In these post-COVID years I rarely think of a big city as a place to take a vacation. But I remember visiting Chicago many times in the past and going to places like the Field Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Art Institute, and lunch at Marshall Fields. I can imagine that, just as a visit to New Orleans would be exotic for Midwesterners, a visit to Chicago would be a thrill for people from Birmingham, Memphis, Sioux City, and other places served by Illinois Central lines.
Click image to download a 20.9-MB PDF of this 52-page booklet.
Although this 1931 booklet is almost a century old, it is striking how much of Chicago then remains today. The booklet includes numerous photographs of museums, parks, skyscrapers, and universities, most of which look about the same today as hey did then. Of course, there are more and bigger skyscrapers today, but the biggest change from the photos shown in the booklet is the demolition of the Illinois Central train station.
The cover painting is signed “Proehl,” meaning Paul Proehl, whose work we’ve seen before for both Illinois Central and Burlington. He also painted calendars and menus for Chicago & North Western.
The flat style of this cover is similar to the covers of some Burlington booklets, but those are unsigned and could have been done by another artist. Proehl didn’t usually paint such flat illustrations as can be seen from his posters for Illinois Central, which will be featured in tomorrow’s post.
Click image to download a 530-KB PDF of this insert.
This booklet came with an insert listing Illinois Central agents. It seems like this could have been the result of poor planning: why didn’t they include this list in the booklet itself, possibly on the inside back cover? But an otherwise identical booklet dated 1930 plus another IC booklet from the same era, whose cover is also probably by Paul Proehl, also came with inserts.
The insert for today’s booklet says it was printed on the same day as the booklet and even calls itself “Insert Chicago for the Tourist,” confirming it was planned in advance and not a last-minute addition. IC public relations must have thought that having an insert would help call people’s attention to the information on that page.