My daughter gave me a book for my birthday titled "Forgotten Chicago". It's an Arcadia Publication which many are familiar with here.

Not finished with it just yet but here's a sample of what I've learned. The long gone Coliseum on 14th and Wabash was partly built from material obtained from the Civil War Confederate Libby Prison which housed 50,00 Union soldiers during the war years. The Libby Prison was located in Richmond Virginia. The material was shipped to Chicago on 132 railcars. Before the Coliseum was the Coliseum, it was a Civil War museum, thus the prison motif. After the museum lost its luster, the Coliseum was built but the prison structure remained.


Book link:

http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=9780738532790&Store_Code=arcadia&search=forgotten+chicago&offset=0&filter_cat=&PowerSearch_Begin_Only=&sort=name.asc&range_low=&range_high=%26srch_name%3D1

Interesting book title and a nice addition to my tiny but growing Chicago library.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2010 12:58PM by daveg.