Winding through a brick and concrete jungle on an urban safari, Northwestern students and professors discovered Chicago’s historical side Saturday courtesy of an El ride with history Prof. Henry Binford.
About 85 students and professors from residential colleges rode in two El cars rented for a three-hour tour of Chicago’s architecture and historical neighborhoods. Binford delighted the participants with stories of the buildings along the El’s Purple and Orange lines.
“People always talk about going into Chicago to see the sights, but it’s not always easy to do,” said Nancy Anderson, coordinator for the residential college program.
Anderson began planning the trip last summer as a “cross-college initiative” for students and professors in the residential colleges to meet in a setting outside the classroom. This school year’s events included a Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert and a Joffrey Ballet performance.
Graduate student Zach Cook, who coordinated the event for the Public Affairs Residential College, advertised Binford as a master storyteller.
“I’ve ridden down to the Loop a hundred times and I’ve never noticed half the things he pointed out along the way,” said Cook, a Daily columnist.
The tour wove past cemeteries and houses built more than a century ago and then burrowed beneath the shadows of steel-reinforced skyscrapers. While passing Wrigley Field, Binford remarked how the field was built for the Chicago Whales before the Wrigley family bought it.
“Cities are like concrete. They’re made of particles that get glued together,” Binford said over the intercom.
The train wound past buildings where Frank Lloyd Wright and Al Capone began their Chicago careers. Binford also pointed out the Cabrini-Green public housing project and explained the origin of the Chicago fire.
“It exposed me to a lot of new things about Chicago that make me want to go back and explore,” said Julia Kirkman, a Weinberg freshman.
The train went down the Purple Line to the Loop and then ventured south on the Orange Line. After returning to the Loop, the group got off the El and looked at downtown architecture on a short walking tour.
Students and professors laughed when Binford told them that the 16-story Manhattan Building on Dearborn Street was the tallest building in the world during the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Another impressive sight was the Monadnock Building on Jackson Street, with its 16-foot-thick walls.
For the sightseers, the three-hour tour provided a snapshot of Chicago’s rich history.
“I wish we spent more time walking, getting more insights on each building,” said Kulsum Akbar, a McCormick sophomore.
As the passengers boarded the train back to Evanston, sociology Prof. Alan Schnaiberg thanked Binford for the different perspective on Chicago.
“I thought I knew a lot about the city, but I learned 10 times more than I expected,” he said.
Former Binford student Hiral Mehta said he joined the tour because he enjoyed his Development of the Modern American City course.
“When I took his class in the fall, I thought to myself, ‘Prof. Binford would make a good tour guide,'” said Mehta, a Speech freshman.
Binford has integrated a tour of Chicago into his classes since 1973, when he took his freshman seminar on the El to see the city. Since then, Binford has taken New Student Week groups, a group from the American Bar Association, and different organizations of visiting scholars.
Anderson said she looks forward to the next time Binford will be able to offer the event, but there are no plans for a tour in the near future. But Binford said he will continue to give students the opportunity to break out of their “geographical orbit.”
“The city is always dynamic so I never get tired of doing this,” Binford said.
