January 1943. The waiting room of Union Station in Chicago
http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/8..._0.preview.jpg
Jack Delano - http://www.shorpy.com/node/2273


South Water Street freight depot of the Illinois Central Railroad, Chicago. May 1, 1943
http://www.shorpy.com/files/images/1a34786u.preview.jpg
Jack Delano - http://www.shorpy.com/node/47#comment-31051


UNION STATION - Adams and Canal
http://www.dhke.com/CRJ/unionsta.jpg
http://www.dhke.com/CRJ/station.html


State Street in 1907
http://www.essential-architecture.co...treetc1907.jpg
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...icial%26sa%3DG


Navy Pier 1915
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...vyPier1915.jpg
Public Domain

.

much of these are from the SSC threads

1915 South Water Street
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2142/...421e3c97_o.gif

1929
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y15...ago-1929-b.jpg

http://i21.tinypic.com/15otteu.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/204/4...f72800b5_b.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y15...03i2191l01.jpg


Chicago River 1937
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...g?t=1196561539


Civic Opera - 1930's
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...g?t=1196561204
http://i20.tinypic.com/16bip7q.jpg


Late 1930's or 40's
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...g?t=1196559600


State Street - 1941
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...g?t=1196560916


Disco Dance Night – Comiskey Park 1979
May not count as ‘historical’ but it happened several years before I was born, so its historical to me.
http://www.benkepple.com/Images/disco.jpg
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...%3Den%26sa%3DN

.

http://aycu11.webshots.com/image/458...0091252_rs.jpg
Shorpy

Looking back 50-80 years or so the buildings had an awefull amount of soot on them, most likely due to coal burning. Just look at the older white buildings like the Mart and compare them to today. Were they washed or were they cleaned by nature?

Great thread. Yet, does anyone know what the dome building is that is nearly in the center of the photo below?
http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/ar...ull/P12882.jpg

^Chicago Federal Building, demolished in the 60's.

They were sandblasted if I'm not mistaken. (Used to see that a lot back in the day; haven't seen that done in a long long time; I guess there's no need anymore.)

Thanks for the reply. It looks like it was quite a building,
http://blogs.trb.com/news/weather/we...rchives/FB.jpg
http://blogs.trb.com/news/weather/we...rchives/FB.jpg

damn that's cool


everything is sooo dirty, christ thats creepy looking

Fantastic Pictures! Love the housing photos in Ducov's post.

I wanted to link this thread from SSC. some really amazing Old Chicago photos in there.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=273147

What is the name of the white, boxy building?

http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/ar...ull/P12888.jpg

http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/ar...ull/P12883.jpg

^^ Unitrin building. I dont really care for it. http://skyscraper-en.wikidot.com/unitrin-building

^^^
Unitrin.....absolutely awful.
...on the far right in the 2nd photo is The Executive House,
same time period....kinda cool.

Executive house kind of made Mather look less slender, It's too big for what's next door IMO

River North before it was wiped clean in many areas by the scourge of urban renewal (unknown photographer):
http://img470.imageshack.us/img470/2147/old136oc.jpg

^You REALLY need to stop posting photos like that unless you want me to tear every last hair out of my head. Man that is just achingly beautiful.

This thread is gold, it has showed me how great Chicago's skyscraper
history are.

I like the UNITRIN building - I had offices there back in the dot-com boom. The lobby is gorgeous marble and connects(ed) through to the Jewelers building ( a real gem ). It also has a usable ( as in sitting ) facade on the front. We had 3/4 of a floor, with it mostly open ( no cubes !) and the views were spectacular. The penthouse floor ( with it's own elevator for the last floor up ) is laid out with a hallway around the outside, and glass walled office or conference rooms which have a view out, without blocking it from everyone else. Sadly this was storage space in the 80's.

The Jewelers building does not allow photography in the lobby, so shoot quick.

From soaring higher
http://i21.tinypic.com/15otteu.jpg

Unbelievable that these gems are all still with us, looking better after switching from coal to gas, and a cleaning. These are what makes Trump Tower look soo good.