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Search - Chicago - The History Of Its Reputation

Chicago The History Of Its Reputation
Author: Lloyd Lewis

Text extracted from opening pages of book: CHICAGO THE HISTORY Ofr rPS REPUTATION Part I hy LLOYD LEWIS / nf r m/ Mr fiVn and Furl II % HENRY JUSTIN SMITH HAHCOUBT, BRACE AND COMPANY NEWYOEK CHICAGO THE HISTOEY OF ITS REPUTATION INTRODUCTION Lo, before the Limited slows down for its glide into the terminal yards, a traveler knows that Chicago li... more »es before him. From whichever direction he comes, he crosses level country which, though dotted with towns, still has the horizon, the tints, and something of the grand freedom, of the Mid-Western steppes. Soon the windy open spaces fall behind. Into the picture move the shapes of industrial plants, a legion of mon sters that stroke and hiss on the city's borders. Their chim neys are like clusters of reeds-Ghostly amid the vapor, or sharp against the sky, their contorted limbs, their mystic collections of turrets, derricks, raised trackage, have majesty and pathos as well. In this radius, too, are the marching towers of power lines, an occasional gas tank, like an absurdly large cheese, the low, windowed buildings of many a factory; and then, touching elbows and patterned a good deal alike, villages, suburbs, in which the city's terra cotta and old-time frame construction are curiously mingled. The city thickens. Innumerable streets wheel by ; the eye can follow their long, monotonous length for miles. Every other one seems to have a street car-line. The train thunders over a succession of viaducts. Masses of buildings peer at it and vanish stores, apartments, hotels, college towers, chur spires. From somewhere come piercing sounds, audible abo the rumble of the train ; and an indefinable throb can be fe* the composite pulse of millions of people. One feels a myster in it all, a force both thrilling and terrifying. One knows thai the hunt for dollars, women and fame is violent here, scarceh hidden behind the sleek machinery of an efficient age. Coming from the east, the traveler has had glimpses, of tei between astonishing sand-mountains, of a sparkling blue lake He now gets broader and broader views of it. If he has neve? seen it before, the size of this lake is beyond his expectation, Why, it is an inland ocean, no less! The farther shore cannot be made out. This body of water has a surf, and fascinating bands of color. White gulls circle silently over it. In wintet, this side of the blue rollers, the beach is rimmed with ice. And suddenly, on a curve far ahead, the traveler catcher sight of a phantom city of towers. They float, it seems, on .% sort of island, with their spires or sharp shoulders taking a dove-color from the lake mists and the landward vapor* It is only a glimpse. The train rushes through more and over more viaducts. It arrives; the traveler alights. now finds himself at the feet of those stunning towers* form a row of proud, glistening titans along the boulevard y and they face a park, vast acres of which are lawn, or highwayi three times as wide as Napoleon ever imagined* The strange had best get his first impression from this lakeside park; perhaps standing on the steps of the marble Field Museum* He will then begin to realize what the lake means ; and, facing that epic rampart of buildings, he will see to what a pol& t the skyscraper idea, Chicago's own discovery, has advanced He will also, very likely it has happened a good many times begin to revise his theories about the sort of the city has. vi He can stand on the south veranda of the Art Institute, overlooking a little plaza where pigeons strut and flutter as placidly as in front of St, Mark's, Venice; from here he can see the life of a modern boulevard, rich, organized, confident; and he can look up again at the tiers of skyscraper windows, behind each collection of which cities-within-cities do their work with a precision that amounts to monotony. The trouble is, he may begin to think that he has seen it all. That, also, has happened. It will take a good part of a life-time to see it all. And by the time th

ISBN-13: 9781406758207
ISBN-10: 1406758205
Publication Date: 3/15/2007
Pages: 532
Rating:

0 stars, based on 0 rating

Publisher: Lewis Press
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

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