Munsey's Magazine, April 1907

# Munsey's Magazine, April 1907: "The Romance of Chicago"

This issue features an extended nonfiction article by Newton Dent titled "The Romance of Chicago," examining the city's rapid development. Dent traces Chicago's growth from a seventy-year-old metropolis to a major world center, comparing its rise to ancient cities like Rome and Athens. The piece catalogs Chicago's key innovations: the skyscraper (beginning with the 1887 Rookery), mechanical harvesters developed by McCormick and Deering, refrigerated railroad cars, George Pullman's luxury rail cars, mail-order retail pioneered by Montgomery Ward and Sears, the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, an underground freight subway system, and the massive meatpacking industry centered in Packingtown. Dent emphasizes Chicago's distinctive character of speed and enterprise, detailing the scale of its industries—particularly the slaughtering of millions of cattle, sheep, and hogs annually. The article includes portraits and architectural illustrations of major Chicago landmarks and influential figures.