Includes index

Introduction -- Downtown and the near North Side -- North Side -- Near South Side and South Side -- Treasures outside the city

"Within the pages of Oldest Chicago, get to know the history of the Windy City's most iconic buildings and the stories that bring their walls to life ... Local historian David Anthony Witter brings his love of the city to this handy guidebook of the city's buildings, neighborhoods, restaurants, businesses, and bars."--Page 4 of cover

Chicago has thrived for almost two hundred years, and many of its great structures have been lost or demolished-- but much of this history lives on. Witter shares the history of Chicago's most iconic buildings from the city's inception through the 20th century. Readers will discover the personal stories of some of the faces behind the places that continue to give the "City of Big Shoulders" its historical, ethnic, and entrepreneurial identity. -- adapted from back cover