Forgotten Chicago: Examining Vintage Postcards

On this postcard, the bridge is called Suicide Bridge instead of its official name High Bridge. Postcard publication is unknown.  A tall pedestrian bridge that was built over the Lincoln Park Lagoon in 1894 was later dubbed “Suicide Bridge” after the structure became a popular place for people to take their own lives . It is believed that about 100 people jumped off of the bridge during its 25 years. Located south of Fullerton and east of Lincoln Park Zoo near Webster Avenue (originally called Asylum Place), High Bridge allowed pedestrians to cross from Lincoln Park to the lakefront. At 75 feet--or four stories--tall, the bridge was built high enough to allow sailboats to pass underneath. It was so high that people standing on the bridge on a clear day could see as far as the stockyards, Jackson Park, and the steel mills.   High Bridge was featured in a chase scene in the 1916 film Cousin Jim . The stuntman hired to jump off the bridge refused to do it because he thought

Passenger boats at the Goodrich Docks at Michigan Ave. and the Chicago River offered daily trips to cities in Wisconsin and Michigan. In 1913, Goodrich Steamship Lines charged one dollar to travel from Chicago to Milwaukee. It was a dollar and fifty cents to travel from Chicago to Grand Haven, MI, and Muskegon, MI, and two dollars to travel from Chicago to Grand Rapids, MI. The Goodrich Transportation line was in operation on the Great Lakes since the 1850s, and it lasted for more than 80 years.   The back of the postcard reads that there are a fleet of four ships that travel to various communities in Wisconsin and Michigan. The postcard was sent to a clock company at 10 S. Wabash in Chicago on January 31, 1913.

Fireworks at the Century of Progress Chicago World's Fair in 1933-34. Postcard published by Max Rigot Selling Co., Chicago. My grandfather was just a boy when he went to the Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago in 1933-1934. One exhibition that made an impression on him was a car that could fly like an airplane. He thought that one day flying cars would be in the skies above us. That hasn’t happened yet, and my grandfather died in 2010. That exhibit and many others at the fair showed what the future might be like. It gave people a glimpse of modern homes equipped with sleek refrigerators, ranges and washing machines. These items were expected to hit the market in the 1940s; however, World War II put things on hold for a while. The main fairgrounds were located on Northerly Island and the present site of the Museum Campus. Unlike the mostly government-funded World’s Columbian Exhibition 40 years earlier, the Century of Progress was largely paid for by larg