Description
Book SynopsisContains twenty-one fascinating, little-known stories about a great city and its people. Richard C. Lindberg has dug deeply to reveal lost historical events and hidden gems from Chicago's past. Spanning the Civil War through the 1960s, the volume showcases forgotten crimes, punishments, and consequences.
Trade Review“This book goes both deeper and broader than other Chicago history books to shine a well-deserved spotlight on lesser known yet significant and fascinating people, places, and events related to the development of the city. Lindberg is one of Chicago’s most popular historians, so it’s no surprise that this smorgasbord of stories is authoritative yet easy to read, important yet entertaining, somewhat familiar yet surprising. This book is full of engaging pleasures. It’s a must-read for anyone drawn to Chicago history.”—Greg Borzo, author of
Chicago’s Fabulous Fountains “
Tales of Forgotten Chicago is a compilation of stories of a little-known
other side of Chicago—a side that is infinitely more interesting than one more book about the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.”—Richard F. Bales, author of
The Great Chicago Fire and the Myth of Mrs. O’Leary’s CowTable of Contents
- Contents
- Introduction: Twenty-One Tales of Old Chicago
- Chapter 1. The Brothers Booth
- Chapter 2. The Family O’Leary and the Rest of the Story
- Chapter 3. Four Butchers Trying to Go to Heaven
- Chapter 4. Elisha Gray and the Invention of the Telephone
- Chapter 5. Crime and Punishment and the First Policewoman
- Chapter 6. Where Time Began
- Chapter 7. The Scarlet Letter Verdict
- Chapter 8. The Lakefront Forever Open, Clear, and Free
- Chapter 9. The Haunting of the Schuttler House
- Chapter 10. Stars and Bars and the Symbol of a City
- Chapter 11. America’s First Automobile Race
- Chapter 12. The Rouse Simmons and Chicago’s FirstChristmas Tree
- Chapter 13. Wrigley Field before the Cubs
- Chapter 14. The Last Supper . . . Almost
- Chapter 15. The Leaning Tower Why?
- Chapter 16. A World’s Fair of Railroading
- Chapter 17. The Windy City Songbird
- Chapter 18. How Richard J. Daley Saved the St. Patrick’s Day Parade
- Chapter 19. He Ran for His Life
- Chapter 20. All in a Hard Day’s Night
- Chapter 21. Humanity in the Heartland
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
