Welcome to chicago, this historic motor road district. 1905 to 1936. With an emphasis on architecture and automobiles. My name is Barbara Barrett and im a history entertainment speaker. That is, i love sharing history and an entertaining way. Ill be your host this afternoon as we explore the fascinating architecture in automobiles for sale on chicagos storied motor show. If you love history. If you love chicago. If you love architecture. Or if you just love automobiles. And i know that you do, youre in the right place. So lets buckle our seatbelts and start your engines. Ladies and gentlemen. Well, you just might wonder where and what is chicagos historic motor road district . Well, its a group of 59 properties, primarily on south Michigan Avenue and secondarily on wabash and indiana avenues between roosevelt road on the north stephens expressway on the south Mccormick Place on the east and the red line Rapid Transit tracks to the west. Now, heres a map of the area. Here we have running down the middle Michigan Avenue, running from north to south and the north end. Roosevt rd and the south end. The stevenson expressway. Off to the east is le michigan, along with the museum campus, including the field museum, the john g. Shed aquarium, the Adler PlanetariumSoldier Field and Mccormick Place. Off to the west, you have the red line Rapid Transit tracks. And in addition to Michigan Avenue, we want to point out indiana avenue as well as wabash, another important feature of this area is the prairie district. Thats where the wealthiest chicagoans lived in the late 1800s and the early 1900s. The chicagos historic motor road district really began in 1905 and is considered the largest intact motor colony in the United States. Presently at its peak. If you can imagine 116 different makes of autos were sold and serviced and motor room. It was designated as a chicago Landmark Park in 2000 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000 and to enlarge parts, the efforts of mayor richard im daley at the time were there auto rows in other cities. Well of course theyve developed in numerous cities at the turn of the last century as Car Companies sought to create districts where the sale and repair of automobiles would become an easy urban shopping experience. So you could find them in chicago, california, indianapolis, indiana. Milwaukee, omaha, even in canada, in edmonton, alberta. But that was not by coincidence that chicagos motor road developed on south Michigan Avenue. It was intentional. First of all, it was the gateway to the prairie district as i indicated previously, where chicagos millionaires lived close to chicagos downtown area, close to the area of finance and commerce and entertainment. It was considered one of the best paved streets in the city at this time. The majority of roads in the city, as well as the country were unpaved and unimproved. But Michigan Avenue was one of the best, and it was near the chicago coliseum, located at 1513 south wabash avenue. And well see why that was important in a moment. Eric travel was an end in its infancy and the International Aviation meet was held along Michigan Avenue and there was an automobile store already there, a small local mobile store. Here we have the chicago coliseum inhis photograph and it was on 1513 sthabash avenue, just a stones throw from Michigan Avenue or motor ad what happened there . Well, the very First Chicago to show was held there. It was held on march 23rd through the 30th, 1901. At that time, it was called the National Automobile exhibit. Now, its interesting to note that the Chicago Auto Show is the longest continuously running auto show in the United States. Beginning in 1901 and next year in 2023, itll be its 116th edition, the only year in which it was not held was between 1942 and 1949, due to world war two. Now, what about that prairie district that i mentioned . Who lived there . Well, people like marshall field. Heres his mansion in the prairie district. It was built at the cost of 2 million. It was one of the first residences in chicago to be electrified. And as you can see, its an imposing and a very attractive home. Three stories high built in the second empire style mansard roof punctuated by dormers. No frame building here. Brick and stone. They learned their lesson from the 1871 great chicago fire. Who else lived in the neighborhood . George pullman. Heres a photograph of his mansion once again. Stone very imposing. Three stories. He h o up on marshall field. He had a portico here and the si ohis home, as well as ornamental ironwork along the roofline. And heres a photograph. The 1911 internation aviation need along Michigan Avenue. Here we have Michigan Avenue grt park here, where the railroad lines, which have since been replad by millennium park, an air field, of course, lake michigan. So Michigan Avenue was the place to be. But how in heavens name did we get from a scene like this . Lake michigan drive in 1905 where you have a beautiful wooden boardwalk, a pedestrian boardwalk here on a sunday afternoon. And off to the right, we have a pathway for horse drawn carriages. No automobile is to be found in this photograph. But how did we get from here to here. Well, at the end of the 1800s, beginning in 1900s in the United States, there was little interest in the automobile. Which is surprising because in europe, there was a tremendous amount of interest with the introduction of karl benz and his automobile. But interest really exploded once americas first automobile race was announced in 1895. It was sponsored by the chicago timesherald newspaper. It involved not only a road race of 54 miles from chicago to evanston and back, but it also involved qualifying tests. How reliable was your automobile . Now, what was the great incentive . The prize purse of 5,000, which in todays dollars is 155,000. So every tinkerer, every bicycle mechanic, every engineer got busy because they wanted to enter the first automobile race and get their portion of the prize. So heres the path they took, started in jackson park, which was the setting for the 1893 worlds columbian exposition. Only two years earlier, they went up Michigan Avenue, lakeshore drive, all the way to evanston and came back south, went a little bit further west, picked up milwaukee avenue, went through humboldt park, garfield park, douglas park, and back to jackson park. Now this competition was announced in the summer of 1895. But for various reasons, the actual race wasnt held to later in the year. It was actually held on november 28, 1895, which was thanksgiving day initially over 80 individuals registered to paicipate in the race. But when it came to the actual day of the race, as pictured here, only six vehicles showed up, two of which were electric vehicles. Well, take a look at this photograph. Here we are at the starting line and its in the same location as the 1893 worlds columbian exposition. And you can see one of the buildings left, which was the palace of the fine arts. Then, which is the museum of science and industry today. And as luck would have it, chicago weather being what it was, they had a massive snowstorm on the night before the race, which really discouraged a number of the entrance. Well, nonetheless, yes, frank and Charles Drury of springfield, massachusetts, they won the race and theyre credited with inventing the First American automobile in 1893. And heres a photograph of their vehicle at the startne. And its a primitive, very simple vehicle, high wheeler, a cart, and it is controlled by a tiller. But he won his portion of that 5,000. Once that race was held and it was held consecutively in subsequent years, interest in the automobile exploded. And early automobiles came in three flavors electric, such as this Detroit Electric steam car, such as the stanley and gas powered cars such as this studebaker. So there was tremendous interest in the automobile and it grew quickly. Now, my interest in motor world really stemmed from a trip my husband and i took down Michigan Avenue one sunday afternoon, not too long ago on our way to a piano recital. Of course, we were stuck in traffic. So naturally, im looking up and admiring the buildings and i notice the names of early automobile makers were appearing at the top of many of the buildings. Buick, local mobil premier, peerless. One of the three ps marmon and hudson. Now i knew that local mobil and marmon had particular histories when it came to the american Automobile Industry. Because i knew in 1906 local mobil won theght vanderbilt race as pictured here. Now, why was that significant . Ll, it was significant because it was the First American made automobile to win the vanderbilt cup. I also knew that the very first indy five was run in 1911 and n by ray jerome and he was driving a marmon wasp. But what about the first vehicle in chicago that happened to be this particular photograph in 1890 to the very first auto drove down the streets in chicago. This, too, was a primitive looking vehicle. And what was it, a car, basic with two bicycles on either side and controlled by a tiller. Now, this was in 1892, but in a few short years, this is what the Automobile Industry produced in 1912. Cadillac model three, touring car. So things progressed very quickly. Just to give you a little perspective in 1910, there were 12,926 passing autos registered in chicago, compared to 58,000 horse drawn vehicles. But just 15 years later, what a difference. 300,000 passenger ohios and only 18,000 horse drawn vehicles registered in chicago. What did automobile manufacturers make before automobiles . Our yugo horn brings up a question. Well, if you thought bicycles, you would be correct. And one of the most successful bike bicycle manufacturers was winton. They enjoyed a tremendous number of sales, but late in the 1800s, there was an economic downturn and the bottom fell out of the bicycle market. But winton didnt really fancy itself in the bicycle business. They thought of themselves as being in the Transportation Business and naturally they came up with the horseless carriage or a winton car as pictured here in this print. And this is a 1905 winton. Now early car buyers, what was what was important to them . Was it color . Was it speed . No, it was reliability. And oftentimes, print ads included testimonials, such as this one from mr. C. L. Roy. He took a trip of 2235 miles of extra ordinary travel, driving his winton, of course, from mexico to puget sound, from sea level to 5000 feet above, over mountains, over rocks, through rushing streams, canyons and adobe mud and extreme temperatures and yet his winton never balked or failed him. Now that appealed to a buyer. Did you think about horse drawn carriages and wagons . Of course that would been studebaker. They were the most successful right here in south bend, indiana, but it didnt take them long to see the writing on the wall and they moved towards horseless carriages. And its interesting to note that their very first foray into the horseless carriage was an electric car before they went into the market for gas powered cars. Now, heres their 1904 studebaker model. See, thats one of their first gas powered vehicles. Would you be surprised to learn that a sewing Machine Company such as the National SewingMachine Company located in belvidere, illinois, started to manufacture over automobiles. Well, they thought, lets expand our product line. And in 1904, they introduced the eldridge, which one sold for a very high price at auction. Now, heres the biggest surprise. The hines pearson, one shower company. They manufactured very high end housewares, including, like this gold gilded birdcage. But they didnt want any and decided were going in the automobile business. And of course, they manufactured very high end cars such as this 1929. Pierce arrow, which belonged to charlie chaplin. He gave it to himself and his 40th birthday in 1929. But what was life like back in 1905 . What did the average Citizen Experience . Well, the average worker made between 200 and 400 a year a new house was about 4690. Now, im not talking about those mansions in the prairie district, which went for about 2 million each. Gasoline was 0. 20 a gallon. Interesting. As compared to today. A new car . Well, the average price was 1000 for 50. What . You could get a model t for around 800. A loaf of bread was 0. 04. But you could still buy a good horse for 40. So you had to really do a cost benefit analysis in your mind to think, should i go with a horseless carriage or should i stick with the old reliable horse . And there were only 8000 autos in the u. S. In 1905 and only 144 miles of paved road. So what was the bluepnt or the template for the showrooms for the motorcar showrooms and mot road . Well, the architects decided they want th to look much like theaters are palaces of entertaining, like in downtown chicag like this one here. The state and lake theater at the corner of state street and lake street. It was a very imposing building, very ornate. And the corner, that was the preferred location. It had one, two, three stories and a tower on the corner. Interesting architectural elements along the roofline and a very handsome entrance. But that was for the exterior. What they really wanted to reproduce was the interior. And this is how the interio looked. Of those major theaters, this is the interior othe state lake. We have a maleobby floor. We have a vaulted ceiling with painted wood. Wood trim. We have mirrored walls just like the palace of versailles in france. And of course, we had very elegant lighting. And what was the main focal point . The Grand Staircase. But how was it that we had many architects in chicago to help build these and design the motor showrooms . Architects such as alfred. Alfred altshuler, christian x storm holabird and roche, jenny mundy and jensen, albert kahn. Well talk a little bit more about him. Well, they were here in chicago for two main reasons. Number one, many came after the great chicago fire of 1871. And heres a photograph. The day after the fire at the intersection of state and madison in chicago, total devastation and not a horseless vehicle to be horseless carriage to be found. All horse drawn vehicles. But thats going to change very quickly. In addition, in 1893, chicago hosted the worlds columbia exposition. And many architects came to chicago in advance to design the exhibit halls and the pavilions for this particular event. So chicago was rich with architects. So lets take a look specifically at some of those motorcars showrooms, beginning with ford. No surprise there. Henry ford wanted to have his first store outside of detroit, located in chicago. And its the oldest remaining showroom. It was opened in 1905 by henry himself. It was a Company Owned store. It was not a dealership. It was designed by architect christian storm. And as many of the motor showrooms, it had first floor plate glass windows, which was Something Different back in 1905. It had a second story with a bank of windows. It was framed in highly glazed terracotta white terracotta with diamond elements here along the top of the second floor. Now, heres how this building looks today. And if you visited south Michigan Avenue, this is what you would see. It was beautifully restored. Red brick and the framing of the highly glazed terracotta tile looks magnificent. If you visited that showroom back in 1905, this is what you might find. Now, mr. Ford, for any of you who know anything about him was rather frugal. So he, of course, nted to showroom on motor road. But it didnt need to be ostentatious. Here he has been selling. He has very modest lighting. His actual columns were not plaster or very ornate. He did have a Grand Staircase kind of hidden away on the back side. But of course, he had these various products for sale and palms and ferns displayed throughout the showroom. And if you visited in 1906, you might find this model and runabout and you might think this looks a little different than some of the early fords because it has right hand drive. And why was that . Well, if you think about the fact that horseless carriages were really an evolution of horse drawn carriages, it makes perfect sense to have the Steering Wheel on the right side. Horse drawn carriages, the reins in the drivers seat on the right side. And there was a practical reason for that. They could just pull over to the side of the road and disembark. And if you didnt exit from that side and you decided to get off into the middle of the road, well, what would you find . Unimproved roads, muddy roads which were strewn well with biological material from horses. So if you visit in 1908, you see this particular ford model t that would be available in the showroom. D what was different than the previous slide . Now, what the Steering Wheel has been moved to the left side. Mr. Ford started at ford motor company, was the first to set the standard. But mind you, not all manufacturer has followed suit. And there was a practical reason. By 1908, mr.