State Street looking north from Madison St., Chicago, IL, 1908

About this postcard

A hand-colored view looks north up State Street from Madison Street, with a dense crowd, horse-drawn wagons, and red-and-cream electric streetcars filling the roadway. Tall commercial blocks and awnings line both sides. By 1908 State Street was Chicago's principal retail thoroughfare and the spine of the downtown Loop, and the scene captures the mix of foot traffic, delivery wagons, and street railways that made it the city's busiest shopping street. The sender, signing himself Papa, calls it "the busiest and most crowded street in Chicago."