Once more we’re in the company of Harold Mayer, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a leading scholar in urban geography, and specialist in urban and transport geography of North America. He photographed places and people of New York. Now we see his Kodachrome photographs of Chicago , Illinois, in the mid-20th Century.
Maxwell Street market, Chicago in Kodcharome, 1957
Water tower and business district, Riverside, Ill. 1964
Randolph Street E from Dearborn Street, Chicago 1962
“I was born in Chicago, in nineteen and forty-one / I was born in Chicago, in nineteen and forty-one / Well my father told me, son you had better get a gun.”
– Born in Chicago by Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Old Orchard shopping center, Skokie, Ill.
Oakbrook shopping center, Oakbrook, Ill. 1962
Chicago in Kodachrome: Del Lago shopping center, no man’s land, Wilmette, Ill. 1965
Chicago, suburban Elgin, Chicago Street in central business district 1967
“I’m gonna tell you somethin’ that you all should know / Chicago is the best place I ever know / I’m gonna stay in this town / I’m gonna live in this town / I’m gonna live in Chicago it’s the greatest place around.”
– Chicago Bound by Jimmy Rogers
Chicago, drawbridge on Chicago River Photographer’s Note:Description Lake Shore Drive Bridge Photographer Mayer, Harold Date of Photograph 1959:06
Chicago Light and Outer Harbor, Chicago 1959
Business district, Lincoln Ave., South from Oakton Street, Skokie, Ill. 1964
Business center, E on Lake Street from Marion, Oak Park, Ill. 1960
Wacker Drive from 333 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago
Randolph Street E from Dearborn Street, Chicago
Illinois Central Railroad and Michigan Boulevard Façade, Chicago 1962
“Oh baby don’t you want to go / Back to the land of California / To my sweet home Chicago.”
– Sweet Home Chicago by Robert Johnson
Housing, 4700 block Hamlin Ave S., Chicago 1964
CTA station and parking lot, Ridgeland Ave., Lake Street line, Oak Park, Ill. 1964
Chicago, boat at Chicago Tribune wharf on Chicago River 1959
Back of the Yards, Hamilton Ave. N from 46th Street, Chicago 1964
Via: American Geographical Society.
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