors photographed in the 1970s are still in the aisles of Wrigley Field today. Others left for new career opportunities, while a few became legends in vending history.