Urban Studies
Chicago: A Biography
“Reacting to Chaos: Pullman, the West Side, and the Loop”
Pre-Reading Questions:
1. Look at the chapter headings, what are six (6) of the topics that this chapter will cover?
2. Pick any three of the maps and figures from the chapter. What inferences can you make
about life in Chicago based on these images? Please write at least a full sentence about
each of your three (3) examples.
3. As you noticed in the chapter’s subtitles, many of the sections about the responses of
various groups to the urban chaos around them. What does it tell us that so many people
were reacting in so many—and very different—ways?
4. As you look at Map 5 on page 139 it shows how Chicago grew through annexations in the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. What does it tell us about Chicago that so
many communities wanted to become a part of it, rather than remaining separated as
suburbs (such as Glenview)?
Reading Questions:
1. How did outsiders view the growing immigrant neighborhoods in the city of Chicago?
2. What were some of the features—in terms of population, geography, etc.—that could be
found on the West side of Chicago in the late nineteenth-century?
3. What factor does the author believes shaped the “history of the…entire West Side”?
4. What would you find if you visited the intersection of Halsted and Madison at 10pm?
5. Give two examples of institutions that made up the “social richness” that is mentioned on
page 115.
6. Make a list of the different ethnic groups that settled on the West Side of the city (hint:
there should be six).
7. For each of the groups that you listed for question #6, give one example of a defining
characteristic that made them a distinct part of Chicago’s social fabric (this will be a longer
answer).
8. What had George Pullman done to make his fortune in Chicago?
9. What did George Pullman decide to build in order to ensure that his company was
protected from the social unrest of Chicago—the “urban chaos”?
10. What features led observers to call the town of Pullman a “grand experiment in equality”?
11. The word paternalistic is used to describe the way in which Pullman interacted with his
workers. What does this mean?
12. True or False: Jane Addams is awesome and you like her.
13. What were some of the factors that made Jane Addams’s upbringing unique?
14. Where did Jane develop a passion for public life and for working with the poor.
15. What type of programs did Hull-House offer to the people of Chicago?
16. What was the priority for Hull House—that is, what was the mission of the settlement
house?
17. Why did tensions sometimes exist between Jane Addams and her fellow reformers and the
ethnic communities that they sought to work with?
18. What were some of the major advantages of using iron frames in building construction?
19. What were the features of the “Chicago method” of construction?
20. What was the goal behind the construction of beautiful buildings? Why are they included
in a discussion of reactions to urban chaos?
21. What role did the Great Chicago fire of 1871 play in making Chicago a world leader in
architecture?
22. What was Daniel Burnham’s goal for the architecture at the Columbian Exposition? Why
did architects such a Louis Sullivan denounce this choice?
23. What conditions led the workers at the Pullman plant to strike?
24. What were some the events that characterized the 1894 Pullman Strike—be as specific as
possible and list three (3) examples.
25. What did Pullman’s disastrous social experiment teach other reformers about how to solve
the problems of the city?
Discussion Topics:
1. How does the way we view diversity today differ from the way it was understood in the
late nineteenth century?
2. What places in Chicago (or elsewhere) create the same reactions among the middle class
today as the west side did then? What can we learn from this?
3. Do wealthy people have an obligation to help those with fewer material resources? Do
poorer people have an obligation to obey when wealthy people attempt to “help” them?
4. Do you agree with the architects of the nineteenth century? Can buildings solve social
problems?
5. Jane Addams.
6. How do you feel—supported by evidence—about workers striking for better conditions,
pay, etc.?