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City Cast Chicago

People, places, and scenes from Chicago's past.

Michelle Navarro

If you are like me, all your family history lives within multiple photo albums and VHS tapes stored in your parents’ living room cabinets. I love the rare occurrences where we pull them out and talk about the day that the photo was captured, who was still around, and how the block used to look.

What if you could share that family history with the city? These three archival projects are keeping Chicago family stories alive through photographs and videos past and present.

Black Film Club Collective’s new archival project, Making Meaning, partnered with photographer Kenn Cook Jr. to take 

beautiful black and white portraits of West Side families

 like photos and home movies that reflect life on the West Side to their collection.

 is dedicated to digitizing and showcasing Chicago’s Latine history. The project, founded in 2024, hosts photo-scanning events where Chicagoans can digitize their memories. They accept submissions of photographs taken before 2008.

📷 This collection makes me so nostalgic of my childhood in Chicago because it showcases backyard parties, kids playing in open fire hydrants, posing outside of storefronts that no longer exist, or the everyday gatherings with family and friends.

This searchable catalog has over 700 digitized home movies shot by South Siders from 1929-1982. The project started over two decades ago with the mission to preserve and celebrate personal histories on the South Side. If you are or were a South Sider, you can 

How are you preserving old family photos and home movies? 

If you are like me, all your family history lives within multiple photo albums and VHS tapes stored in your parents’ living room cabinets.

Who’s Preserving Chicago Family History?

Chicago History

Emily Mack

, Chicago’s first non-indiginous permanent settler, arrived in 1779 and set up shop — er, trading post — along the north bank of the Chicago River. Along with his 

, DuSable did business with Native Americans, plus British and French explorers.

 had thriving trade networks across the Great Lakes region. (

Those routes eventually became our diagonal streets!

All that came long before Chicago’s official incorporation as a city on 

. At that point, the city had about 4,000 residents. (It was 

.) From then on, it was full steam ahead.

Does incorporation truly = birthday? In Chicago, it certainly does. Any reason to celebrate!

Chicago’s biggest birthday party this year takes place at the city’s marked geographic center: 

 in McKinley Park. The free event will be inside Andrew Lutheran Church. Expect cake, live music, and a rendition of 

“Happy Birthday” in multiple languages

 at 18th Street Casa de Cultura in the Lower West Side. 

Remember how Chicago turned its stinking river around?

Here’s where Al Capone actually hung out

An ode to poetry from the City of the Big Shoulders

Why alleys are still the backbone of Chicago

The etymological and environmental mystery of the Windy City

Why Chicago’s flag rules — and Illinois’ doesn’t

Now, I leave you with my favorite quote about this 

“Chicago … Like loving a woman with a broken nose, you may well find lovelier lovelies, but never a lovely so real.”

Chicago's official incorporation was in 1837, but Native American tribes had thriving trade networks across the Great Lakes region going much farther back.

Happy Birthday, Chicago!

Tuesday is Millennium Park’s 20th anniversary. With 

, let’s take a look back at the origin story of the city’s iconic public park.

. It was built on the site of old railroad tracks City Council granted to the Illinois Central Railroad in 1852, which was also used later as a parking lot. Mayor Richard M. Daley first announced a plan to build a park in 1998 after convincing the railroad to donate the land rights.

Construction began that year with an opening date of summer 2000, hence the name “Millennium” Park. When the park was finally finished four years behind schedule, it was also way over budget. City officials expected the project to cost $150 million — but the 

 is home to various sites and attractions. The iconic Cloud Gate, or “The Bean,” was completed after the park opened. Architect Frank Gehry designed the Jay Pritzker Pavilion to distribute sound waves evenly throughout the space. The lush Lurie Gardens take up 3.5 acres in the park.

What does the future hold for the park and its visitors? Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot first instituted a 

 after 6 p.m. in 2022 after a weekend of violence that left one teen dead. Three years later, that 

, despite initial opposition from Mayor Brandon Johnson and pushback from park advocates. Parkgoers must also enter through checkpoints and undergo metal detector and bag checks.

The History of Millennium Park in Chicago

The History of Millennium Park

Not ready for Women’s History Month to end? Celebrate at the 

 Saturday, and take this quiz to see how well you know the contributions of Chicago women.

Not ready for Women’s History Month to end? 

Take This Chicago Women's History Month Quiz

Before it was a full-month celebration, there was Women’s History Week. In 1978, a group of women in Santa Rosa, California, recognized that 

 in academics, so they organized a week in March to celebrate and educate others about women’s contributions in the U.S.

During the week of March 8, over a hundred women participated in essay contests, distributed curriculum materials at local schools, and held a parade. The event's success soon inspired women’s groups nationwide to hold similar events.

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation declaring the week of March 8 National Women’s History Week. Seven years later, Congress designated March as Women’s History Month.

The group from Santa Rosa, now known as the 

, selected the week of March 8 to correspond with 

, officially recognized by the United Nations in 1977.

 of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first Women’s Day on Feb. 28, 1909, honored the first anniversary of the garment worker’s strikes that saw thousands of women take to Manhattan’s streets. That strike was timed to honor another garment worker’s rally from March 1857. On March 3, 1913, thousands of 

 marched in Washington, D.C., to fight for a woman’s right to vote.

In 1911, inspired by the day of recognition held in the U.S., more than a million people rallied in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland to hold the first International Women’s Day rally. On March 8, 1917, 

many women went on strike during the Russian Revolution

, which many believe led to the selection of March 8 as the international day.

Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

How do you honor Women’s History Month in Chicago?

International events, such as International Women's Day, may be why we celebrate women's history in March.

Celebrate Women’s History Month in Chicago

How March Became Women’s History Month

You’re familiar with the age-old question: boxers or briefs? But do you know the city’s role in helping bring tighty-whities into the mainstream?

Since the late 1800s, 

 (later Cooper's) had been in the undergarment business. The Midwestern company had been known for its socks and hosiery when it started creating underwear at the turn of the century.

In 1934, a postcard of a man in a bikini style bathing suit from the French Riviera inspired marketing executive and apparel engineer Arthur Kneibler to design snug, legless underwear.

On Jan. 19, 1935, Marshall Field’s was the first store to sell the briefs. Despite a blizzard that day, all 600 pairs 

, according to CNN.

The company found global success and later changed its name to Jockey. But Chicago does have one more chapter in the company’s history: The city hosted an 

 Chi’s Brief Role in Underwear History

Rev. Jesse Jackson formed Operation PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity) on 

, Operation Breadbasket was the first iteration of the movement. As director, Jackson brought more economic opportunities to Black Chicagoans with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, or SCLC.


, pressuring big companies to hire more Black people and work more closely with Black communities.


, Jackson ran for president, inspired by Harold Washington’s historic mayoral election. He formed a multicultural political organization called the 

, a reference to the late Black Panther leader Fred Hampton’s more radical alliance of the same name.


, Jackson merged the two to create the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, which remains committed to fighting for economic and racial justice today.

Want to learn more about Rev. Jackson? Tune into 

This Week in Chi History: Rainbow Push Coalition Formed

Eight years ago today, the city’s first woman mayor died.

 was taken under the wing of Mayor Richard J. Daley in the 1960s, the Tribune reported. By the time she ran for mayor in ‘79, Byrne had worked in various city roles and was involved in party politics.

But her campaign was seen as a rejection of the Democratic machine. Why? She was running against Mayor Michael Bilandic, 

Daley’s successor who had fired Byrne from City Hall

, according to WTTW.

Seen as an underdog, Byrne clinched the nomination partly because of citywide anger over Bilandic’s response to a snowstorm that winter.In her four years as mayor, Byrne memorably:

Faced strikes from teachers, CTA workers, and firefighters

Founded the Blues Fest and the Taste of Chicago, and officially recognized the city's Pride Parade

Replaced Black city officials with white political allies

Decided to live in the Cabrini-Green public housing project for a month

She lost her reelection bid to Harold Washington, the city’s first Black mayor, in 1983. One reason why? She had alienated Black, women, and liberal Chicagoans who had supported her in office. 

On Nov. 14, 2014, she died from complications of a stroke she had the previous year, her daughter Kathy said. She’s buried in Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Evanston.

This Week in Chi History: Jane Byrne

Oct. 26, 2005: The Chicago White Sox beat the Houston Astros (who were still in the National League back then!) in the Chi team’s first World Series in 88 years.The South Siders swept the Astros in four games in a 

The Sox won every postseason away game that year, including the final one, snatching the championship at Houston’s Minute Maid Park.


Of course, we’re all excited when Chicago sports dominate (which didn’t really happen this year) but City Cast Chicago host Jacoby Cochran, a life-long Sox fan, remembers that day very well:

"Growing up, everyone always talked about the Cubs' century-long World Series drought, but the 

 at 88 years. Then the postseason started, and they rolled teams, going 11-1 to tie for the best postseason record ever.

They swept the defending champion Red Sox, made quick work of the Angels, and then swept the Astros. If you listen close you can still hear the sound of Joe Crede's Game 1 homer, Paul Konerko's Game 2 Grand Slam, or Jermaine Dye's clutch Game 4 RBI to ultimately win the game and series. We haven't gotten back since, but it's one of the most dominant postseason runs any of us will ever witness."

This Week in Chi History: Sox Championship

Any other Illini surprised to learn the college once had a 

? 

On Oct. 21, 1946, the university opened a city location for all the World War II veterans taking advantage of the GI Bill.

The two-year commuter campus, called the “

," wasn’t exactly comfortable for students who complained of the distracting noises and smells of the pier’s working dock, the Tribune reported.

But that didn’t stop demand: The Navy Pier location quickly reached its 

, attended the Navy Pier college during its almost 20 years in operation, according to the Encyclopedia of Chicago. (

Author and Logan Square native Shel Silverstein

 lied about attending the campus.)

 In 1965, the campus relocated and expanded to the Near West Side, sparking 