Latest Episodes
Episode 26 – 1909
In 1909 Chicago changed dramatically both physically and intellectually. Having grown through fits and starts via annexation and experiencing the most rapid population growth of any city in history,...
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:29:00 — 81.5MB)
Episode 25 – A Book and A Beer: George Ade and the Old-Time Saloon
The path to riches is not often associated with journalism, but in the case of George Ade, writing for Chicago newspapers was his road to wealth and fame. Ade,...
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:07 — 51.4MB)
Episode 24 – Bonus: Working on the Railroad
October is Railroad history month in Chicago. Although we already released Episode 24 - The Railroads in honor of railroads history month there was too much good stuff...
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:27 — 39.8MB)
Episode 24 – The Railroads
For 150 years, Chicago has remained the country’s busiest rail hub at the center of the nation’s rail network. In all, 40 railroads provide services from Illinois to every...
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Episode 23 – Reversing the Chicago River
Native Americans held great respect for natural systems while also managing the landscape to support their people and way of life. As “civilization” came to this area Chicago became...
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:01:41 — 56.5MB)
Episode 22 – Eyewitness to History: From the Pullman Strike to H.H. Holmes
Looking back on historical events, whether it is the Civil War or the Chicago Fire, they are usually presented in isolation, a individual events separated by subject, pinned to...
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:54 — 51.2MB)
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Emma Thomas
I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream. As I lie close to the earth, a thousand unknown plants.
Earn Palmer
I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream. As I lie close to the earth, a thousand unknown plants.
Halie Jackson
I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream. As I lie close to the earth, a thousand unknown plants.
The Cat
I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream. As I lie close to the earth, a thousand unknown plants.
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Episode 32 – Muddy Ground, Revisited
The Windy City Historians so enjoyed talking with John William Nelson Ph.D. Associate Professor of History at Texas State University about his book Muddy Ground; Native Peoples, Chicago’s Portage, and the Transformation of a Continent we revisit this discussion. With so much ground of the Chicago landscape traversed by both European and Native peoples to cover, muddy or not, we...
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:22 — 78.9MB)
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Episode 31 – Muddy Ground
In the Twentieth Century, Chicago’s Midway Airport had a sign that read “Crossroads of the World,” and during its heyday Midway literally was the aviation center of the world. From a historical perspective the same has been true for Chicago reaching back a century earlier as a critical hub of the railroads, during the Industrial Age...
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:05 — 54.2MB)
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