Printers Row, Chicago

Images of America: Illinois

by Ron Gordon, John Paulett

Chicago's Printers Row emerged after the Great Chicago Fire to become the most notorious crime and vice section in Chicago. Once known as the Custom House Levee, Chicago's red light district was eventually closed down. By 1905, industrialists quickly moved into the area and built towering structures to house the booming printing industry, giving the area its present day name.From its seedy beginnings through a prosperous time as the printing center of the region to its current residential boom, Printers Row has been an endlessly fascinating part of the South Loop. Through an impressive collection of photographs, authors Ron Gordon and John Paulett chronicle the evolution and history of one of Chicago's most unique neighborhoods.

128 pages, Paperback

First published August 25, 2003

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly enjoyable and very short read on the history of Chicago's Printer's Row, which covers the area's pre-fire vice district days through its heyday as a printing center (responsible for printing the venerable Sears and Montgomery Wards catalogues) through its conversion into a residential district. While I would have liked additional written detail about the history of the neighborhood, what's there is worth reading and the photos are fantastic.

[Valerie Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The South Loop has some skeletons in its closet for sure - sometimes literally. Loved leafing through stories and pictures from a lost time. I'm so glad my neighborhood has been largely preserved.

[yul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad history breakdown of printers row. Glad I read