1923 Ross & Co. Real Estate Railway Exchange Map of Chicago
DESCRIPTION
By: Ross & Company
Date: 1923 (dated) Chicago
Dimensions: 44 x 24 inches
This is an unrecorded early variant of a promotional real estate map of Chicago that was issued by Ross & Company with a copyright date of October 1, 1923. The map showcases commercial development opportunities and an evolving transportation infrastructure in the city’s booming North Side and downtown districts.
Extending from Lincoln Park in the north to the Illinois Central rail yards and Grant Park in the south, the map captures the area between the lakefront and Halsted Street, emphasizing Chicago’s dense urban grid, key transportation corridors, and the commercial vitality that defined the city in the early twentieth century. It was produced as both a reference tool and a persuasive instrument to attract investment and development.
Color coding throughout the map helps decode Chicago’s layered transportation networks. Green lines trace the city’s elevated railway system, which encircles the Loop and extends outward into surrounding neighborhoods. Yellow lines indicate streetcar routes, then still the dominant mode of urban transit. Motor bus lines are marked in pink, exemplifying the emergence of motorized buses as a flexible complement to the fixed-rail system.
Public parks and boulevards are highlighted in soft green, underscoring the presence of Chicago’s historic park and boulevard system that provided both recreation and prestige to the neighborhoods it touched. These transit networks illustrate the city’s growing connectivity by the 1920s, while echoing Daniel Burnham’s vision of a unified and efficient urban landscape designed to serve commerce, industry, and the public alike..
At right, a detailed index identifies 66 industrial, commercial, and civic landmarks, including major institutions like the Chicago Tribune, Montgomery Ward, Sears, Roebuck & Co., Marshall Field & Co., and the Pullman Company. The city’s major hotels, newspapers, department stores, and manufacturers are all noted, reinforcing the commercial weight of the area covered. The river’s slips and turning basins are also shown in detail, indicating the importance of Chicago’s waterways for shipping and industrial distribution during this period.
A particularly notable feature of the map is the proposed North and South connecting boulevard, depicted as a direct extension from the southern end of Lake Shore Drive. This planned connection reflects early 20th-century ambitions to unify Chicago’s park and boulevard systems into a continuous lakefront drive; an urban vision that would eventually culminate in the development of today’s Lake Shore Drive. Also of note is the "(New) $9,000,000 Drake Hotel," an icon of the city and landmark along the lakefront that was officially completed and opened to the public on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1920.
Ross & Company, the map’s publisher, was a prominent Chicago-based real estate firm with offices in the Railway Exchange Building at 208 S. Michigan Avenue. Operated by Walter S. Ross and Alfred J. Browne, the company specialized in commercial and industrial property transactions throughout the city. Their strategic location within Daniel Burnham’s landmark office building—home to numerous architects and planners—placed them at the epicenter of real estate activity during a period of aggressive urban growth. This map reflects the firm's role not only as brokers, but as civic boosters invested in shaping and selling the future of Chicago as a modern, interconnected metropolis.
Condition: Map is in very fine condition with some soiling and remnants of fold lines. Overall, the paper and colors are bright and lovely. The map has been linen backed for preservation and presentation purposes.
Inventory #13113
CONDITION
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