Between his childhood in Kentucky and his years in Springfield, Illinois, the later President Abraham Lincoln lived in the tiny river-front town of New Salem, Illinois. Lincoln first passed through New Salem on a flatboat, en route to New Orleans on the Sangamon River. He moved to New Salem shortly after when, in 1831 and… Read More A President You’ve Heard of in a Town You Probably Haven’t
Painted signs on buildings were the billboards of the nineteenth century. They could be large and numerous. Today, reminders of these signs grace older buildings throughout cities from London to Chicago in the form of “ghost signs“: faded remnants of painted signs that disappear a little more each year. In most cases these signs are… Read More Lincoln’s Law Office: Bringing Ghost Signs Back to Life
I recently came across one of Oak Park’s tile stop signs and quickly discovered that they are several scattered throughout the village at the ends of alleys. So what’s the story? The signs were likely installed in the 1930s-40s to remind drivers to stop before exiting alleys. As the village does not have right-of-way in… Read More Oak Park’s Tile Stop Signs
A trip to Cape Cod is a trip into lighthouse history. Lighthouses span the coasts (and can even be found in the Midwest) but until rotating lenses were introduced, there was no way to really know which light house you were seeing from the water. The rotating lenses are what allows lighthouses to develop a unique… Read More Shining the Light on Lighthouses
When you think of Frank Lloyd Wright, usually the expensive masterpieces come to mind: Fallingwater, the Guggenheim, and the Robie House (I previously wrote about Robie here and here!). Wright was, however, interested throughout his career in designing affordable architecture for all Americans. Intrigued? Look no further than Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Frank Lloyd Wright collaborated with the… Read More Affordable Housing, Milwaukee, and Frank Lloyd Wright
The Robie House, in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood south of downtown, is a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece and a testament to evolving technology in turn-of-the-century America. It was built in 1910, a crowning culmination of Wright’s Prairie style houses. It also went though a recent restoration and it looks stunning. Being amidst the University of… Read More Restoring Robie: A Window into the Past
Come for the animals, stay for the architecture. Lincoln Park Zoo is one of Chicago’s best places. It is an award winning zoo in the heart of one of the city’s most beautiful parks, it is free and open year-round, and it features a handful a carefully crafted, early 20th century buildings. The Zoo’s centerpiece,… Read More The Architecture of Lincoln Park Zoo
Across Columbus from the German Village you’ll find Goodale Park, a sloping rectangle of parkland that was donated to the city by Lincoln Goodale in 1851 and subsequently used as a staging area for Union troops during the Civil War. The park is in the heart of the Short North, a neighborhood just north of… Read More The Houses of Goodale Park, Columbus
Louis Sullivan (1856-1924) is perhaps best known for his grand works in Chicago like the Auditorium Theater (1889), the Carson Pirie Scott Building (1899), and the Stock Exchange (1894) (demolished in 1972, but portions can be seen at the Art Institute). His work is immediately recognizable for its intricate, nature-inspired details, the same details that informed much of… Read More Louis Sullivan’s Architectural Jewel Boxes
I visited Ohio over the Presidents’ Day weekend, which was surprisingly fitting: did you know that eight presidents were from Ohio? My first presidential run-in was a comically small plaque at a gas station commemorating Rutherford B. Hayes’ birthplace (don’t worry, I hear they do have something better in the works). Not having been to Columbus… Read More American City, German Village (Columbus, Ohio)
Susie Trexler 