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Chicago Before the Fire : An Economic History.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Cain, Louis P.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Business enterprises--Illinois--Chicago--History--19th century.
- Business enterprises.
- Entrepreneurship--Illinois--Chicago--History--19th century.
- Entrepreneurship.
- Businesspeople--Illinois--Chicago--History--19th century.
- Businesspeople.
- Chicago (Ill.)--Commerce--History--19th century.
- Chicago (Ill.).
- Chicago (Ill.)--Economic conditions--19th century.
- Genre:
- Electronic books.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (332 pages)
- Edition:
- 1st ed.
- Place of Publication:
- Champaign : University of Illinois Press, 2025.
- Summary:
- "An advantageous location and entrepreneurial passion helped fuel Chicago's transformation from a fur trading post to a thriving city. Louis P. Cain's economic history places pre-1871 Chicago within the narrative of national expansion and examines infrastructure, finance, and other areas of city life. Business histories tell the story of fortunes made with essential products like meat and grain. Sketches of titans like William Ogden and Cyrus McCormick reveal how real estate, farm equipment, and other industries became engines of local growth. Cain also details public health improvements that made Lake Michigan safe as a water supply while census data informs a portrait of Chicago's population and the lives of the free Blacks and Irish immigrants at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. Panoramic and up to date, Chicago before the Fire looks at how an intersection of geography, vision, and investment built a great American city"-- Provided by publisher.
- Contents:
- Introduction
- The Fur Trade and Chicago
- Pioneers and Boosters
- Assembling Trade Routes and Establishing Position
- How Chicago Grew
- Those Behind the Growth
- Creating Position: Sanitation and Health
- Population and Labor
- The Lubricant of Growth: Money and Finance
- Where Things Stood.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.
- ISBN:
- 9780252047893
- 0252047893
- OCLC:
- 1514624760
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