Carl Sandburg

Carl Sandburg moved to Chicago in 1913 at age thirty five. Sandburg was a newspaper man that turned into a poet and writer. He published his first set of poems in the early 1900s. Some distained his poetry for its vulgar and harsh language. Others praise him for his description of Chicago's brutality, power, ugliness, and energy. Chicago's most oft-heard nickname is "the City of Big Shoulders" which was born in ode to the city, published in 1914. In this poem, he states how Chicago is wicked, crooked and brutal. But, he also states that Chicago is alive with energy, opportunity and accomplishments.

Theodore Dreiser

Dreiser was sixteen years old when he first saw Chicago. He worked as a newpaperman before moving to New York City and writing his first novel. His novel was called Sister Carrie. Some people despised this book for its amorality, harshness, pessimistic resalism, and graceless prose. Others loved this book for the way it portrayed life.

Turlington W. Harvey

Turlington W. Harvey was a Chicago buisnessman and a Christian leader. He founded Harvey, Illinois. Harvey attempted to build a Christian community twenty-one miles south of downtown Chicago. He purchased seven hundred acres of uninhabited land, and seen five thousand people go to this community in two years. Harvey, IL was known as "an earthly paradise which had never been defiled by painted windows and the music of gurgling bottles." He wrote the restrictive covenants that encumbered all land purchases in his town. Pullman, IL was larger and had better establishment then Harvey, IL.

George Pullman

Pullman came to Chicago from the New York. Pullman wanted to redesign railroad cars because on his way from New York, they were the most uncomfortable thing he ever sat in. The railroad cars only had wooden benches. Passengers had to sleep sitting up and had to quickly gulp down meals during terminals. Pullman called his version a palace on wheels. It had soft cloth-covered seats, heaters, fine woodwork, carpeting, oil lamps, velvet curtains, plants and beds. He offered his luxury car to bring Lincoln's body to Illinois. This trip made Pullman's sleeper car a success. He formed the Palace Car Company. Once railroad travel increased, most railroad companies bought Pullman sleeper cars. This company had the largest employer for african americans. Chicago tested Pullman in the Great Railroad Strike, a nationwide strike that saw more than one hundred thousand workers walk off the job for several days. Pullman created his own town, Pullman, IL. Pullman church, Pullman stables, Pullman hotel, theaters, post office, stores, parks, a free kindergarten, good schools, athletic facilities and homes for 5,000 families. These families were employed at the Pullman Company. Pullman, IL was known as "the most perfect city of the world."

Marshall Fields

Marshall Fields was a well-known Chicagoan. He became a mutimillionare by selling atomosphere, glamour, and class as much as selling clothing and shoes. His store was called Marshall Fields. His retail store was a few miles away from the city's bustling rail yards, slaughterhouses, and lumber yards. The size of the store made it the largest retail store on earth in the late 1800s. He first employed ninety thousand workers. Some workers worked operated elevators, rail road yards, slaughterhouses and lumber yards. He made a tea room for women to eat lunch in. He eventually added a nursery, writing room, library, ect. He created an urban refuge for middle and upperclass women. He did not cater to the commoner and working-class women. Field stocked his store with linin, silk scarves, imported Parisian gloves, Oriental rugs, and designer evening gowns. Later on, he designed a men's Marshall Fields at a different location. "Bundle Boys" would bring purchased goods to womens houses.

Myra Bradwell

Myra Bradwell, who was from Chicago, was the first female lawyer in Illinois. She also founded the Chicago Legal News. Her husband was a judge so for years Myra did unofficial clerking that gave her a good background knowledge of legal education. When Bradwell applied for a state bar, the state denied her to have a license to practice law. When Myra went to the Illinois Supreme Court, they stood by the bar's decision and did not grant her the license because "of the disability imposed by...your married condition." This disability was a women's lack of legal standing in making contracts, owning property, suing, or being sued, the same as children. Bradwell then went to the highest court of the country, the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court argued, "The peculiar qualities of womanhood, its gentle graces, its tender susceptibilities, its purity, its delicacy, its emotional impulses, its subordination of hard reason to sympathetic feeling are surely not qualifications for forensic strife. Nature has tempered women as little for judicial conflicts of the courtroom as for the physical conflicts of the battlefield." Bradwell then turned to helping other women. However, they went about it in a different way, they prepared a bill that made it illegal to "deprive citizens of employment because of their gender". In 1873 the legislature passed the bill and Myra Bradwell was granted a license in 1890.

Background

Chicago personalities are specific things that people have done or accomplished in Chicago. These personalities can range from designing stores to social changes. Some of the major Chicago personalities are, Marshall Fields, George Pullman and Myra Bradwell. Marshall made a retail store. George made sleeping cars on trains more comfortable to travel in. Last was Myra, she was the first female lawyer in Chicago.