Dr. Cyrus Teed’s cult-like religion attracted death threats and broke up marriages in late 19th century Chicago.
Author Archives: Jeff Nichols
Posted inCity Life
Chicago at the turn of the century through the eyes of Rudolph F. Michaelis
From 1900 to 1905, his photographs captured slices of everyday life.
Posted inCity Life
The maverick at the center of Chicago’s 1918 flu response
Meet Dr. John Dill Robertson, the “utterly unqualified” head of the Chicago Health Department
Posted inCity Life
The ghosts of Great Lakes
The deaths of nearly a thousand sailors at Great Lakes Naval Training Station in 1918 hold lessons for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Posted inCity Life
The opposite of social distancing
Photos from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century show Chicago in love and at play.
Posted inCity Life
When Cook County enlisted the Marines to fight marijuana
A sheriff, a pack of journalists, and three sergeants walked into a field of weed . . . with flamethrowers.
Posted inCity Life
A trip back in time to the World’s Columbian Exposition
Travel tips for Chicago from 1893 (yes, you should tip your servers).
Posted inCity Life
Field notes from the war on sex
A century ago, the Committee of Fifteen hunted for “houses of ill-fame.”
Posted inCity Life
They thought he was an ‘agitator’
Franklin A. Denison was no rabble-rouser, but the Bureau of Investigation said he sparked the 1919 race riot.
Posted inCity Life
Chicago’s animals gone wild
Fence-hopping sea lions, a chilled-out coyote, and more animal exploits from history
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A tale of two soldiers
Letters home from two WWI soldiers, one white, one Black, explain the 1919 Chicago race riot as well as any history book.
Posted inCity Life
An airport in the lake
How Mayor Richard J. Daley’s ambitious plan failed to take flight
Posted inCity Life
Think you know your Chicago underworld slang?
A quiz on some of the less obvious entries in a 1967 police-training dictionary
Posted inCity Life
Miss Teen Wordpower
The story of forgotten Chicago vaudevillian and superfast typist Birdie Reeve
Posted inNews & Politics
The surprising Chicago origins of indoor baseball
From humble and hilarious beginnings on the south side in 1887, the sport grew into a favorite pastime for women and the working class.