In the 1990s, Chicago transformed itself from a would-be Rust Belt casualty to the global metropolis it is today. If you weren’t living in Chicago in the ’90s, you missed out on life.
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| Chicago in 1996 |
The decade didn’t start out so promisingly. In 1992, U.S. Steel South Works, which had once employed 20,000 workers in Chicago, produced its last bar of product. But that, as it turned out, was emblematic of Chicago’s economic past giving way to its future.
As Chicago became a destination for those new employees — and a whole lot of Big Ten graduates — it gained population in the 1990s, the only time since the 1950s a Midwestern metropolis has done so.
In the 1990s, Chicago was home to two of the most famous people in the world — Michael Jordan and talk show host Oprah Winfrey — and a person who would become more famous than both of them: Barack Obama, who won his first election, to the Illinois State Senate, in 1996, beginning a career that would help erase the city’s image for provincialism and corruption.
These wonderful photos were taken by Steven Martin that show what Chicago looked like in 1996.
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| Ontario Street, looking west from in front of the River North McDonald's, Chicago, February 1996 |
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| Navy Pier at east end, Chicago, July 1996 |
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| Adams Street from Wabash Avenue, Chicago, July 1996 |
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| An old apartment building in the River North neighborhood, corner of Dearborn and Erie, Chicago, February 1996 |
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| Buckingham Fountain, Chicago, July 1996 |
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| Chicago River and Michigan Avenue Bridge, Chicago, February 1996 |
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| Chicago skyline along the lakefront as it appeared on a winter day in February 1996 |
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| Chicago skyline from Shedd Aquarium, July 1996 |
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| Church and houses on Congress Parkway, Chicago, February 1996 |
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| Columbus Drive, Grant Park, Chicago, February 1996 |
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| Congress Parkway looking west, Chicago, February 1996 |
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| Dearborn Street looking south, in front of Federal Plaza, Chicago, July 1996 |
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| El train turning on the curve from Wabash Avenue to Lake Street in the Loop, Chicago, February 1996 |
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| Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, July 1996 |
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| Hilton and Blackstone Hotels from Congress Parkway, Grant Park, July 1996 |
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| Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago, February 1996 |
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| Lake Street from Wabash Avenue, Chicago, February 1996 |
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| Landmark skyscraper condominiums on the north bank of the Chicago River as seen from Wacker Drive, February 1996 |
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| Lighthouse is on Lake Michigan outside the entrance to Chicago Harbor, July 1996 |
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| Looking south along Michigan Avenue from Van Buren, Grant Park, Chicago, July 1996 |
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| Looking toward the John Hancock Center and Water Tower Place from Sheraton Hotel, Chicago, February 1996 |
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| Loop and Lakeshore East skyscrapers viewed from Buckingham Fountain, Chicago, July 1996. |
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| Loop and Lakeshore East skyscrapers viewed from Buckingham Fountain, Chicago, July 1996 |
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| Michigan Avenue looking south from Chicago River Bridge. Three landmark skyscrapers, the 333 N. Michigan Avenue, Carbide & Carbon Building, and the London Guarantee Building, are visible from left to right, February 1996 |
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| Michigan Avenue looking south of Wacker Drive, Chicago, February 1996 |
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| Museum Campus from Navy Pier, Chicago, July 1996 |
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| Navy Pier, Chicago, July 1996 |
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| North Dearborn Street townhouses, Chicago, February 1996 |
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| Row of detached townhouses on Harrison Street, Chicago, February 1996 |
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| Sears Tower rising over Hilton and Blackstone Hotels, Chicago, February 1996 |
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| Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, July 1996 |
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| The Art Institute of Chicago. Bronze lion statues flank the main entrance on Michigan Avenue, July 1996 |
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| The Water Tower place is the white skyscraper and the John Hancock Center is the tall dark skyscraper, taken from Navy Pier, Chicago, July 1996 |
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| Townhouses facing demolition, River North, Chicago, February 1996 |
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| Wabash Avenue looking north from Monroe Street, Chicago Loop, July 1996 |
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| Wabash Avenue looking south from Lake Street, Chicago, February 1996 |
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| Wabash Avenue looking south from Wacker Drive, Chicago, February 1996 |
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| Wacker Drive west of Michigan Ave., Chicago, February 1996 |
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| Wrigley Building and Tribune Tower, landmark skyscrapers anchoring the north bank of the Chicago River at Michigan Avenue, taken from Wacker Drive, February 1996 |
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| Wrigley Building, Chicago, February 1996 |