David Anthony Witter

Chicago can be a great place to visit. This book takes one into some of the lesser known enterprises that exist in Chicago and many have been around for quite a while. Many of these places are not well known to inhabitants of Chicagoland and are well worth investigating. Each "oldest" place gets a a story and capsule review of two to four pages. David Witter appears to have visited all these places, and gives his personal stamp on his wandering around.

The first section of the book takes a look at the really old places still there from the 19th century, from the oldest church (First Methodist - 1831) to the oldest camera store (Central Camera - 1899). The second section is a broad category of places from the 20th century, such as the oldest bathhouse (Division St. Russian Baths), the oldest ballpark (Wrigley Field), the oldest magic shop, and many others. The thid section looks at suburban "oldest sites", such as the oldest bar (Glenview Hous), which is actually older than the oldest bar n the city (1878 vs. 1881).

Interspersed are little historical snippets on things like the Columbian Exposition in 1893, Old Town, and "The Stockyards might be gone, but..." The book is nicely laid out and can be carried with you. There is a short indeix and bibliography if you want to probe further.… (más)

As a lifelong (50 year) Chicagoland resident, I thought I'd known nearly everything there is to know about the longest-standing places in the area. This book showed me that I was mistaken.

Sure, I've been to plenty of the longest-standing Chicago places, such as the oldest hot dog place (Super Dawg), the oldest hotel, the Palmer House, and the oldest Italian restaurant (Italian Village) but there are plenty of places I'd never heard of.

This interesting book also gave me information about things/people I pass by but never knew about.

However, you don't have to be a Chicagoland resident or even a Chicago history buff like I am, to enjoy this book. In fact, it's even more suited to the Chicago tourist. After addressing each "oldest place" for 2 or 3 pages, the author provides a brief look at other interesting attractions and/or restaurants in the same neighborhood or of the same type.

Though I quibbled with a fact or two here and there (the McHenry outdoor theater is certainly not closed) and wish that the author had said something about my county, Lake County, this book is a keeper. An informative and fun look at Chicago history. I'd definitely recommend this one.… (más)

Not so much a narrative as a guide, David Anthony Witter's Oldest Chicago offers a quick read on and interesting tidbits for a variety of Chicago locales. The selection is impressive: there are standards such as the Monadnock and the Biograph Theater, but also far less familiar destinations, such as Our Lady of the Republic, a statue built for the White City which we love to pass on our way out of town.

Witter's prose is casual, and in most cases he emphasizes his personal take over the standard history. He takes pains to dedicate a major portion of his entry to personal interviews with store & restaurant proprietors, landmark curators, and family members. As a result, the book doesn't read like a pared down encyclopedia.

Witter raises the spectre of Theseus's Ship: he describes private residences moved blocks if not miles from their original homestead, and businesses currently open in different buildings than those in which they were established (whether rebuilt on the original premises or in entirely unrelated structures). Only a minority of the instances here are due to the Great Chicago Fire. Is it really the oldest hotel if the original burned down completely, or if the current store is in fact the third site for the business? Witter neatly sidesteps the dilemma in emphasizing the experience or meaning rather than the physical structure. How else to explain the entry on the oldest newspaper, the Chicago Defender, with just two sentences on the headquarters building. As he writes about Margie's Candies, "Unlike our landmarks made of steel, glass, and cement, this one is made from chocolate, caramel, ice cream, and fudge." [133]

Witter does a fine job of identifying the basic point of interest in his main entry, and fills out this sketch with sidebars devoted to related stories or other locales in the immediate area. Worth picking up and thumbing through rather than re-reading cover to cover. It's somewhat surprising how many entries are found within 5 miles of Lincoln Square, given this area was not part of the original incorporated city.… (más)