Curious City

Ever see this rusty old freighter off the Bishop Ford Expressway? Its backstory says a lot about the Great Lakes shipping industry.

There are plenty, but let’s just say they’re not ready for a nuclear apocalypse.

Poverty touches all races in Chicago, but it's more visible among blacks and Latinos. Here's why that happens and why it matters.

From teenage mischief to possible drug markets, a search for the real reasons sneakers end up on power lines.

Chicago’s notorious light pollution hides the stars, but here’s where you have a fighting chance to peek at the heavens.

The DuSable Museum says — creepy or not — its Harold Washington robot will teach you a thing or two about the city’s first African-American mayor.

The program is no sham, but a good number of recyclables still head to landfills.

How often do the dead make way for planes, parks and other local development? More than you'd think.

Living near the CTA means life in a rattling fishbowl, but some Chicagoans adapt.

Unsung urban planning hero Edward Brennan tamed a chaotic 19th-century street-numbering system.

We start an era-by-era search for the district’s ‘golden age’ and wonder: Could it be right now?

The city rode high when ‘His Airness’ played for the Bulls. But what did he leave behind?

Camp Douglas’ deadly reputation was kept in shadows but now there’s a surprising movement to bring it to light .

Engineers once compared Chicago’s soggy soil to jelly cake. How did they build a forest of skyscrapers on it?  

How Chicago’s Polish community won a Revolutionary War hero a holiday ... in a state he never stepped in.

Sure, the timing’s awful for campaigning and voting, but it wasn’t some trick concocted by the Democratic Machine. In fact, it was meant to empower voters.

A Chinese developer wants to alter the city skyline and break a dry spell in a field we once dominated.

Let our info about the Let our info about the worst hours, days and seasons for road congestion steer you clear from a traffic-induced personal hell. 

The Chicago suburbs of Romeoville and Joliet were once named Romeo and Juliet. We explored why.

What associations do you make with Chicago? Da Bears? Shady politics? Wacky weather? If you feel that list is getting stale, here’s a list of new ones to consider!

A state task force likes the idea, but one former officer says the proposed job description could be a bit too much.

Our case study: The U of C, where a private force polices 65,000 Chicagoans on and off campus.

What makes these notable ghost stories tick? Even if you don’t believe them, you’ll never forget them.

How a modest congregation at Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist built and maintained an improbably cool concrete oasis in such an improbable location.   

Historians consider our “what-if” scenario about a city that escaped the 1871 blaze. Would the Loop be a livable neighborhood? Would the skyline be so strident? And would there be such a thing as the Chicago spirit?