The Growth of Chicago Prior to the Start of the Civil War in 1861

Chicago has a rich history of religion, culture, race, and politics. This paper will focus on such growth prior to the start of the civil war in 1861. There are many credible references that shine the truth, rumors, and stories of this history, however the history referenced will be taken from two well compiled sources; Dominic A. Pacyga’s Chicago: A Biography, and Chicago: City of the Century credited to American Experience. This project will focus on the important ways these two pieces of art are similar telling the history of Chicago, and the important ways they are different.

Let’s look at the early years of living in Chicago. Dominic A. Pacyga mentions on page twenty one of Chicago: A Biography, “The town grew chaotically, with wooden buildings appearing at the whim of their owners who sometimes ignored the platted dirt streets. Mud was a perennial problem, especially in the spring and fall, and, of course, if the winter was not cold enough, the endless mud pits did not freeze over.

Most houses huddled near the river, and sanitation presented a problem. The corner of State and Madison seemed far from the town center.” (Pacyga 21).

Dominic Pacyga provides good facts on what it was like living in the early years of Chicago. But focusing on the differences of how Pacyga and American Experience explains it, the video Chicago: City of the Century, offers a somewhat more detailed and brutal way of living in those early years. The video mentions, “… The city where people driven by profit were blind to nature…the city itself became a pestilential swamp.

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Children were playing with maggots as if they were little pets.” (Chicago: City of the Century Pt. 1 4:45) The video Chicago: City of the Century not only offers a more detailed explanation of these conditions, it offers photographs relevant to the topic the narrator speaks of to paint a picture of how those conditions really were, no pun intended.

Despite the differences, Pacyga and the video Chicago: City of the Century discuss immigration very similarly. There was also a large growth of immigration in Chicago in the late eighteen fifties and onward. Strictly focusing on the English, the Irish, and the Germans, Chicago: City of the Century discusses the roles of each immigrant group when they arrived in the city of Chicago. The video explains, “In the 1850’s, railroads brought immigrants to Chicago in overwhelming numbers. Many were Germans who arrived with industrial skills and money. They found jobs as butchers, furniture makers, and metal workers. As time progresses they became the largest immigration group. Despite the language barrier, Germans fit more easily in the urban life than the impoverished Irish… the Irish worked as unskilled labor workers and also worked on the railroads.” (Chicago: City of the Century Pt. 1 38:06).

Pacyga explains, “Only forty Swedes lived in Chicago in 1848 mostly working in construction… Scandinavians also came to Chicago, including Norwegians, Danes, and small community of Finns… Some six hundred to seven hundred Norwegians lived in the city in 1848. English, Welsh, Scottish, and Protestant Irish also came to the city. Many of these immigrants arrived as part of the “brain drain” from the British Isles. These British immigrants often had industrial experience and helped bring about the city’s swift transformation into an industrial center… The Scots founded the Illinois St. Andrew Society in 1846 and maintained their ethnic identity well into the twentieth century. They played a crucial role in various industries including meatpacking and steelmaking.” (Pacyga 32).

Both books do a fairly good job describing the growth of immigration in the city of Chicago in the late 1940’s to the 1950’s. Pacyga and the video Chicago: City of the Century describe this history in a unbiased factual way. These immigrants all played a unique role that other immigrants would not be able to do alone. There are other cultures of race that arrived to Chicago around this time, however for the sake of building the City, both Pacyga and the video Chicago: City of the Century focus on the immigrant cultures they fairly discuss. To reiterate, Pacyga and the video Chicago: City of the Century both tell the history of the construction of Chicago in both similar and different ways. Both sources are factual, credible, and very good reads/listens. The video Chicago: City of the Century primarily tells their history in a detailed manner for their consumers to feel what it was like in those days. Pacyga however simply tells factual data and paints a picture for his readers to envision.