Multi-level Chicago
After New York and Los Angeles, Chicago is the third most populous city in the United States. While the urban center has a population of almost 3 million the metropolitan area is home to 9.6 million. When the Town of Chicago was first created in 1833 it had a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 6,000 people and for several decades it was the world's fastest-growing city.
The fate of Chicago is closely tied to its proximity to Lake Michigan. The city grew in the marshland between the branches of the Chicago river and the lake shore. Already soon pollution became a problem. Waste water did not flow away in the flat swamp and disease became a threat. To improve sanitation, the United States' first comprehensive sewerage system was planned in 1856. Much of central Chicago was raised to a new level with the use of jack-screws. However, the untreated sewage and industrial waste now flowed into the Chicago River and Lake Michigan and polluted the city's freshwater.
Art-Deco St. Peter Church
The first response was tunneling 3.2 km out into Lake Michigan to newly built water cribs. Only after 1900 the problem of sewage contamination was resolved by reversing the flow of the Chicago River away from Lake Michigan. The river’s water now runs down the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to the Illinois River and into the Mississippi River.
Art-Deco entrance and chandelier
In 1871, an area of 10 square km of downtown Chicago was destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire. The rebuilding of the city led to modern constructions of steel and stone and in 1885 led to the world's first skyscraper using steel-skeleton construction.
Underground level street crossing
Since river, canal and lake surround the downtown area on three sides most downtown streets crossed the river. That however gave problems with the clearances of the bridges. All had to be bascule bridges which open for the passage of boats. Therefore when the city was newly designed they had the clever idea to create double-decked or triple-decked streets. While the upper levels gave access to the bridges the lower decks could be used for local traffic and the businesses’ shipping entrances which are also protected from foul weather that way.
The buildings were constructed accordingly. While the main entrances are on street level there are basement entrances and loading decks on the lower levels. That way freight transport and trash disposal vehicles have easy access. The upper street level is less congested and more pleasant for pedestrians and vehicles. Loading on the upper street level is basically absent.
I did not learn a lot about the city before my arrival in Chicago. When we strolled around the downtown streets we noticed the lack of traffic. It is pleasant to walk around and some cafes even have left their tables and chairs outside on the curbside terrace in the middle of winter. Regularly you stumble across a stairway which descends down into the bowels of the city. At other points when you pass the interstice between two buildings you look down a couple of floors. This is usually the area where in other cities the owners of buildings keep their mess which then diffuses out into the adjoining streets. Here it is hidden on the floors below and the street level is neat and clean.
Spectacular multi level bridges span the Chicago river and the canal. While most are lifting or swing bridges it is unclear whether they ever will open up again. The first two-level street was Michigan Avenue in the late 1910’s. The double-deck bridge still crosses the river here. Other bridges have a lower level for car and pedestrian traffic and an upper level for the Chicago elevated railway. There used to be even more bridges across the water serving the freight railway tracks to the port at the shore of lake Michigan. Those railways have disappeared but a couple of the bridges have been preserved and fixed in the elevated position.
The nickname of Chicago is “the windy city”. It is not windy at all but a beautiful, sunny winter day when I arrive at Union station. However, to make up for their terrible climate the city has come up with another subterranean solution. Starting in 1951 they began constructing a subterranean pedestrian walking network. It expanded such that it now extends over more than 40 downtown blocks. It helps pedestrians access shops, restaurants and public art in foul weather.
When we enter a cafeteria to have lunch it turns out that most of the establishment is in the basement from where there is another entrance from the lower level street. Chicago lays claim to a number of regional specialties reflecting the city's ethnic and social roots. Here they serve the renowned deep-dish pizza.
Due to its seaside location Chicago became a favorite location for heavy industry. Raw materials could be shipped in and out with sea going vessels at ease. During World War II, the city produced more steel than the United Kingdom every year between 1939 – 1945, and more than Nazi Germany between 1943 – 1945. At its peak time in the 1960s, some 250,000 workers were employed in the steel industry here, but the crisis in the 1970s and 1980s brought this number down to just 28,000 in 2015.
Due to its industry and port Chicago also became an important national railroad hub. By 1910 more than 20 different railroad companies operated passenger service out of six different downtown terminal stations. The city was also the place where the idea of the standardized system of North American time zones originated which brought some order in the trans-continental train schedules.
Industry and railroads needed administrative buildings where the managers and administration could be settled. The presence of big money allowed noted contributions to urban planning and architecture. Movements like the Chicago School, Prairie style and City Beautiful originated here and led to the development of the steel-framed skyscraper. Today there even is an own wikipedia site on Chicago landmark buildings.
The Marquette Building of 1895 is considered one of the best examples of the Chicago School of architecture. The early steel frame skyscraper was designed by architects Holabird & Roche and built by the George A. Fuller Company. It is named after Father Jacques Marquette, the first European settler who explored the Chicago region in 1674. For a long time it was the Chicago headquarter of numerous railroad companies. The interior is richly decorated with Art-nouveau ornaments and mosaics.
In 1929 the Burnham Brothers designed the 37 story, 153 m Carbide & Carbon building as headquarters for Union Carbide. Like the core of the proprietor the building is clad in black granite with green terra cotta and gold leaves. The leaves refer to the vegetal origin of the carbon deposits which found the wealth of the owners.
Like in similar art-deco business buildings the idea is to impress and belittle the spectator. The brass doors are supposed to give an impression of gold, inside, the elevators and the ceilings of the hall are gold-colored or have golden ornaments. In the cafe on the street level, which actually is the second floor you can spend your gold for coffee and pastry. Meanwhile the building houses a hotel.
Not surprisingly the Wrigley building was built for the chewing gum titan William Wrigley Jr. in 1924 by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White. What is surprising is that chewing gum can earn you a fortune big enough to pay for the construction of buildings like this. At the time it was the first big office building north of the Chicago river. It was modeled after the Giralda tower of Seville's Cathedral. Walkways connect the two towers at the first, third and 14th floor. The taller south tower has a height of 130 m and 30 floors.
Wrigley building and Tribune tower
Across the street the neo-gothic Tribune tower with a height of 141 m was completed in 1925. It housed the offices of the Chicago Tribune newspaper owned by media magnate Robert R. McCormick. The tower was the result of a contest won by New York architects John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood. Therefore carved images of Robin Hood (Hood) and a howling dog (Howells) can be found near the main entrance. The crown shape top of the tower is designed after the example of Rouen Cathedral in France. During construction Robert R. McCormick inspired his correspondents to steal stones from famous sites as varied as Notre Dame in Paris, the Hagia Sofia, the Parthenon, the great wall in China or petrified forest national park in Arizona to be included in the facade of the building.
Chicago board of trade building
With time the skyscraper became even higher. The Art-deco Chicago board of trade building from 1930 reaches a height of 184 m. This of course still is modest compared to the empire state building completed in New York in 1931 which reaches 441 m including the spire. The trading hall was used for agricultural or financial transactions. Therefore Art Deco statues of Ceres, goddess of agriculture, decorate the building. Most prominent is the three stories tall Aluminum statue forming the spire of the building.
At lot of details in the downtown Chicago canyons of streets and the river-sides are from the time of these art-deco buildings. Metro entrances copy the style, usually in gold, of the entrance gates to the buildings. There are decorated stone banisters and benches, the street light comes from richly ornamented art deco chandeliers and huge art-deco clocks are still telling the hour to those few not having their eyes fixed to their GSM.
Many buildings have decorations to be discovered. Even Commonwealth Edison’s power substation in downtown Chicago's Block 37 on Dearborn (between Randolph and Washington) is an Art-Deco piece of art completed by Holabird and Root in 1931. It is decorated with the relief sculpture “Spirit of Electricity” by Sylvia Shaw Judson. The hands of a giant throw lightnings at the little world below.
Subway entrance
Downtown Chicago also boasts a world of fascinating modern buildings. Marina City was designed by architect Bertrand Goldberg and finished by 1968. It was financed by the Building Service Employees International Union to halt flight of white residents from the city's downtown area. At their time, the two 65 story towers were both the tallest residential buildings and the tallest reinforced concrete structures in the world. Besides apartments you not only have sufficient space for your car(s) in the parking structure on the lower levels but also for your boat in the marina beneath the structure along the Chicago river.
Marina City
Walking down State street the eyes are automatically drawn to an enormous building capped by huge ornaments. It is startling that this is not an old building from the times of those steel frame Chicago skyscrapers. The Chicago Harold Washington library was built as recent as 1991. In the Guinness Book of Records it appears as the largest public library building in the world. Architect Thomas H. Beeby won the prestigious Driehaus Architecture Prize for this and other projects in 2013.
Chicago Harold Washington library
The building heavily draws on the historic Beaux-Art style. While the lower portion is built of large granite blocks the majority of the exterior is of red brick with tall glass windows over the entire height and aluminum ornamentation imitating Mannerist style.
The seven 1993 painted aluminium roof ornaments designed by Kent Bloomer display owl figures by Raymond Kaskey as a symbol of knowledge. The acroteria on Ida. B. Wells Drive and on the Van Buren sides contain seed pods representing the natural bounty of the Midwest.
Probably the most popular for tourists of Chicago’s many monuments is “Cloud gate” by artist Anish Kapoor. The shiny reflecting surface of the bean, as it is nicknamed, gives endless opportunities for selfies. In 2004-2006 the structure was welded together from 168 stainless steel plates in Millenium Park. The reflective and highly polished exterior has no visible seams. It measures 10 by 20 by 13 m, and weighs 100 t.
Each time you walk around in a city there will be the time when you need a pit stop. While in most of European countries the need for toilets is grossly neglected and the few present charge heftily for their use, the United States are generally very generous in providing free and clean toilets. When you enter Starbucks they will never ask for consuming anything when you ask for the toilet. They will give you a code and it is free. And they are not the only ones.
While we wait in line we get into a conversation with a waiting woman. She works in HR and has been to Germany many times. She is very positive about her German colleagues, whom she regards as very well organized. I tell her about my trip. She raves about German trains but has never taken a train in her own country. She is surprised when I tell her how pleased I am about the services of Amtrak. And of course, about the free toilets in each station.
Lion at the entrance of Chicago Institute of Art
The next day the windy city lives up to its name. Gusts of cold wind drive snow shower’s down the canyons of streets from Lake Michigan. The streets are basically empty – pedestrians have taken refuge in the underground walkways and the car drivers use the lower level streets. We decide to take refuge in one of the many first class musea of Chicago. So why not select the biggest:
Inner courtyard of Chicago institute of art
Next to Millenium park is the Chicago institute of art. The prestigious gallery is comparable to national institutions like the Metropolitan art museum in New York, the Louvre or the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Accordingly, one of the entrances has the omni-present awe-inspiring flight of stairs leading the visitors past two yawning lions into the world of art.
Frederic Remington
The collection is accordingly extensive from ancient art to the post-modern. Another place to spend days in whereby you will probably waste a lot of time in the expensive, slow and inefficient cafe. We focus on the department of American art which features fascinating works as diverse as interior design of Frank Lloyd Wright, Sculptures and paintings of Frederic Remington, Marsdon Hartley, Georgia O’Keeffe or John Singer Sargent and another copy of Ceres the grain goddess by John Bradley Storrs.
Most fascinating are some of the smallest exhibits of the gallery: miniature interiors of typical homes made by Narcissa Niblack Thorne (1882-1966). Here you see what a visitor can only imagine when he marvels at the outside of all those luxurious private homes. Every detail from porcelain to wall paper is modeled on a small scale depicting the differences in little details of a living room in Massachusetts as compared to one in Maine.
Miniature interiors designed by Narcissa Niblack Thorne
The central part of Chicago is called the Loop. The name originates from the downtown loop of the Chicago elevated railway, the L (L = el = elevated).
Like elsewhere Urban transit started in Chicago with horse-powered trolleys which were soon replaced by electric street cars. However, like in New York, soon the construction of a rapid urban transit system built as a railway on steel structures above the city’ streets started in Chicago in 1892. After New York it is the second-oldest rapid transit system in the Americas. However, in contrast to most of New York’s metro lines which disappeared into the underground, most of Chicago’s lines remained where they are: elevated.
Beneath Quincy station
When the first "L", the Chicago and South Side Rapid Transit Railroad, began revenue service on June 6, 1892, trains of 4 wooden coaches were pulled by a steam locomotive. Those tracks between 39th Street station and Congress Street Terminal are still in use by the Green Line today.
Under the Loop
In the following years the network was steadily expanded, whereby individual lines were built and operated by separate companies. In 1893, trains began running on the Lake Street Elevated Railroad and in 1895 on the Metropolitan West Side Elevated, which was the United States' first rapid transit system powered by electric traction. With the opening of the Union Loop in 1897 and the Northwestern Elevated three years later a loop in the city core with branches to outlying areas was obtained. The network was basically finished in the 1920s
L train bending around a building
Construction of the elevated met fierce resistance by property owners who did not like the loud and, at least in the beginning, sooty vehicle at their front doors. The obstacle was solved in the typical american way by fraud and money.
During that time the city’s street car system was controlled by tycoon Charles Tyson Yerkes. He obtained the necessary signatures through cash and malice. His practices were immortalized by Theodore Dreiser under the name of the ruthless schemer Frank Cowperwood in The Titan (1914) and other novels. The rivet-system used by builder John Alexander Low Waddell to build the bridges still lasts today.
Electrification was greatly promoted by Samuel Insull, who obtained control of the “L” in 1911. As president of the Chicago Edison electric utility (now Commonwealth Edison) he saw the elevated as perfect investment since the trains were the city's largest consumer of electricity. Insull's empire collapsed in 1932 and rapid transit came under control of the city. With the help of federal funds two additional, underground, subway lines were built. Many hoped that this would initiate the replacement of the elevated lines for the same reasons as what had happened in New York (see # 2).
In the 1970s plans under mayors Richard J. Daley and Michael Bilandic to shut down the elevated led to a public outcry supported by Chicago Tribune columnist Paul Gapp and architect Harry Weese. Eventually, under the then new Mayor Jane Byrne the elevated lines were protected and reconstructed. However, like other large and aging rapid transit systems, the Chicago "L" faces problems of delays, breakdowns, and a multi-billion-dollar backlog of deferred maintenance. From 2008 to 2019, there have been a total of 27 derailments.
With 165.4 km today Chicago runs the fourth-largest rapid transit system in the United States and the third-busiest after the New York City Subway and the Washington Metro. Eight rapid transit lines laid out in a spoke–hub distribution bring passengers towards the downtown circular Loop.
The CTA operates over 1,350 "L" cars coupled to pairs. They operate under power of 600-volt direct current delivered through a third rail. Each day the trains make about 1,888 trips servicing 146 train stations. In 2023 the system was used by 416,200 passengers per weekday, a total 117,447,000 rides during the year. In comparison, MTA, New York City Transit, counted more than 1.7 billion annual passenger trips.
For a snowy winter day in the windy city the elevated is the perfect pastime. The pleasure already starts at Quincy station, which was basically restored to its original, historic appearance. It was built as one of 11 stations along the loop by transportation Mogul Charles Yerkes in 1897. The stations on each side of the loop had a distinct architectural style. Like neighboring Madison and Randolph stations above Wells street Quincy station was designed by architect A. M. Hedley in a neoclassical style with Palladian influences.
The station is manned by a friendly employee who not only advises us on which ticket to get from the machine but also provides us with the long coveted map of streets and public transport in Chicago. Then we board a train of the brown line which runs 11 miles towards the northern neighborhoods of Chicago.
From the train we have a save, dry and warm view into the snow covered streets. After screeching around the narrow bends the train leaves the Loop. Slowly the downtown aspect changes to quiet residential neighborhoods.
The windows, balconies and terraces of some houses are so close to the train that residents could throw a snow ball at the trains. I wonder whether, after watching the same trains at the same time for many years, they actually start to recognize regular riders on the trains. Or whether passengers have their favorite residents of whom they get a brief glimpse while the train passes their bathroom window.
The snow covered streets, cars, trees and houses look very peaceful from the train. However, everybody knows and associates Chicago with crime. Al Capone has become a movie hero not without a reason.
The famous period of Chicago violence and crime started with the introduction of prohibition in 1919. The 1920’s saw gangsters like Al Capone, Dion O'Banion, Bugs Moran and Tony Accardo battle law enforcement and each other on the streets of Chicago. Chicago was the location of the infamous 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Al Capone sent men to gun down members of a rival gang, North Side, led by Bugs Moran. Much of the gang money was earned by boot-legging, the smuggling of alcohol during prohibition. The end of prohibition in 1933 much reduced the revenue of the gangs. Al Capone was imprisoned because of tax fraud after he had made aquaintance with the interior of a prison before in the state penitentiary in Philadelphia for illegal gun ownership (see # 7).
Today, the reason that the city of Chicago has one of the highest murder rates, 29 out of 100.000 inhabitants, in the US are different. During the Great Migration before world war II hundreds of thousands of blacks from the South arrived in the city to work in the steel mills, railroads, and shipping yards. Most of their base of income like the steel mills, have disappeared. Unemployment, poverty and drug use led to new forms of gang crime. Although there are generally strict gun laws there are still many illegal guns in Chicago. 80% of homicides in Chicago are committed with firearms.
When the present US president started his campaign of hate against everything foreign Chicago became his first target. He did not like the city’s status of a "de jure" sanctuary which was in place after Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the City Council passed the Welcoming City Ordinance in 2012. According to a 2022 survey the city housed the following ancestral groups: Mexican (586,906), German (200,726), Irish (184,983), Polish (129,468), Puerto Rican (101,625), Italian (100,915), English (87,282), Chinese (67,951), Indian (48,535), Filipino (39,048), French (25,629), Russian (24,707), Swedish (21,795), Arab (19,432), West Indian (18,636), Guatemalan (18,205), Scottish (17,121), Korean (16,224), Ecuadorian (15,935), Nigerian (15,064), Greek (14,946), Norwegian (13,391), Colombian (13,785), Ukrainian (12,956), Vietnamese (12,280), Cuban (11,765), Czech (11,313), Romanian (11,237), Lithuanian (11,235), Dutch (11,196) ….
There are attempts to turn the tide of violence. When Jane Byrne, the city's first female mayor, was elected in 1979 she was brave enough to temporarily move into the crime-ridden Cabrini-Green housing project. She also led Chicago's school system out of a financial crisis.
Also the Chicago “L” elevated has its problems with violent crime. Belmont and 95th stops on the Red Line are regarded as the "most dangerous".
But there are other, more exceptional forms of crime, related to the elevated. 25-year-old Joseph Konopka, who called himself "Dr. Chaos", had hoarded potassium cyanide and sodium cyanide in a Chicago Transit Authority storeroom in the Chicago "L" Blue Line subway. Konopka had changed the locks to the rarely used storage rooms and had free access. In 2002 he was arrested by Chicago police before he could do any harm.
The few passengers using the brown line on this snowy winter day look harmless. A couple of teenage school girls chatting about their love affairs. Some elderly on their shopping trip or for visiting a friend. No tourists and no homeless like in New York.
Under one of the subway bridges somebody is busy organizing his future. A huge red heart is bound to a river side railing in the snow. A sign asks “will you marry me”. We don’t wait for the answer. How could the answer to a romantic appeal like this ever be “no”?
At the same time a group of homeless in the street above shout “help the homeless“. To nobody in particular, since there is nobody there. Like during the snow storm in Washington some days ago the streets are deserted. Restaurants close early. We retire to our hotel where the bar, decorated in a railroad theme and consequently called the depot, is open and busy. We have a drink and as always in this hotel I have to very much watch for the last step down on the staircase. For unknown reason it is painted in a different color, the color of the landing one step below. I seem to miss it. Even when I am sober.
Across the street from the lions guarding the entrance of the Chicago art institute is another iconic location: Chicago is the starting point of famous route 66, which from here begins its 3945 km long way to Santa Monica in California. And if the weather allows we will do the same trip…. but then by train. Tomorrow on the California Zephyr.
Grand concourse of Union station
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