Chicago has discovered an important piece of history in an unexpected place—survey maps of Chicago from the 1830s were found at an estate sale. The maps show Chicago's earliest real estate developments (involving building the city's foundation atop marshland) and pre-date the Great Chicago Fire.
Sammy Berk of Harlan J. Berk took on the consignments and discovered several of the maps were hand-drawn in the 1930s. Sammy believes the maps may have been owned by Chicago's first mayor, William B. Ogden, or one of Ogden's relatives.
(Pictured: an early map of River North)
Another map in the collection shows a pair of canals to be built along a stream in what is now River North. That stream is long gone, but one of the canals, now known as Ogden Slip, was eventually built. Chicago was located in a prime spot for development, along Lake Michigan and 70 miles from a river that flowed into the Mississippi. This collection provides a new look into the early development of the city, believed to have been lost during the Great Chicago Fire.
The full collection, which Sammy has named the Ogden Archive, will be on display at the Chicago International Map Fair, Oct. 23-25, at the Loyola University Museum of Art, 820 N Michigan.
