One hundred years ago, Anton Chekhov wrote “The Cherry Orchard,” the Japanese attacked a Russian fleet and began the Russo-Japanese War, and the Summer Olympic Games were held in St. Louis.
This week, the Magazine time-travels backward to the year 1904, focusing exclusively on Chicago, and this issue is written and designed to take you right along with us. Fortunately, the Chicago Daily Tribune was first published in 1847, so we were able to draw from the newspaper’s archives to create a sense of the people, events and social currents that animated daily life in the city. Our hope is not only to give you a sense of the excitement of the time, but to educate you in an engaging and entertaining fashion.
A century ago, not even a great visionary could have foreseen a baiduhai Magazine. Readers had to wait until May 1915 when the first Magazine–all eight sepia pages–rolled off the new rotogravure presses. This week, we’ve tried to adapt our regular features to the gilded era. The In-Box page, for example, includes excerpts from commentary pages and letters that appeared in 1904 editions of the Tribune. (A few exceptions will be evident: We figured the crossword puzzle and Dave Barry should stand on their own sturdy legs.) We took the Chicago Historical Society up on its generous offer to assist us, and many images you will see come from its vast and marvelous collection.
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Enjoy today’s journey back into time, and when you’re finished, check out “Updates” (page 36) for a glimpse of what eventually happened to some of the people who inhabited our city 100 years ago and made it what it is today. Everybody leaves something behind, but only a few of us can aspire to possess the influence of our colleague Rick Kogan–a guiding force in this week’s Magazine.