Ante-Fire Chicago Boosterism
The Land Owner was the brainchild of 24-year-old Chicago entrepreneur, publisher, and bibliophile John "Jack" M. Wing. Born in 1845 in Oswego County, New York, Wing established himself as a journalist and businessman in Chicago soon after the Civil War. Traveling extensively, he wrote for various newspapers and developed an interest in fine printing. In 1865 he published a book on the Union Stock Yards of Chicago. In 1869, he started The Land Owner, reportedly making $35,000 a year from the publishing venture, most of the profits stemming from advertising.
The present issue of the Land Owner includes five beautiful folding map inserts printed in green ink, examples of Wing's somewhat misleadingly-named "cartoon in colors" format:
- Plat Showing Desirable Residence Property on Humboldt Park and West Division Street, Chicago
- Map of the Railways and Their Connections at Indianapolis Compiled by Martin and Brown.
- Emporia and its Railroad Connections
- Town and Harbor of Frankfort, on Lake Michigan, Geo. S. Frost & Bro., Detroit, Agents
- Columbus, Kentucky, and its Railroad Connections
Other illustrations and maps in this issue: Geological Map of Indiana; full-page plate view of the Bigelow Hotel, John K. Winchell, architect; scenes at Maywood (hotel and train depot); portrait of L. R. Elliott; New Court House at Indianapolis; plat map of the Village of Waring; and a nice map of lots in J.H. Stead & Co.'s advertisement for T.R. Stearns subdivision of Highland Park, Lake Co., Ill: "Healthful Homes at Highland Park. Charming Lake Shore Scenery... No more desirable Suburban Property to be found within a radius of Twenty Miles from Chicago."
Notable articles include "Maps and Real Estate" by Rufus Blanchard, a leading 19th-century Chicago mapmaker; and the 2-page "An American Glossary of Architectural Terms" by Geo. O. Garnsey, which is illustrated in the text with examples of architectural details. Garnsey was known for his Queen Anne style home designs. He also contributed to the design of the Illinois State Capitol building in Springfield. Garnsey later expanded the article into a book of the same titled, first published in 1887.
A recent biographical work based on his youthful private diaries (The Chicago Diaries of John M. Wing, 1865-1866 - Google Books) documents his first few years in Chicago:
Wing would return to Chicago definitively in 1869, where he founded a trade magazine, The Land Owner, two years before the Great Fire created opportunities for fortune seeking even greater than those of the Chicago of the 1860s. The Land Owner would witness, in type and in lithographed and engraved images, first the boom years before the fire and then the rebirth of the city after it. - Williams, page x.
Here is how Wing touted The Land Owner:
Immense Success - The circulation of The Land Owner is increasing more rapidly than that of any other periodical in the country. We make this assertion boldly. Being the only reliable journal of real estate published, the only one that sustains the character of a first-class journal, or publishes intelligence which cost money to obtain, and engravings which cost money to execute - it takes rank with the ablest journals of the day. Its great and unprecedented success demonstrates that the days of cheap advertising sheets, whose circulation depends entirely upon the magnanimity of people to give them a place of gratuitous deposit upon their door-steps, have passed. Our circulation to actual subscribers, and through the sales at the news rooms all over the country, is ten times greater than that of any paper devoted to the real estate interest in the world - (from Vol. 1, No. 5, page 105).
By 1888 Wing was so successful in the publishing business that he retired in order to focus on international travel and book collecting, with a particular interest in extra-illustrated books. Despite losing many rare books in the Chicago Fire of 1871, his surviving diaries, scrapbooks, and extra-illustrated books are housed at the Newberry Library. Wing established an endowment at the Newberry Library to continue collecting printing and publishing historical materials.
After the fire Wing continued to engage in Chicago boosterism, publishing such titles as Rebuilt Chicago as well as an illustrated guidebook: 7 days in Chicago : a Complete Guide to the Street Cars, Omnibuses, Railroads, Notable Buildings, Union Stock Yards, Churches, Charitable Institutions, etc., Packing Houses, Tunnels and Water Systems, etc. : Together with a Map and Historical Sketch of the City and the Great Fire (1877).
Chicago Pre-Fire Imprints
Chicago ante-fire imprints—books, pamphlets, and other printed materials produced before the Great Fire of October 1871—are bibliographically significant due to their rarity, as the fire destroyed most of the city's early printing output. These works stand as important documents of the rapid growth of Chicago as a commercial and cultural center in the mid-19th century, reflecting its political, social, and economic life before the disaster. Surviving examples are highly prized by collectors and historians for their scarcity and historical value.