Streetwise Chicago: A History of Chicago Street Names

my brother in law has been looking for this out of print book for a long time. It arrived promptly and in good shape

This is a fantastic book, detailing all known stories behind all the street names in Chicago. It is both an excellent reference and a fascinating read. Some have criticized it's lack of information on the FORMER names of the streets listed. First, hundreds of streets were renamed in the 1910's merely to eliminate duplicates. Second, many streets were formerly named differently in several places. To burden this book with sorting it all out would diminish it's usefulness and readability. I really hope that this book is reprinted so that others can enjoy it!

I refer to this book more than any other in my collection of Chicago books. Every time I find something new or something that I had forgotten. There is no other book like it. Note to previous reviewers: it is unfair to criticize this book for missing some name changes. It states quite clearly, "This list of street name changes is not complete; it's a selected sample from about 1900 to the present time." And it's wrong to give a book only one star based on an appendix.

This will be a fascinating book to anyone living in, or near Chicago, and who like me, is interested in the history that is all around us. There is so much of this history in the street names - people, places, stories, changing geography etc. I recommend this to any curious person.