Synopses & Reviews
From the lumberyards and meatpacking factories of the Southwest Side to the industrial suburbs that arose near Lake Calumet at the turn of the twentieth century, manufacturing districts shaped Chicagoand#8217;s character and laid the groundwork for its transformation into a sprawling metropolis. Approaching Chicagoand#8217;s story as a reflection of Americaand#8217;s industrial history between the Civil War and World War II,
Chicago Made explores not only the well-documented workings of centrally located city factories but also the overlooked suburbanization of manufacturing and its profound effect on the metropolitan landscape.
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Robert Lewis documents how manufacturers, attracted to greenfield sites on the cityand#8217;s outskirts, began to build factory districts there with the help of an intricate network of railroad owners, real estate developers, financiers, and wholesalers. These immense networks of social ties, organizational memberships, and financial relationships were ultimately more consequential, Lewis demonstrates, than any individual achievement. Beyond simply giving Chicago businesses competitive advantages, they transformed the economic geography of the region. Tracing these transformations across seventy-five years, Chicago Made establishes a broad new foundation for our understanding of urban industrial America.and#160;
Review
and#8220;Theoretically sophisticated and exhaustively researched, Robert Lewisand#8217;s
Chicago Made is a compelling, inclusive, and badly needed analysis of the Second Cityand#8217;s vast industries and their extraordinary (and extraordinarily complex) spatial and economic networks. Essential reading for urban, suburban, business, labor, and social historians, for geographers of all stripes, and for Chicagoans who sometimes wonder where their metropolisand#8217;s factories and railways came from. If youand#8217;ve read Cronon on Chicago, now read Lewis.and#8221;
Review
"Well-written, concise, packed with elegant summaries of detailed information . . . Chicago Made is a masterful contribution to our understanding of American industrial districts and urban growth processes. . . . Innovative and informative."` Journal of Illinois History
Review
and#8220;Without question, this book is the best interpretation to date of Chicagoand#8217;s industrial development from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Even as Chicago has been touted as the epitome of American urban-industrial growth, the specifics of its internal expansion have remained opaque. Robert Lewisand#8217;s contribution is to demonstrate that the key actorsand#8212;individuals and their firmsand#8212;operated through highly structured and extensive networks that must have provided competitive advantages to the cityand#8217;s industrialists. While individual achievements were consequential, Lewis shows that these industrialists were embedded in this immense set of networks, making the collective perhaps more important than any one individual or firm.and#8221;
Review
"Theoretically sophisticated and exhaustively researched, Robert Lewis's Chicago Made is a compelling, inclusive, and badly needed analysis of the Second City's vast industries and their extraordinary (and extraordinarily complex) spatial and economic networks. Essential reading for urban, suburban, business, labor, and social historians, for geographers of all stripes, and for Chicagoans who sometimes wonder where their metropolis's factories and railways came from. If you've read Cronon on Chicago, now read Lewis."-Philip Scranton, author of Figured Tapestry
Review
and#8220;
Chicago Made is a singular achievement. It is an invaluable addition to the history of Chicago; the and#8216;city of broad shouldersand#8217; now has a definitive study of its industrial sinews.and#160; Moreover, it is the best study of industrialization in any American city since Scrantonand#8217;s history of Philadelphia textiles and Vernon and Hooverand#8217;s great survey of the New York metropolitan region. And, more than just good history,
Chicago Made is a major theoretical contribution that bears close analysis by economists and geographers.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Robert Lewis is a creative historian who, in this ambitiousand#160;exploration of Chicagoand#8217;s industrial geography between the Civil War and the Great Depression, tackles a very broad subject in an interesting way. He has done a monumental job of tracing the links between Chicago businesses during that period. This work adds considerably to our knowledge of Chicagoand#8217;s history and urban history more generally.and#8221;
Review
"Lewis has created an excellent study of the v Dominic Pacyga
About the Author
Robert Lewis is associate professor of geography at the University of Toronto. He is the author of Manufacturing Montreal: The Making of an Industrial Landscape.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Metropolitan Production System
SECTION I.
BUILDING THE INDUSTRIAL METROPOLIS
1and#160;and#160;and#160; Chicago, the Mighty City
2and#160;and#160;and#160; The Suburban Solution
3and#160;and#160;and#160; Four Factory Districts, 1860and#8211;1940
4and#160;and#160;and#160; The Shifting Geography of Metropolitan Employment:
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Starts, Additions, and Moves
SECTION II.
NETWORKING THE INDUSTRIAL METROPOLIS
5and#160;and#160;and#160; The Metropolitan Geography of Firm Linkages, 1872and#8211;1901
6and#160;and#160;and#160; Forging the Calumet District, 1880and#8211;1940
7and#160;and#160;and#160; Chicagoand#8217;s Planned Industrial Districts: Clearing and the
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Central Manufacturing Districts
8and#160;and#160;and#160; Networked Space: The Connected Metropolis in the 1920s
9and#160;and#160;and#160; Manufacturing Production Chains and Wholesaling
10and#160; Local Production Practices and Inter-Firm Linkages:
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Chicagoand#8217;s Automotive Industry, 1900and#8211;1940
Conclusion
Appendix: Bankruptcy Records, 1872and#8211;1928
Notes
Index