The Chicago Tribune highlighted the demographic changes that accompanied and encouraged the transformation of Prairie Avenue from Chicago's grand residential street into an industrial enclave. Implicit in the description of a street of widows and widowers was the awareness that their children had moved to newer elite communities on the North Side or more distant from the city's center. In this generational change, Prairie Avenue was not unique. But it was unusual in the details: Prairie Avenue was undesirable to those who could afford its houses, and its houses were too expensive for those who might accept the location.

Creator: Chicago Tribune
Source: Chicago Historical Society (ICHi-38020)