Mid-Century Chicago in Kodachrome

In the mid-20th Century, Chicago

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.

 

Chicago Illinois 1950s 1960s Kodachrome

Maxwell Street market, Chicago in Kodcharome, 1957

Chicago Illinois 1950s 1960s Kodachrome

Water tower and business district, Riverside, Ill. 1964

Chicago Illinois 1950s 1960s Kodachrome

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

 

Chicago Illinois 1950s 1960s Kodachrome

Old Orchard shopping center, Skokie, Ill.

Chicago Illinois 1950s 1960s Kodachrome

Oakbrook shopping center, Oakbrook, Ill. 1962

Chicago Illinois 1950s 1960s Kodachrome

Chicago in Kodachrome: Del Lago shopping center, no man’s land, Wilmette, Ill. 1965

Chicago Illinois 1950s 1960s Kodachrome

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 Illinois 1950s 1960s Kodachrome

Chicago, drawbridge on Chicago River Photographer’s Note:Description Lake Shore Drive Bridge Photographer Mayer, Harold Date of Photograph 1959:06

Chicago Illinois 1950s 1960s Kodachrome

Chicago Light and Outer Harbor, Chicago 1959

Chicago Illinois 1950s 1960s Kodachrome

Business district, Lincoln Ave., South from Oakton Street, Skokie, Ill. 1964

Chicago Illinois 1950s 1960s Kodachrome

Business center, E on Lake Street from Marion, Oak Park, Ill. 1960

Chicago Illinois 1950s 1960s Kodachrome

Wacker Drive from 333 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago

Chicago Illinois 1950s 1960s Kodachrome

Randolph Street E from Dearborn Street, Chicago

Chicago Illinois 1950s 1960s Kodachrome

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

 

Chicago Illinois 1950s 1960s Kodachrome

Housing, 4700 block Hamlin Ave S., Chicago 1964

Chicago Illinois 1950s 1960s Kodachrome

CTA station and parking lot, Ridgeland Ave., Lake Street line, Oak Park, Ill. 1964

Chicago Illinois 1950s 1960s Kodachrome

Chicago, boat at Chicago Tribune wharf on Chicago River 1959

Chicago Illinois 1950s 1960s Kodachrome

Back of the Yards, Hamilton Ave. N from 46th Street, Chicago 1964

 

Via: American Geographical Society.

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