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A Look Back at Chicago in the Mid-1990s Through these Stunning Photos

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Chicago transformed itself from an old Rust Belt town into a global metropolis in the 1990s. After becoming a popular destination for those new employees, Chicago gained a lot of population in the 1990s, the only time a Midwestern metropolis did so in the 1950s.

A Chicago native who would become more famous than Michael Jordan and Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama won his first election, to the Illinois State Senate in 1996. He began a career that would erase the city’s reputation for provincialism and corruption.

Steven Martin took these amazing photos of the city of Chicago in 1996.

#2 Row of detached townhouses on Harrison Street, Chicago, February 1996

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#3 Ontario Street, looking west from in front of the River North McDonald’s, Chicago, February 1996

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#5 Chicago River and Michigan Avenue Bridge, Chicago, February 1996

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#6 Chicago skyline along the lakefront as it appeared on a winter day in February 1996

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#9 Lake Street from Wabash Avenue, Chicago, February 1996

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#10 Landmark skyscraper condominiums on the north bank of the Chicago River as seen from Wacker Drive, February 1996

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#12 A dams Street from Wabash Avenue, Chicago, July 1996

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#13 Columbus Drive, Grant Park, Chicago, February 1996

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#14 Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, July 1996

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#15 Hilton and Blackstone Hotels from Congress Parkway, Grant Park, July 1996

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#16 Looking south along Michigan Avenue from Van Buren, Grant Park, Chicago, July 1996

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#18 The Art Institute of Chicago. Bronze lion statues flank the main entrance on Michigan Avenue, July 1996

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#19 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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#20 An old apartment building in the River North neighborhood, corner of Dearborn and Erie, Chicago, February 1996

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#21 Church and houses on Congress Parkway, Chicago, February 1996

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#22 Lighthouse is on Lake Michigan outside the entrance to Chicago Harbor, July 1996

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#23 Looking toward the John Hancock Center and Water Tower Place from Sheraton Hotel, Chicago, February 1996

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#24 Loop and Lakeshore East skyscrapers viewed from Buckingham Fountain, Chicago, July 1996.

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#25 Loop and Lakeshore East skyscrapers viewed from Buckingham Fountain, Chicago, July 1996

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#26 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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#27 Michigan Avenue looking south of Wacker Drive, Chicago, February 1996

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#28 North Dearborn Street townhouses, Chicago, February 1996

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#29 Sears Tower rising over Hilton and Blackstone Hotels, Chicago, February 1996

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#31 Townhouses facing demolition, River North, Chicago, February 1996

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#32 Wabash Avenue looking north from Monroe Street, Chicago Loop, July 1996

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#33 Wabash Avenue looking south from Lake Street, Chicago, February 1996

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#34 Wabash Avenue looking south from Wacker Drive, Chicago, February 1996

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#35 Wacker Drive west of Michigan Ave., Chicago, February 1996

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#36 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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#38 Congress Parkway looking west, Chicago, February 1996

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#39 Dearborn Street looking south, in front of Federal Plaza, Chicago, July 1996

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#40 El train turning on the curve from Wabash Avenue to Lake Street in the Loop, Chicago, February 1996

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Written by Aung Budhh

Husband + Father + librarian + Poet + Traveler + Proud Buddhist. I love you with the breath, the smiles and the tears of all my life.

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