19th Precinct 1st Ward Chicago Levee District Brothels & Saloons. Stead 1894 map
SKU: P-6-110809
Nineteenth Precinct, First Ward, Chicago [Levee District]
A striking and now-iconic early social-reform vice map by W.T. Stead, illustrating vice, poverty, and commercial activity in Chicago’s notorious Levee District. This plate shows a full block-by-block breakdown of Dearborn Street, Custom House Place, Clark Street and the surrounding cross-streets, with colour-coded identification of brothels (red), pawn brokers (hatched), saloons (black), and lodging houses (striped). The First Ward—run for decades by the corrupt political duo “Bathhouse” John Coughlin and Michael “Hinky Dink” Kenna—was, by the 1890s, the most infamous red-light district in the United States. Stead’s diagram, adapted from police returns and city directories, was intended to present the geography of vice in the starkest visual terms. The map is one of the earliest examples of social cartography used explicitly for moral and political reform, contemporaneous with Charles Booth’s poverty maps of London and the Hull House maps in Chicago. William T. Stead (1849–1912) was one of the most influential English journalists of the Victorian period and a pioneer of investigative reporting. His sensational campaigning "new journalism" directly contributed to reforms in child-protection law and paved the way for the modern tabloid. He famously died aboard the Titanic in 1912, where he was last seen clinging to a raft with John Jacob Astor IV.
Size 17 x 24 cm | 6.5 x 9.5 inches
Date Published: 1894
Type: Antique colour temperance and vice map
Author: Stead, William Thomas
Publication: If Christ Came to Chicago
Condition: Good |
Delivery & Returns
Packing
Items smaller than A4 size are usually packed in a stiffened, board-backed envelope. Larger items are rolled and packed in postal tubes. Large items which are too stiff to be rolled in wide-diameter tubes are mailed in all-board envelopes. In the unlikely event of damage in transit, please send the affected item or items back to us and we will provide a replacement or refund.
Delivery
Economy, tracked and express shipping options are available to all destinations worldwide. Over half our orders are sent to customers outside the United Kingdom and we have supplied over 30,000 buyers in over 70 different countries. We ship orders virtually every business day to customers in North America and Europe. The cost of delivery depends on the size of the largest item in your order, where you are located, and the delivery method that you choose at checkout. For orders received before 2pm, we can arrange delivery next day in the UK, within 2 business days to continental Europe and North America, and within 4 days to most other countries worldwide (excludes PO Box or APO/FPO (Military) addresses).
Returns
We accept returns for any reason if sent back to us within 14 days of receipt of your order. If any of your items are not as described, we will provide a full refund including reasonable return postage costs upon safe return to us. If you have changed your mind, you are responsible for the cost of returning the item to us. We describe the size, age and condition of all our products as fully and accurately as possible. Most of the items which we sell are in very good condition. However, the condition of antique and vintage prints and maps can vary. All of our product listings including a statement which classifies the condition as being either “Good”, “Fair”, or (rarely) “Poor” and which describes any material flaws, blemishes, imperfections or other significant features such as folds. Please read the description carefully before purchase.
Can we help? For more details or any questions.