Produced and published by the local Chicago lithography company, the Poole Brothers, this bird's eye perspective depicts the city in a period of significant growth and transformation as the nation neared the turn of the century. As the largest and most iconic city in the American Midwest, Chicago remains a tremendous economic hub and cultural influence for much of the nation. The prosperity spurred by the industrial revolution during the latter portions of the nineteenth century had taken hold in Chicago, and vast fortunes were being made as the city attracted residents and immigrants from the American South as well as Western and Eastern Europe who established communities based on cultural lines, many of which exist to this day. The Poole Brothers' first map was published in 1880. However, the company would undergo several iterations in its decades-long history, including the original four partners that would form perhaps the most iconic cartography company Rand-McNally. Located on the shores of Lake Michigan, Chicago was first incorporated in 1837 and grew rapidly during the nineteenth century and was an early adopter of steel and glass skyscraper architecture that would become synonymous with the style of the so-called Gilded Age following the industrial revolution. Bird's eye perspectives were produced as marketing materials to attract residents and merchants alike and promote prominent civic, economic, and natural features in a stylized format that was widely popular at the time. This is a distinct piece of American cartographical history that transports the viewer back in time.
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