Woman Sitting on an Iron Girder Atop the Wrigley Building, 1920

After finding the bricklaying business too full of ups and downs, this amazing young girl decided to take a shot at iron girdering for a change. She is Miss ‘Collie’ Collier, a reporter for the Chicago Herald-Examiner.

(Getty Images)

Cabinet Card of a Provocative Woman on a Fainting Couch in Chicago, Illinois

This cabinet card features a young smiling woman lying on a fainting couch. The image is quite risque for its time. The style and folds of the woman’s dress, her exposed feet, her smile and her body language all contribute to the provocativeness of this image.

Fainting couches were popular in the 19th century and used predominately by woman. They are couches with a back that is traditionally raised at one end. There are two major theories as to why these type of couches became popular.

One theory for the predominance of fainting couches is that women were actually fainting because their corsets were laced too tightly, thus restricting blood flow. However, pictures from the 1860s show women horseback riding, playing tennis, and engaging in other vigorous activities in corsets without hindrance. A tightly laced corset restricts airflow to the lungs and, as a result, if the wearer exerted themselves to the point of needing large quantities of oxygen and was unable to fully inflate the lungs, this could lead to fainting. Hyperventilation for any reason could also potentially result in brief loss of consciousness.

Another theory for the predominance of fainting couches is home treatment of female hysteria through manual pelvic massage by home visiting doctors and midwives. As a “disease” that needed constant, recurring (usually weekly) in-home treatment with a procedure that through manual massage could sometimes take hours, creating specialized furniture for maximum comfort during the extended procedure seems likely, as does the later creation of fainting rooms for privacy during the intimate massage procedure.

According to The Cabinet Card Gallery, the photographer of this cabinet card was J. B. Wilson of Chicago, Illinois. The subject of this photograph may have been an actress.

(via The Cabinet Card Gallery)

Found Photos Capture Young Women of Chicago in Swimsuits From the Late 1940s

The bikini was officially invented in 1946 and named after the Bikini Atoll in the south Pacific, where the U.S. performed nuclear tests. This suit was tiny, revealing the belly button and buttocks.

Most public beaches banned the use of this new tiny swimsuit till the ’50s.  However, this wasn’t the style of two-piece that was usually worn in the ’40s – it was a little bit too revealing.

Before the bikini, women started wearing two-piece swimsuits that looked just like one-piece bathing suits cut in half. The top was a full-coverage bra top, either with two thin straps or a halter top. The bottom looked like a tight mini-skirt, starting from the waistline and covering the entire backside. Another popular style of skirt for the two-piece was a flared skirt bottom of the same length. A top that started to gain in popularity was even more revealing – a bandeau top with strings attached to the center front that tied at the neck.

By the late 1940s, one and two-piece swimsuits were losing even more modesty. The strapless two piece was especially popular to those brave enough to wear them.

Here below is a cool set of found photos that shows amateur models of Chicago in two-piece swimsuits around 1949.

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24 Amazing Color Photos Capture Chicago's Street Scenes During the Blizzard of 1979

The Chicago blizzard of 1979 was a major blizzard that affected northern Illinois and northwest Indiana on January 13–14, 1979. It was one of the largest Chicago snowstorms in history at the time, with 21 inches of snowfall in the two-day period.

The blizzard lasted for a total of 38 hours. At its peak, wind gusts reached speeds of 39 miles per hour. Five people died during the blizzard, with approximately 15 others seriously injured due to conditions created by the storm.

O’Hare Airport was closed and all flights were grounded for 96 hours, from January 13 to 15. The cold weather and snowfall throughout the rest of January and February resulted in frozen tracks throughout the Chicago ‘L’ system.

These amazing photos from masMiguel were taken by American photographer Richard Drozda that documented Chicago's street scenes during the blizzard of 1979.

Chicago. Aftermath of a snowfall that cost a mayor his job. Franklin and Randolph, 1979

Chicago. Blasting over the plowed snow on Raven Street, Norwood Park, 1979

Chicago. Franklin near Randolph, 1979

Chicago. Lake looking west from Wells, 1979

Chicago. Looking east on Randolph after the big January blizzard. The Bismarck Theater (now Cadillac Palace) marquee is in view, 1979

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50 Color Found Snaps That Show the 1948-1949 Chicago Railroad Fair

The Chicago Railroad Fair was an event organized to celebrate and commemorate 100 years of railroad history west of Chicago, Illinois. It was held in Chicago in 1948 and 1949 along the shore of Lake Michigan and is often referred to as "the last great railroad fair" with 39 railroad companies participating. The board of directors for the show was a veritable "Who's Who" of railroad company executives.

Erected on 50 acres (200,000 m2) of Burnham Park in Chicago between 21st and 31st Streets, the fair opened after only six months of planning. A grand opening for the fair commenced on July 20 with a parade that featured such spectacles as a military marching band and a replica of a troop train, a contingent of cowboys and Native Americans, a replica of the Tom Thumb, the first American locomotive, and the spry, octogenarian widow of Casey Jones, who served as honorary Grand Master of the parade.

Besides the thirty-nine railroads who participated in the fair, there were more than twenty equipment manufacturers, including General Motors. The Santa Fe also sponsored an Indian Village where Native Americans sold handicrafts, staged dances, and explained the different types of lodging that were on display.

These fascinating color snaps were found by Joe+Jeanette Archie that show the 1948-1949 Chicago Railroad Fair.

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Beautiful Vintage Photos of Chicago in the 1950s by Mildred Mead

Mildred Mead, born in 1910, was a professional photographer, both freelance and by contract. During the 1950s, she captured the everyday life of the people throughout Chicago, such as recorded activities associated with the Hyde Park Kenwood Community Conference, Michael Reese Hospital, the University of Chicago Planning Unit, the Maxwell Street Market, city parks, the lakefront, the Hyde Park 57th St. Fair, and public housing and urban redevelopment projects.

Below are 37 beautiful vintage photographs of the city taken by Mead, courtesy of the University of Chicago Library:

Alley in back of the row houses on Outhouse Alley, 35th Street and Honore, Chicago, June 1950.

In a doorway of a home a little girl plays with her dolls, Chicago, July 1950.

Boys cooling off in the summer heat, Chicago, 1950s.

Masser Hotel, Chicago, 1950s.

Minerva Ave, Chicago, 1950s.

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45 Fascinating Color Photos Capture Street Scenes of Chicago in the 1960s

In the 1960s, white residents in several neighborhoods of Chicago left the city for the suburban areas – in many American cities, a process known as white flight – as Blacks continued to move beyond the Black Belt.

While home loan discriminatory redlining against blacks continued, the real estate industry practiced what became known as blockbusting, completely changing the racial composition of whole neighborhoods.

Structural changes in industry, such as globalization and job outsourcing, caused heavy job losses for lower-skilled workers. At its peak during the 1960s, some 250,000 workers were employed in the steel industry in Chicago.

In 1966, Martin Luther King Jr. and Albert Raby led the Chicago Freedom Movement, which culminated in agreements between Mayor Richard J. Daley and the movement leaders.

Take a look at these fascinating color photos from ZeusMeister to see what Chicago looked liked in 1967.

Woods Theater, Oriental Theatre, Sherman Hotel, Chicago, 1967

Randolph Street theaters, 1967

Apartment buildings along lake, Chicago, 1967

Astor Street, Chicago, 1967

Astor Street, Chicago, 1967

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40 Amazing Color Pics Capture Chicago During the 1967 Blizzard

The Chicago blizzard of 1967 struck northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana on January 26–27, 1967, with a record-setting 23 inches (58 cm) snow fall in Chicago and its suburbs before the storm abated the next morning.

Till now it remains the greatest snowfall in one storm in Chicago history. As the blizzard was a surprise during the day with people already at work or school, it stopped the city for a few days as people dug out.

“The storm was a full-blown blizzard, with 50 mph-plus northeast wind gusts creating drifts as high as 15 feet.”

Here below is a set of amazing color pics that shows street scenes of Chicago during the blizzard in early 1967.

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The Auto Wash Bowl in Chicago, ca. 1920s

Here’s a photo from 1924 and shows a newfangled type of car wash that stood at the northwest corner of 42nd Street and South Michigan Avenue.

There was at least one other auto wash bowl in Chicago–the concept actually originated in St. Paul, Minn. It was patented in 1921 by inventor C.P. Bohland, who opened two locations in St. Paul. He devised the bowl as an easy way to clean mud off of the underside of cars. Back in this early age of motoring, roads were often unpaved and muddy, and that mud would get caked on the underside of the car and the wheels–but a spin in the nifty Auto Wash Bowl took care of that.

C.P. Bohland’s patent

The nearly 80-foot-wide, ridged concrete bowl was about 16 inches at its deepest point in the center. Customers paid 25 cents to an attendant who strapped a protective rubber cover over the radiator. Patrons would then enter the bowl via a ramp and drive their cars around and around the bowl at a speed of about 10 miles per hour. The ridges in the concrete would vibrate the car and the water, creating a sloshing action that helped wash away all the mud from the chassis and wheels.

The process took about three or four minutes. The car would then exit the bowl where patrons who wanted a complete car wash could enter one of the bays where the rest of the car would be cleaned. On a busy Saturday, about 75 cars per hour would go for a spin in the wash bowl.

Once the idea had proved successful in St. Paul, the patent holder began advertising in other cities to franchise the operation. The first Auto Wash Bowl in Chicago was built by a Chicagoan named C.G. Burkhartsmeier on the southeast corner of Diversey and Elston on the city’s North Side. Burkhartsmeier bought the rights in 1924 and built his bowl and service station at a cost of $20,000.

A fun note: The architect on the job, William C. Presto, was a former employee of Louis Sullivan’s who later gained fame for giving the destitute Sullivan his last commission, designing the façade of the Krause Music Store in Lincoln Square and the lavishly decorated Art Deco building at 6424 N. Western.

Sadly, the Auto Wash Bowl wound up being little more than a novelty as car-washing technology evolved. Just two years later, the North Side wash bowl was bought by a local realtor, the South Side wash bowl was gone by the ‘30s, and the Auto Wash Bowl went down the drain.

Robert Plant’s Sexy “Food Play” Ice Cream Photos, Chicago, 1977

sitophilia (food play) – a form of sexual fetishism in which participants are aroused by erotic situations involving food.

Below are some photographs of Robert Plant enjoying an ice cream cone in front of a “Happy Birthday, America” sign during Led Zeppelin’s 1977 North American Tour stop in April at Chicago Stadium. This was the eleventh and final concert tour of North America by the English rock band. The tour was divided into three legs, with performances commencing on 1 April and concluding on 24 July 1977. The tour was originally intended to finish on 13 August, but was cut short following the death of Robert Plant’s son.

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Mary Wallace: The First Female Bus Driver for Chicago Transit Authority, Beginning in 1974

In 1974, Englewood native, Mary Wallace, drove into history when she became the first woman to drive a Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) bus. Wallace was a popular driver who remained on the job for 33 years before retiring.

“I used to work for the Planning & Placement Center when I was going to college, and we had job orders for CTA bus drivers. So I decided I wanted to check this out for myself, and I did. I went for three years, and they kept saying no...”

People kept the wisecracks about female drivers to them-selves, but Mary Wallace remembers the mixed reactions she used to get from CTA riders on her bus routes when they noticed a woman behind the wheel.

“I would get cheers from the ladies and stares from the guys,” Wallace said in an interview with Chicago Sun-Times in 2007, recalling the start of her career with the CTA in 1974.

Wallace first applied to become a bus driver when she was 19 “because the CTA didn’t have any women and somebody needed to break that ice.” Plus, driving a bus seemed like a great may to meet new people, Wallace said. She had to badger the CTA for three years, though, before the agency hired her.

“They said, ‘We just can’t hire you as a bus operator because we don’t have the facilities. We could hire you as something else,’” Wallace said. “But I kept going down there and calling every week.”

Wallace started out driving the State Street bus in June 1974, the first of several routes she’d have during her 17 years as a bus operator. During that time, she was a fixture in the news under such colorful headlines as “CTA liberates its bus drivers” and “Fair sex first for the CTA will leave the driving to Ms. Wallace said the other drivers rarely gave her a hard time, but some guys were” jealous because I had my own private bathroom” in the bus garage.

Handling a 40-foot bus was easy, thanks to power steering. But early on, Wallace thought about quitting several times be-cause of security concerns.

Like other bus drivers lacking seniority, Wallace worked nights, and more than once, she had to fend off passengers who tried to attack her. Even so, Wallace said she’s glad she stayed on the job to see how the CTA has changed over the years.

“When I opened this door, it opened up a whole lot of opportunities,” she said.

Amazing Pics That Show Interior of a Chicago House During the 1960s

These amazing pics were found by Ryan Khatam that show interior of a Chicago house during the 1960s. This house was owned by the Sorensens who also owned a paint store and they lived in Logan Square, Chicago. Wife is Glenna Sorensen and husband is (?) Sorensen.

Living room, 1963

Bedroom, 1963

Girl's room, 1963

Girl's room, 1963

Kitchen, 1963

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