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, to that point, the Chicago City Council approved a new street and address system in 1908. The new address system took effect in 1909 and employed the Philadelphia and furlong systems to renumber, rename, and rationalize street names and addresses across the city.

1909 also ushered in a momentous intellectual shift in perceptions of what Chicago was and could be. Authored by architects Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett The Plan of Chicago offered an idyllic and revolutionary vision for Windy City that still resonate. Join us in this episode as we interview cartographer, historian, and geographer Dennis McClendon to delve into these concrete and esoteric plans that forever changed the physicality and vision of Chicago. Plans and improvements that are still relevant and reverberate acros Chicago's streets, city planning, development and architecture to this day.

Edward Brennan in 1926Excerpt from the Street Renaming Directory of 1909Bird's eye view rendering from The Plan of ChicagoMap of the central business district from The Plan of ChicagoDaniel Burnham & Edward Bennett

Links to Research and Historic Sources:

More about cartographer, historian, & geographer Dennis McClendonHistory of 3-principal mapping companies in the U. S.: Rand McNally, H.N. Gousha, and General DraftingEdward Brennan, author of Chicago's street renaming and renumbering systemPhiladelphia Street Numbering system explainedFurlong system explainedOverview of the "Roads and expressways in Chicago" in Wikipedia"Old Addresses" article on the pre-1909 addresses from the Forgotten Chicago websiteChicagoland Books & Files including the Chicago Street Renaming & Renumbering Directories of 1909 from the Living History of Illinois websiteMilwaukee's Street Renaming & Renumbering from the Encyclopedia of Milwaukee websiteOverview of The Plan of Chicago from the Chicago Architecture Center websiteBiography of Daniel Burnham from the Chicago Public Library website"Who was Edward Bennett? And why has he been overshadowed for a century by Daniel Burnham?" by Patrick Reardon on the Burnham Plan Centennial websiteWacker's Manual as described by the Chicago Architecture Center website"'Big Bill' Thompson: Chicago's unfiltered mayor," by Ron Grossman, Chicago Tribune article Feb. 5, 2016Chicago's Midway (formerly Municipal) Airport history from the Encyclopedia of Chicago "Chicago's Municipal Pier," (#2, now Navy Pier) from Chicagology websiteNortherly Island from the Chicago Architecture Center website"Displaced: When the Eisenhower Expressway Moved in Who Was Moved Out?" by Robert Loerzel from the WBEZ websiteMcMillan Plan for the Washington D.C. "mall" from WikipediaChicago's Millennium Park from Wikipedia