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Chicago grew up as a city around the mouth of the Chicago River where it flowed into Lake Michigan. By constructing the Illinois and Michigan Canal in the 1830's to connect Chicago to the Mississ...ippi river network some of Chicago's early entrepreneurs sought to capture from St Louis the lucrative market to the Atlantic. But by the time of the canal's completion in 1848 other Chicago promoters had out-manoeuvred them by completing the first railroad link into Chicago from the Mississippi basin at Galena. Over the next 20 years numerous other independent railways were built making Chicago the key railroad centre for the Mid-West. So was Chicago's expansion a purely urban experience? Chicago, the prairie boom town on the edge of Lake Michigan, was laid out as a city only in the 1830s. Within 30 years it had become the second city of the United States acting as a junction between the East and West Coast. The tall buildings which began to rise in the Business area during the 1880s were referred to as 'skyscrapers'. Today it is only buildings like the Sears Tower, nearly a quarter of a mile high and still one of the world's highest buildings, that seem to merit the title. But at the beginning of the century, skyscrapers in Chicago were considered impressive at only sixteen storeys. So what is a skyscraper?
Chicago grew up as a city around the mouth of the Chicago River where it flowed into Lake Michigan. By constructing the Illinois and Michigan Canal in the 1830's to connect Chicago to the Mississ...ippi river network some of Chicago's early entrepreneurs sought to capture from St Louis the lucrative market to the Atlantic. But by the time of the canal's completion in 1848 other Chicago promoters had out-manoeuvred them by completing the first railroad link into Chicago from the Mississippi basin at Galena. Over the next 20 years numerous other independent railways were built making Chicago the key railroad centre for the Mid-West. So was Chicago's expansion a purely urban experience? Chicago, the prairie boom town on the edge of Lake Michigan, was laid out as a city only in the 1830s. Within 30 years it had become the second city of the United States acting as a junction between the East and West Coast. The tall buildings which began to rise in the Business area during the 1880s were referred to as 'skyscrapers'. Today it is only buildings like the Sears Tower, nearly a quarter of a mile high and still one of the world's highest buildings, that seem to merit the title. But at the beginning of the century, skyscrapers in Chicago were considered impressive at only sixteen storeys. So what is a skyscraper?
| Module code and title: | AT308, Cities and Technology: A history |
|---|---|
| Item code: | AT308; VC03 |
| Recording date: | 1997 |
| Published: | 1997 |
| Rights Statement: | Rights owned or controlled by The Open University |
| Restrictions on use: | This material can be used in accordance with The Open University conditions of use. A link to the conditions can be found at the bottom of all OUDA web pages. |
| Duration: | 00:58:46 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Charles Cooper |
| Narrator: | Jane Copland |
| Publisher: | Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Chicago; planning; city layout 1830 - 1930; infrastructure; technology; communications; sanitation; building; skyscrapers |
| Subject terms: | Architecture - Illinois - Chicago; Skyscrapers; Tall buildings; Galena and Chicago Union Railroad; Chicago (Ill.) - Buildings, structures, etc.; Chicago (Ill.) - History; Chicago (Ill.) - Commerce--History; Illinois and Michigan Canal (Ill.) |
| Production number: | FOUA550W |
| Videofinder number: | 5546 |
| Available to public: | no |
