Customer Reviews

Streetwise Chicago: A History of Chicago Street Names

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I refer to this book more than any other in my collection of Chicago books. Every time I find something new or something that I had forgotten. There is no other book like it.

Note to previous reviewers: it is unfair to criticize this book for missing some name changes. It states quite clearly, "This list of street name changes is not complete; it's a selected sample from about 1900 to the present time." And it's wrong to give a book only one star based on an appendix.

This will be a fascinating book to anyone living in, or near Chicago, and who like me, is interested in the history that is all around us. There is so much of this history in the street names - people, places, stories, changing geography etc. I recommend this to any curious person.

This is a fantastic book, detailing all known stories behind all the street names in Chicago. It is both an excellent reference and a fascinating read.

Some have criticized it's lack of information on the FORMER names of the streets listed. First, hundreds of streets were renamed in the 1910's merely to eliminate duplicates. Second, many streets were formerly named differently in several places. To burden this book with sorting it all out would diminish it's usefulness and readability.

I really hope that this book is reprinted so that others can enjoy it!

Book was sent in a hard box, and arrived quickly, good deal on this book

my brother in law has been looking for this out of print book for a long time. It arrived promptly and in good shape

Since the book is described as a history of Chicago street names, I expected the book to not only tell me how the present day streets received their name, but their previous name and when and why it was changed. Just one example, Burley Ave. was once known as Ontario, but the book doesn't give any mention to this fact.

If the book made no attempt to list street name changes, that would be one thing. But when it lists street name changes and leaves many out (I'll add the change of Jackson to Maryland to the example cited in an earlier review.), then it is worse than useless. It gives the false impression of being comprehensive, so that the absence of a name change from the list might be taken as evidence that there was no name change, when in fact the list is not at all comprehensive and omits many street name changes. I was very disappointed in this book.