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An original documentary series from Chicago PBS affiliate WTTW uncovering the city’s fascinating history. Each story presents an entertaining and intriguing tale about a person or event that shaped Chicago. The series reflects the rich diversity and breadth of human experience that shaped this great American city.
2023
On December 1, 1958, a devastating fire swept through Our Lady of the Angels school in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood, killing 92 children and three nuns. Survivors, their families, and community members share their harrowing memories of that day and the heartbreaking aftermath.
From the city’s earliest days, Chicago residents and businesses alike dumped their waste directly into the Chicago River, which flowed into Lake Michigan, contaminating the city’s drinking water and causing widespread disease and death. This film explores the various attempts to combat the problem and save the city, and one bold solution: reversing the flow of the river away from the lake.
In 1864, the powerful industrialist and engineer George Pullman brought luxury to overnight train travel with his revolutionary sleeping cars, where passengers were served by an army of former slaves who became known as Pullman Porters and Maids. Pullman soon established a company town for employees on Chicago’s South Side that gave him complete authority over every aspect of their lives.
Longtime Chicago mayor Richard J. “Boss” Daley had a lofty vision for Chicago’s downtown, and didn’t let anything or anyone stand in his way. Over the course of his 21 years in office, Daley’s ambitious urban renewal initiatives were the foundation of the city’s infrastructure and at the same time displaced the poor and people of color while perpetuating racial segregation.
Jane Addams, born into wealth and privilege, had been intrigued by social reform since a visit to a settlement house in London’s impoverished East End. An inheritance made it possible for her to bring that concept to Chicago with the creation of Hull House. Chicago Stories profiles this activist and the other women who joined her to enrich the lives of thousands of immigrant families.
Brach. Mars. Wrigley. These are just a few of the candy companies that have called Chicago home. At the time of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, more than 100 candy companies were in operation in the area, producing such familiar confections as Baby Ruth, Tootsie Roll, Lemonheads, and Juicy Fruit gum.
Danny Sotomayor was a man on a mission. The fiery openly gay AIDS activist, political cartoonist, and organizer took to the streets, using civil disobedience to wage war on city officials who marginalized the LGBTQ community and turned a blind eye to the AIDS crisis – all while fighting a losing battle with the disease himself.
In an age before online commerce and Amazon, the catalog was king – and two Chicago mail order giants were responsible for making goods and services accessible to the masses. Chicago Stories traces the histories of Sears, Roebuck and Montgomery Ward and the fierce rivalry between the two bold innovators who founded them and forever changed the way we shop.
2024
In 1924, after several months of meticulous planning, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb kidnapped and murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks for the thrill of committing a "perfect crime."
2020
On October 10, 1871, Chicago awoke to an unrecognizable landscape: where 48 hours earlier there had been a vibrant city, now there was nothing but rubble stretched for miles on end. The event is brought to life as never before, using vivid animations, elaborate re-creations, and interviews with historians and the descendants of eyewitnesses.
It's the most notorious scandal in baseball history. Eight Chicago White Sox players are charged with throwing 1919's World Series--ruining the reputations and careers of some of the game's greatest players and breaking a nation's heart.
Dive into the history of Chicago’s amusement parks and the role the city played in shaping the amusement industry. Explore Riverview Park, Ravinia, Santa’s Village, Kiddieland, and more
Before Lincoln Park was known for its multimillion-dollar homes, the neighborhood was the beating heart of Chicago’s Puerto Rican community, and the base of operations for a band of Puerto Rican revolutionaries known as the Young Lords.
Playboy, a brand now synonymous with sex, was launched by Hugh Hefner in the 1950s in Chicago. Hefner bought the iconic Playboy mansion in Chicago’s Gold Coast where his raucous parties became the stuff of legend. He also opened the first of 30 Playboy clubs in Chicago, outfitting cocktail waitresses in heels and bunny tails.
In the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968, chaos erupted on Chicago’s West Side. Grief turned into anger as protests, riots, looting, and fires consumed some neighborhoods. Audio-narrated descriptions of key visual elements are available.
During Prohibition in Chicago, infamous mobster Al Capone built his empire. His gang became sprawling criminal empire, often embattled in bloody conflicts that would cement Capone as one of America’s most notorious gangsters.
Explore the origins of house music, which began in Chicago’s underground party scene as a safe space for gay people and people of color.
There are few Chicago historical figures whose life and work speak to the current moment more than Ida B. Wells, the 19th century investigative journalist, civil rights leader, and passionate suffragist.
Chicago’s greatest cultural export just might be improvised theater, which was born at Jane Addams’ Hull House during the Great Depression and carried out into the world by the likes of Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Stephen Colbert. But while to most people improv might seem synonymous with comedy, the art form was devised by a woman named Viola Spolin who wasn’t out for laughs.
2022
As a woman once again occupies the fifth floor of City Hall, Chicago Stories remembers the city’s first female mayor. After pulling off one of Chicago’s greatest political upsets, Jane Byrne found herself caught between the political machine that shaped her and the reformers who elected her.
Two very different disasters occurred in the heart of Chicago’s Loop 90 years apart. First, the deadliest building fire in U.S. history: the 1903 Iroquois Theatre Fire. Then, the Great Loop Flood of 1992 which saw downtown buildings mysteriously flooded by the Chicago River, and the city searching for answers in a long-forgotten tunnel system.
The real Mad Men of Chicago became leaders of the advertising world, creating iconic figures like the Marlboro Man, Charlie the Tuna, and the Pillsbury Dough Boy.
At the end of the 19th century, Chicago completely transformed the way Americans eat, and the Union Stockyards on the South Side were the center of that revolution. Experience the sights, sounds, and awful smells of the Union Stockyards and the complex of meat factories next to it, known as Packingtown.
This is the story of pride and heartbreak in a close-knit South Side community. Our Lady of Guadalupe, Chicago’s first and oldest Mexican-American parish, lost 12 young men in the Vietnam War during a brutal five-year period.
Tracing the birth and growth of gospel music in Chicago in the 1930s. Thomas A. Dorsey, "The Father of Gospel", wrote one of gospel’s early hits while coping with his grief over the death of his wife and child.
Jussie Smollett: Anatomy of a Hoax
2023
I Was There When House Took Over the World
2017
Chicago Tours with Geoffrey Baer
2001
The Murder Castle
2017
Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action
2025
Poochie & Pang (Eat Chicago)
2024
Prohibition
2011
jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy
2022
Hotel Chocolat Unwrapped
2025
Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders
2025
Streaming availability information not available
2025
It takes a lot to stop the city of Chicago. But two deadly blizzards in 1967 and 1979 did just that.
One of the most infamous crimes in American history: seven Chicagoans died after taking Tylenol.
Trace the political rise and fall of Rod Blagojevich – the Chicagoan known as "Blago."
Explore how Chicago has become one of the world’s great food cities.
Discover the rise and fall of the legendary department store Marshall Field’s.