Chicago History & Nostalgia

A wide exterior view of an unremarkable, one-story brick United States Post Office building in Englewood, Chicago, under a clear sky, showing a standard concrete sidewalk and an adjacent grassy lot with overgrown weeds.

12 Normal-Looking Chicago Buildings That Hide a Very Dark History (One of Them Is a Post Office)

You walk past them every day: a post office on H.H. Holmes’ cellar, a dive bar where serial killers drank, and a park hiding 12,000 skeletons.

A side-by-side comparison shows two grand architectural spaces in Chicago under expansive glass ceilings. The left side features a bright, modern rooftop restaurant with an indoor-outdoor patio layout, wooden tables with blue tufted barstools, and views of a city skyline over water. The right side features a soaring indoor atrium with a teal steel framework ceiling, a polished geometric marble floor, symmetrical classic facades, and hanging globe chandeliers.

15 Secret Rooftops & Terraces in Chicago You Can Visit for Free

by Struan Hogg

Skip the $30 tickets! From hidden library gardens to secret skyline terraces, discover 15 incredible rooftops in Chicago you can visit for absolutely free.

A large, glowing marquee with green neon script spelling out "Green Mill Cocktail Lounge" is set against a brick and dark marble building facade, bordered by rows of warm, golden incandescent bulbs. Beneath the sign, a round porthole-style window marks a teal door next to a wide viewing window framed by rich emerald curtains and lush potted green plants.

Chicago Bars Where You Can Still Drink Like It’s 1920

by Struan Hogg

Step inside Chicago’s surviving 1920s speakeasies. Discover hidden trapdoors, Al Capone’s reserved booth, and authentic Prohibition-era history.

A composite image showing the modern brick exterior of the historic Ambassador East Hotel in Chicago, with a red arrow pointing to the ground-floor space. A circular inset features a vintage black-and-white photo of the legendary Pump Room entrance, showing a costumed attendant in a feathered turban holding the door.

5 Legendary Chicago Restaurants We Lost Forever

by Struan Hogg

From Hot Doug’s foie gras rebellion to The Berghoff’s 2006 union scandal, discover the gritty truth behind why Chicago’s most legendary restaurants really closed.

• • The deceptively ordinary exterior of H.H. Holmes' notorious Chicago "Murder Castle," where the 1893 World's Fair serial killer constructed a maze of deadly traps.

The Gritty Truth Behind Chicago’s Urban Legends

by Struan Hogg

Chicago’s ghost stories are famous, but the real history is darker. Uncover the truth behind Resurrection Mary, H.H. Holmes, and the Couch Tomb.

A colorized historical street view of the grand Iroquois Theatre in Chicago, featuring a circular inset graphic showing a chaotic black-and-white sketch of a panicked crowd trapped inside during the 1903 fire.

Chicago’s Most Haunted Places & Dark History

by Struan Hogg

From 10,000 forgotten graves under the Lincoln Park Zoo to a legally haunted house in Bridgeport, uncover the gritty truth behind Chicago’s dark history.

The Chicago flag waving in the wind against a blue sky, with the historic white terra cotta architecture of the Wrigley Building in the background.

The Hidden Meanings of Chicago’s 4 Flag Stars

by Struan Hogg

Think you know the Chicago flag? From a bizarre timeline paradox to a forgotten political war, uncover the hidden history behind those four iconic red stars.

Archival photograph of a crowded football game at the University of Chicago's Alonzo Stagg Field in the early 1900s, featuring the massive wooden viewing stands where the Manhattan Project later built the world's first nuclear reactor.

The Secret Nuclear Reactor Under Chicago’s Stagg Field

by Struan Hogg

How the Atomic Age secretly began under an abandoned Chicago football stadium in 1942—complete with zero radiation shielding and a fail-safe axe man.

A vintage early 20th-century postcard showing the sprawling red-brick exterior of the Hull-House settlement complex in Chicago, the historic site of the 1913 Devil Baby mass hysteria.

The 1913 Devil Baby Panic at Chicago’s Hull-House

by Struan Hogg

For six weeks in 1913, a rumored demonic infant paralyzed Chicago’s Hull-House. The true history behind the Devil Baby panic is darker than the myth.

Vintage colorized photograph of the SS Eastland passenger steamship sailing through an open drawbridge on the Chicago River prior to the 1915 disaster.

The SS Eastland Chicago’s Deadliest Day

by Struan Hogg

How a federal law meant to prevent another Titanic caused the SS Eastland to capsize in the Chicago River, killing 844 people just 19 feet from the dock.