This series of roughly eighty markers, produced as a joint effort of the Chicago Tribune Foundation, the Chicago Cultural Center Foundation, and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, commemorates "notable Chicagoans by marking the places where they lived or worked". See ChicagoTribute.org for more information.
Bessie Coleman
Aviatrix
1892-1926
During the mid-1910s, Bessie Coleman moved from Texas to
Chicago, first working as a manicurist at the White Sox Barber
Shop and later running a chili parlor on the corner of 35th Street
and . . . — — Map (db m180888) HM
Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong
Jazz Musician
1898 - 1971
One of the most gifted musicians in the history of jazz,
Louis Armstrong spent his most inventive years—1925
to 1929—playing the clubs of Chicago’s Black Belt,
especially the . . . — — Map (db m180936) HM
Nat "King" Cole
Musician
1919 - 1965
Nat "King" Cole's warm, relaxed, velvety
voice made him a best-selling recording
star. His 1949 hit "Mona Lisa" sold more
than three million copies, and in 1956 he
became the first . . . — — Map (db m180615) HM
Oscar DePriest
Politician
1871-1951
Shrewd, smart and street savvy, Oscar
DePriest was a natural politician. He
became Chicago’s first black alderman
and the first black congressman elected
from a northern state.
Born in . . . — — Map (db m181271) HM
Robert S. Abbott
Newspaper publisher
1868 - 1940
On a May evening in 1905, Robert Sengstacke
Abbott appeared on the streets of Chicago selling
his four-page Chicago Defender, proclaiming it “the
only two-cent weekly in . . . — — Map (db m181014) HM
The Marx Brothers
Comedy team
The Marx Brothers lived here at 4512 Grand Boulevard
(now King Drive) when they moved to Chicago to tour the
vaudeville circuit in the 1910s. Their act, “The Six Musical
Mascots,” included all five . . . — — Map (db m181366) HM
Ida B. Wells-Barnett
1862-1931
Social reformer
Ida B. Wells-Barnett spent her life crusading against lynching
in America. An advocate for civil rights, woman’s suffrage and
economic justice, her anti-lynching campaign stirred the . . . — — Map (db m181804) HM
Richard Wright
Novelist, playwright, social critic
1908-1960
Through eloquent and powerful
writing, Richard Wright established
himself as one of the greatest writers
of his generation. His novels and
drawn from his own experiences, . . . — — Map (db m180696) HM
Harold Washington
Politician
1922 - 1987
Harold Washington’s election in 1983 as Chicago’s first
black mayor gained national attention. He won with the
support of a “rainbow coalition” of blacks, Hispanics,
Asians, liberal . . . — — Map (db m188263) HM
Finley Peter Dunne
Journalist
1867 - 1936
One of the most memorable characters in
Chicago literature is Martin Dooley, the
loquacious and opinionated Irish immigrant
who tended bar along Archer Avenue in
the Bridgeport . . . — — Map (db m188239) HM
George Halas
Football Coach
1895-1983
For half a century, George “Papa Bear” Halas was
synonymous with the Chicago Bears. Founder of
the football team, he was the team’s coach for 40
years and general manager for an additional . . . — — Map (db m188238) HM
The 1870 marriage of Bertha Honore and Potter Palmer united two of the wealthiest and most influential families of 19th century Chicago. Both were strong-willed individualists who used their economic power and social positions to carry out their . . . — — Map (db m188620) HM
Irna Phillips
Script Writer
1901-1973
The "mother of the soap opera," Irna Phillips
single-handedly created a unique form of entertainment
that began on radio but reached its biggest audience
through television.
Phillips's . . . — — Map (db m188085) HM
John Wellborn Root
Architect
1850-1891
John Wellborn Root's architectural designs
helped to establish Chicago as the
birthplace of modern architecture.
After the Great Fire of 1871, Root came
here from New York City to . . . — — Map (db m188509) HM
Louise DeKoven Bowen
Social Reformer
1859 - 1953
Although she lived with all the privileges of wealth,
Louise DeKoven Bowen dedicated her life to social
reform in Chicago. Her tireless efforts for the rights
of women, children, . . . — — Map (db m188525) HM
Robert McCormick
Newspaper editor and publisher
1880 - 1955
Robert McCormick, known as “the Colonel” for his
service in World War I, served as editor and
publisher of the Chicago Tribune for 30 years. He
made the . . . — — Map (db m188582) HM
The atomic age arrived on December 2, 1942, when Enrico Fermi produced the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. He did this in a laboratory under the Stagg Field bleachers at the University of Chicago. That work led to the . . . — — Map (db m188035) HM
Julius Rosenwald
Businessman and philanthropist
1862 - 1932
Sears, Roebuck & Company became a household
name because of the energy and vision of Julius
Rosenwald. He developed Sears’ mail-order
business when much of the nation . . . — — Map (db m188774) HM
Louis Henry Sullivan
Architect
1856 - 1924
Known as the “prophet of modern architecture,”
Louis Sullivan advocated creating buildings that
honestly mirrored their time, place and technology.
Unlike many architects of the period . . . — — Map (db m188759) HM
McKinley Morganfield "Muddy Waters"
Blues musician
1915 - 1983
Nicknamed for the puddles he played in while
growing up in Mississippi, Muddy Waters learned
harmonica and guitar while working as a
sharecropper. He came to . . . — — Map (db m188336) HM
Pearl M. Hart
Attorney
1890-1975
Pearl M. Hart practiced law in Chicago for
61 years as an advocate for the oppressed,
most notably children, women, immigrants
and homosexuals.
Hart grew up in the bustling Russian Jewish . . . — — Map (db m188273) HM
László Moholy-Nagy came to Chicago in 1937 to
direct the New Bauhaus, an experimental art and
design school. One of the most creative
personalities of his time, Moholy-Nagy was a
writer, painter, photographer, filmmaker,
teacher, . . . — — Map (db m188068) HM
Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini
Catholic nun, founder of religious and social institutions
1850 - 1917
Mother Frances Cabrini was the first American declared a saint
by the Catholic Church. She was recognized for her tireless
work . . . — — Map (db m187989) HM
Ellis Chesbrough
Engineer
1813-1886
By 1855, Chicago was a growing city encountering problems with
its water supply and sewage disposal. In response to cholera and
dysentery epidemics, the Chicago Board of Sewage
Commissioners . . . — — Map (db m188067) HM
George Pullman established his reputation in Chicago in 1859 by inventing a way to raise buildings to the new street level required for installation of a sewer system.
In 1863, he began converting railroad passenger cars into luxury sleeping . . . — — Map (db m99944) HM
Benny Goodman
1909–1986
Musician
Benny Goodman, premier jazz clarinetist, band
leader and composer, enjoyed a career that spanned
seven decades.
The Goodman family settled at 1125 South Francisco
Avenue when Benny was eight. . . . — — Map (db m187766) HM
Hannah Greenebaum Solomon
Social Reformer
1858 - 1942
Hannah Greenebaum Solomon's lifelong activism on behalf of
women and children stemmed from her deep conviction for
social justice and universal brotherhood.
At Chicago's . . . — — Map (db m188316) HM
Ruth Page
Dancer and Choreographer
1899 - 1991
Ruth Page was a pioneering figure in
American dance, and the most influential
dance presence that Chicago has ever
known. Choreographing operas into ballets,
she created an . . . — — Map (db m181012) HM
Mahalia Jackson
Gospel singer
1911 - 1972
One of thousands of black Southerners to move north
during the Great Migration, Mahalia Jackson arrived in
Chicago in 1927, bringing with her the rich tradition of
New Orleans gospel . . . — — Map (db m188245) HM
Thomas A. Dorsey
Musician
1899 - 1993
The “father of gospel music,” Thomas Dorsey mixed jazz, blues
and spirituals to create a new musical genre. Composer, publisher
and promoter, he toured the United States with legends
Mahalia . . . — — Map (db m188247) HM
Considered the founders of Chicago, Catherine (1756 - 1809) and Jean Baptiste (1745 - 1818) Point du Sable established a fur trading post on this site in the 1770s or early 1780s, approximately a half century before Chicago was incorporated. This . . . — — Map (db m99739) HM
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Architect
1886 - 1969
The master of Modern architecture and one of the
greatest architects of the 20th Century, Ludwig Mies
van der Rohe reshaped the skylines of America’s
major cities in the 1950s, '60s, . . . — — Map (db m181521) HM
Margaret Anderson
Editor and Writer
1886-1973
Margaret Anderson awoke one night
curiously depressed from the realization
that there was nothing inspiring in her life.
As the remedy, she founded the avant-garde
literary . . . — — Map (db m188044) HM
John Dewey
Philosopher and educator
1859 - 1952
John Dewey was one of the foremost philosophers of the twentieth
century and a founder of the Laboratory School at the University of
Chicago. He played a role in public life that few . . . — — Map (db m188254) HM
