Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837, and for the years that followed before the Great Chicago Fire, the city grew slowly and steadily, finally becoming the second largest city in America. After the Fire in 1871, the city rebuilt quickly and technological changes came with brick buildings, a more modern downtown and transportation system. This was the prologue to the concept of this book about how Chicago has changed and adapted over the past 145 years. The authors, through the use of a combination of striking and evocative postcards gathered by Lawrence Okrent, black and white photos drawn from collections amassed by the Chicago History Museum, the Newberry Library and the Chicago Transit Authority, and color photographs taken by one of the book's co-authors, Steven Dahlman, have created a book that provides the reader with many ways in which Chicago has changed from the 1880s to today.