. Chicago. are rich in historic memory, thenames Briggs, Revere, and Clifton stillremaining, like that of Sherman, to recall 39 Chicago the days when the treasonable murmuringsof our Copperheads were so completelystifled by the Lumbardsstirring singing ofthe songs of George F. Root, that our fullquota of troops was dispatched to thefront. Although the Palmer House and theGrand Pacific were barely under roofwhen the Great Fire swept them away, thehotels which now bear these names areamong the oldest buildings in the Loop,typifying to my generation the after-the-Fire period, when we were bending
. Chicago. are rich in historic memory, thenames Briggs, Revere, and Clifton stillremaining, like that of Sherman, to recall 39 Chicago the days when the treasonable murmuringsof our Copperheads were so completelystifled by the Lumbardsstirring singing ofthe songs of George F. Root, that our fullquota of troops was dispatched to thefront. Although the Palmer House and theGrand Pacific were barely under roofwhen the Great Fire swept them away, thehotels which now bear these names areamong the oldest buildings in the Loop,typifying to my generation the after-the-Fire period, when we were bending our en-ergies to the re-creation of our city. Ourhomes were then in tree-lined avenues—Dearborn, LaSalle, Michigan, Prairie, andCalumet — and one or the other of thesepalatial hotels, as we were wont to callthem, was the Mecca of our social pilgrim-ages downtown. Will any old Chica-goan ever forget the annual game dinnerat the Grand Pacific, when in best bib and 40 LaSalle Street at the Stock Exchange. b \ • < The Heart of the City tucker we partook of such obsolete viandsas antelope steak and roast buffalo broughtto us by grinning darkies, each balancingupon an upturned palm a tray filled withdishes shaped like canary birds bathtubs?The Palmer House, the Grand Pacific,and also the new Tremont House werethen our pride, and their bonifaces amongour most esteemed citizens; for who didnot cherish a nod of recognition fromPotter Palmer, John B. Drake, or John Their marble-floored lobbies wereour accustomed haunts, — except at con-vention time, when the slouch-hattedhenchmen of Grant, Blaine, Logan, orGarfield usurped our easy chairs and sul-lied our favorite corners with their tobaccojuice. The sky-scraping hotels of to-daywith their maitres d hotel, gar cons de res-taurmit, and cuisines francaises, are not ofour Chicago soil as were those hostelriesof the after-the-Fire period; nor do they 41 Chicago play so notable a part in the life of thecity. Indeed, the Pa
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectchicagoillhistory
