Chicago Made: Factory Networks in the Industrial Metropolis (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780226477015)

From the lumberyards and meatpacking factories of the Southwest Side to the industrial suburbs that arose near Lake Calumet at the turn of the twentieth century, manufacturing districts shaped Chicago's character and laid the groundwork for its transformation into a sprawling metropolis. Approaching Chicago's story as a reflection of America's industrial history between the Civil War and World War II, Chicago Made explores not only the well-documented workings of centrally located city factories but also the overlooked suburbanization of manufacturing and its profound effect on the metropolitan landscape.
Robert Lewis documents how manufacturers, attracted to greenfield sites on the city's outskirts, began to build factory districts there with the help of an intricate network of railroad owners, real estate developers, financiers, and wholesalers. These immense networks of social ties, organizational memberships, and financial relationships were ultimately more consequential, Lewis demonstrates, than any individual achievement. Beyond simply giving Chicago businesses competitive advantages, they transformed the economic geography of the region. Tracing these transformations across seventy-five years, Chicago Made establishes a broad new foundation for our understanding of urban industrial America.

Author: Robert Lewis
ISBN-10: 0226477010
ISBN-13: 9780226477015
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Language: English
Published: 12/01/2008
Pages: 364
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.35lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.30w x 1.30d

Review Citation(s):
Chronicle of Higher Education 11/21/2008 pg. 16