Category: History

Progress by Degrees: A History of the Chicago Heat Ordinance

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Recently one of the people I follow on Twitter asked why the minimum temperatures in Chicago apartments are so high. She stated that she keeps her home in the 50-60 degree range all winter long, and was concerned that apartment buildings are wasting energy by keeping temperatures so much higher than she does in this era of growing climate and energy usage concerns. This question of course sent me off down a rabbit hole through archival versions of the historic Chicago Municipal Code and the library's archives of the Chicago Tribune. Again.

Today we'll be looking at how the Chicago Heat Ordinance (or the "minimum residential temperatures ordinance") evolved from its first drafts in 1922 through the present day. Continue reading Progress by Degrees: A History of the Chicago Heat Ordinance

Published by

Kay Cleaves

Classified History: Housing Ads in Chicago 1871-1900

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I'm returning to the Chicago newspaper archives this week for another look at classified ads placed by landlords at different points in the city's history. The first installment of this series ran in December covering the earliest decades, starting with some of the very first issues of the newspaper in April of 1849 through April of 1871, just six months before the great Fire. This week we'll be moving forward in time, starting with the fire and up through the end of the 19th century.

As with the first article I have tried to transcribe the ads verbatim, with all their old-fashioned abbreviations and language. It is worth repeating that the Tribune archives held by the Chicago Public Library are scans, with blurry sections, curved pages and portions that are completely obscured by bleed through text or torn pages.
Continue reading Classified History: Housing Ads in Chicago 1871-1900

Published by

Kay Cleaves

Classified History: Housing Ads in Chicago, 1849-1871

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The Chicago Public Library offers access to the online scanned archives of the Chicago Tribune to all cardholders via ProQuest. We made use of our access to this treasure trove of information when researching our series on the history of renters' rights and for our history of Moving Day. I recently had to renew my library card, which brought me back to the Trib archive but this time I wasn't looking at the articles. Much like the Super Bowl, I was there for the ads, specifically the "For Rent" section of the classifieds.

News articles record the major events of history, but to find out about the daily lives of individuals the classified ads can sometimes be more important. Ads reflect the wants and needs of a given generation. Watching videos of old TV ads from the 1980s can be a real trip down memory lane for Gen X folks. But today I'll be taking you back in time almost two centuries, starting with the earliest classifieds I could find, cherry picking through the decades before the fire in 1871. All ads included below are transcribed verbatim from the Tribune archive at ProQuest, including capitalization and abbreviations. Continue reading Classified History: Housing Ads in Chicago, 1849-1871

Published by

Kay Cleaves

Wolf and Jay: Two Landlords’ Approaches to a Troubled Neighborhood

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In January 2016, local Chicago newspapers ran the obituary of a Chicago landlord. His name was Jay Michael and he had died at the age of 34 after a long battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He had made his name by investing in unused real estate in struggling neighborhoods. In October 2018, local Chicago newspapers ran the obituary of another Chicago landlord. His name was Louis Wolf and he had died at the age of 94 after years of failing health. He had also made his name by investing in unused real estate in struggling neighborhoods.

Michael's obituary contains words such as "brainchild," "creative," and "forward-thinking." Wolf's is peppered with more sinister terms: "cautionary," "ruthless," and always in the same sentence with his name, "notorious slumlord."

Two famous figures in the local rental industry, of the same faith, race and gender, working in the same neighborhood. One, born into wealth in the 1980's is praised as a hero, although not without his critics. The other, born into poverty in the 1920's, is condemned as the "worst landlord in Chicago history," but was also a proud grandfather who is remembered by those close to him as a quiet and kind mentor. What can we learn about being a landlord from the divide between the two? Continue reading Wolf and Jay: Two Landlords’ Approaches to a Troubled Neighborhood

Published by

Kay Cleaves

10 Innovations That Changed the Chicago Apartment Industry in a Big Way

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Throughout history there have been any number of big ideas and discoveries that caused fundamental changes in human life worldwide. Nations have risen and fallen on the backs of these discoveries, from the wheel and the longbow to the airplane and nuclear fission. The Chicago apartment industry has also been visited by inventions that caused citywide changes to how we find, live in and leave rental housing. Today we'll be looking at 10 of the most important of these innovations. Note that we will be skipping over some of the big ones that had a more global effect such as electricity and public transit. Rather we will be looking at far more specific moments in time that led to lasting changes in this particular industry.

1830: The Illinois-Michigan Canal

The Chicago as we know it starts here, with a federal grant from Congress to the state of Illinois to dig a canal between Lake Michigan and the Illinois River. The state created a commission, which thought that it would be a good idea to have a city at the east end of that canal. So the commission hired a fellow to plan out the city that would become Chicago, and told him to do it in the latest fashion, which was a grid style with blocks and, more importantly, alleys. Continue reading 10 Innovations That Changed the Chicago Apartment Industry in a Big Way

Published by

Kay Cleaves