What did everyday life in Chicago look like a century ago? The answer can be found not only in official records or history books, but also in the short handwritten messages people sent to one another on postcards. Robert Bank’s upcoming book, Greetings from Chicago: A Postcard Book and a Look into Life 100 Years Ago, invites readers to explore those messages and discover a city filled with movement, ambition, humor, worry and human connection.
At a time when many households did not have telephones, postcards offered one of the quickest and least expensive ways to communicate. A sender might announce an arrival time, describe a trip, ask why someone had not written back or share a few lines about work and family. Bank explains that these cards were often selected simply as a convenient way to send a message, meaning the image on the front did not always relate to the note on the back. Yet together, both sides create a remarkable record of the past.
The book takes readers across historic Chicago through postcards featuring the Chicago River, Lake Michigan, train stations, bridges, schools, churches, parks, public buildings, entertainment venues and early transportation. Its chapters also explore police and fire services, sports, amusement, the Union Stock Yards, Lincoln Park and Real Photo Postcards. This broad scope allows readers to experience the city from many different perspectives.
Some cards capture Chicago’s importance as a transportation center. The city once served as a major shipping port and a vital passenger and freight rail hub. Postcards show busy river traffic, steamships carrying travelers across the Great Lakes, grand railway depots, double-decker buses and even early airplanes flying above Grant Park. One aviation postcard includes a sender’s cautious reaction to the new technology: airships were impressive, but riding in one was another matter entirely.
Other messages focus on simple routines that feel surprisingly familiar today. Travelers write that they arrived safely. Friends mention shopping, attending the theatre, going to picnics, visiting beaches and waiting for trains. One postcard describes a night at a comic opera, while another sender complains about Chicago’s heat and searches for shade. These small details turn distant history into something personal and recognizable.
The book also preserves buildings and places that no longer exist. Historic train stations, industrial structures, hotels and early skyscrapers appear as they once looked, often alongside information about what happened to them. The Home Insurance Building, for example, is presented as an important early skyscraper whose iron-frame construction helped shape the future of modern architecture.
Perhaps the book’s greatest strength is its ability to let ordinary people speak for themselves. Their messages reveal homesickness, excitement, affection, curiosity, illness, employment, immigration and everyday responsibilities. Even after 100 years, their voices do not feel entirely distant.
Now in the publishing phase and coming soon, Greetings from Chicago by Robert Bank offers readers more than a collection of vintage images. It is a visual journey, a social history and a celebration of the people whose brief handwritten messages helped preserve the spirit of old Chicago.
