The first Chicago City Directory was published in 1839 when the city was just 2 years old. The earliest directory I have found on the Internet, however, is for 1843 published by Ellis and Fergus, Printers, in 1844 when the city was boasting a population of about 8,000 inhabitants. Many of Chicago's most famous citizens would not arrive until a few years later. Montgomery Ward was born in 1844; Potter Palmer opened his dry goods store in 1852; Marshall Field and George Pullman both entered the city in about 1856. Writer Henry Blake Fuller wouldn't be born in Chicago until 1857. But, the directory is interesting reading none the less and the early advertising by "subscribers" is occasionally quite good. Their similarity to today's phone books and yellow pages is immediately apparent.Internet Archive has a copy of this early directory: General directory and business advertiser of the city of Chicago for the year 1844: with a historical sketch and statistics extending from 1837 to 1844. To be more accurate, it is a reprint published in 1903 and includes a brief history of the city. An earlier reprint (1896) can be found at All Ancestors and is much easier to read. It should also be noted that different reprints vary in content. For example: Judge Henry Fuller (grandfather of Henry Blake Fuller) was not found in the 1903 reprint but is listed in the 1896 version as "Fuller, [Judge] Henry, res Dearborn, bet Randolph and Washington [died June 22, 1879, aged 76."
Additional examples of complete Chicago directories found on the Internet are:
Chicago City Directory and Business Advertiser 1855-1856
Polk’s Directory for Chicago 1928-1929
For more information on Chicago residence and business directories, see
Guide to Jewish Genealogy in Chicagoland (lots of links here), The Newberry Library, and Cook County Ilinois Genealogy Trails.
6 comments:
: George Pullman [...] entered the city in about 1856.
I am able to find no evidence from primary documents that he was in Chicago prior to 28 february 1859--see the entry for that day, which suggests that Pullman was new in town, and unknown to the Trib at least. Secondary sources claim that Pullman was in Chicago earlier, but their claims look weak and are always unsourced wherever I have seen them.
Great Blog, I'm glad you've kept this going. You're doing good work_:-)
Welcome, Jonathan! Many thanks for the correction. Carl Smith states that Pullman didn't arrive until 1859 (Urban Disorder and the Shape of Belief). However, Stanley Buder (Pullman: An Experiment in Industrial Order and Community Planning 1880-1930)says that Pullman arrived in late 1855 and opened a shop on Madison Street. My guess is that you and Carl Smith are correct. I really appreciate you taking the time to comment.
Hi Sharon!
I have discounted Professor Buder's contribution: on the same page he makes the claim you made reference to, he makes other claims that are clearly false, including the comic statement that the Tremont House was raised in one hour. It actually took several days as the primary documents clearly show.
Of course, I understand that Pullman's early career is not the main subject of Professor Buder's book, maybe this acoounts for the oversights.
accounts, not "acoounts"
Sorry!
An hour! Yes, I saw that when I went back to the book. Buder is obviously mistaken about many things.
I have not corrected the error in my post because it is a good illustration of why cross checking facts is so important. I didn't and now I have learned a very valuable lesson: Facts should be confirmed by three sources, even for a blog. Thank you, Jonathan.
And, I promise not to send the spelling police to your door...
Three sources!
Wow, I don't want to add to your workload ;-)
This is one of the things I love about the internet though; amateurs and enthusiasts are seriously empowered by this magnificent tool. We may not all be made rich or famous by the web, but hopefully we can bit by bit zero in on a just account of stories that we are interested in, and lay open the account for public scrutiny. How cool is that?
Keep up the good work!
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