1901 Map of Riverside

About this map

The Des Plaines River and the North Branch Chicago River anchor this late 19th-century landscape as the Chicago metropolitan area expanded westward into Cook and DuPage counties. The map documents an era of intense civil engineering and transit development, most notably the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and the massive industrial footprint of the Chicago Union Transfer Railroad Yards. Local commerce and community life are centered around the dense network of lines like the Chicago Milwaukee and St. Paul R.R. and the Chicago Great Western R.R., which connected early settlements such as Bensenville, Elmhurst, and Maywood to the city core.