Building the South Side: Urban Space and Civic Culture in Chicago, 1890-1919Building the South Side explores the struggle for influence that dominated the planning and development of Chicago's South Side during the Progressive Era. Robin F. Bachin examines the early days of the University of Chicago, Chicago’s public parks, Comiskey Park, and the Black Belt to consider how community leaders looked to the physical design of the city to shape its culture and promote civic interaction. Bachin highlights how the creation of a local terrain of civic culture was a contested process, with the battle for cultural authority transforming urban politics and blurring the line between private and public space. In the process, universities, parks and playgrounds, and commercial entertainment districts emerged as alternative arenas of civic engagement. “Bachin incisively charts the development of key urban institutions and landscapes that helped constitute the messy vitality of Chicago’s late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century public realm.”—Daniel Bluestone, Journal of American History "This is an ambitious book filled with important insights about issues of public space and its use by urban residents. . . . It is thoughtful, very well written, and should be read and appreciated by anyone interested in Chicago or cities generally. It is also a gentle reminder that people are as important as structures and spaces in trying to understand urban development." —Maureen A. Flanagan, American Historical Review |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
The University and the City | 21 |
Parks as Public Space | 125 |
Commercial Leisure and Civic Culture | 203 |
Conclusion | 298 |
Notes | 309 |
Index | 401 |
Other editions - View all
Building the South Side: Urban Space and Civic Culture in Chicago, 1890-1919 Robin F. Bachin No preview available - 2008 |
Common terms and phrases
Addams African Americans amusement argued athletics ballpark Baptist baseball Black Belt Board of Trustees building Burnham cago campus Chicago Defender Chicago Historical Society Chicago Library Chicago Press Chicago Settlement Chicago Tribune civic culture club Collections Research Center Comiskey Park commercial leisure create democracy Dewey district ethnic female folder Frederick Law Olmsted further discussion Gender Goodspeed Gothic Hall Harper History Hull House Hyde Park Illinois institutions Jane Addams John labor lakefront land landscape leaders League linked Mary McDowell municipal National Negro neighborhood Olmsted organized owners Plan Plan of Chicago play players playgrounds political professional Progressivism promoting public spaces race racial recreation reform residents Rockefeller role saloons social South Park South Side Special Collections Research Special Park Commission Stagg Street theater tion Union University of Chicago University Press urban versity Wells-Barnett White Sox William Rainey Harper women workers working-class York