John Stone was the first murderer hanged in Chicago – and suggested the murder wasn’t his first. An “oral history” of his Chicago crime.
Author: adam
author / historian who does all kinds of neat stuff. I have about 20 books out and I've been running historical tours and ghost tours in Chicago since 2005.
Jefferson Davis in Chicago
While researching an upcoming article, I noticed something that struck me as odd: a first-hand account of Jefferson Davis coming to Chicago in 1829. I had never heard of the future Confederate president being in the area. That year, then-Lt. Davis had been stationed at Fort Winnebago, near what is now Portage, Wisconsin, and apparently…
Jo Anderson: The Mysterious Slave of Cyrus McCormick
Investigating the story of Joe Anderson, the slave whom some say deserves credit for inventing McCormick’s reaper.
“Brutality of a Policeman.”
Stories of police brutality in Chicago aren’t new
Burnham’s “Make No Little Plans” Quote: Apocryphal No More!
Locating and reprinting the original speech in which Daniel Burnham told city planners to “make no little plans.” Reprinted for the first time since 1910!
The Devil and Daniel Elston
Did the devil stalk the north branch of the river in the 1850s, tempting boys to steal apples? And was Knud Iverson drowned for refusing, or was his death a tragic accident? A controversy from 1853.
The Cop Who Cried Wolf
Listen above, on archive.org, or iTunes. Or see more podcasts! Pictured above is Officer Curran. In 1925, he was working the desk at the County Building, where gangsters John Scalisi and Albert Anselmi had just been brought in . They’d been arrested after a chaotic day in which they’d gone out with Mike Genna to…
Cap Streeter’s Automobile Mobile Home
Did Cap Streeter invent the modern mobile home?