Mysterious Found Footage Offers a Rare Glimpse of 1940s Chicago (Paris: 2014, how much)

[biggunsmallbrains]

Here is a very interesting short film (about 30 minutes) that was recently discovered about Chicago circa 1946. It seems to have been created to promote Chicago to the world. There is some great footage, especially arial footage, along the lakefront and downtown. It's interesting to see how much has changed and yet how much still remains the same.

Mysterious Found Footage Offers a Rare Glimpse of 1940s Chicago - Jenny Xie - The Atlantic Cities

It's also filled with interesting facts and statistics. One that struck me was that Chicago was the second largest city in the western hemisphere and the fourth largest in the world. I knew we were the second largest in the western hemisphere but I didn't know there were only three bigger cities in the world at the time. If anyone knows the other two, obviously besides New York City, it would be cool to know. I'm guessing Beijing and maybe Tokyo? Anyways, have a look and see what you think.

[nana053]

In 1950, I found this:

Top 10 Cities of the Year 1950

1 New York, United States 12,463,000
2 London, United Kingdom 8,860,000
3 Tokyo, Japan 7,000,000
4 Paris, France 5,900,000
5 Shanghai, China 5,406,000
6 Moscow, Russia 5,100,000
7 Buenos Aires, Argentina 5,000,000
8 Chicago, United States 4,906,000
9 Ruhr, Germany 4,900,000
10 Kolkata, India 4,800,000

Note that Chicago is #8 not #4 on this list.

According to this site, in 1940 Chicago had a population 3,396,808
Chicago Growth, 1850-1990

Tokyo had 6,778,804
London had 4,013,400

Can't find much on Shanghai or Paris for that time frame.

[nightlysparrow]

Watched it all. Very promotional with lots of hyperbole

But interesting from an historical aspect! Thanks.

[williepotatoes]

Originally Posted by biggunsmallbrains

Here is a very interesting short film (about 30 minutes) that was recently discovered about Chicago circa 1946. It seems to have been created to promote Chicago to the world. There is some great footage, especially arial footage, along the lakefront and downtown. It's interesting to see how much has changed and yet how much still remains the same.

Mysterious Found Footage Offers a Rare Glimpse of 1940s Chicago - Jenny Xie - The Atlantic Cities

It's also filled with interesting facts and statistics. One that struck me was that Chicago was the second largest city in the western hemisphere and the fourth largest in the world. I knew we were the second largest in the western hemisphere but I didn't know there were only three bigger cities in the world at the time. If anyone knows the other two, obviously besides New York City, it would be cool to know. I'm guessing Beijing and maybe Tokyo? Anyways, have a look and see what you think.

This was the stuff that we were shown in school back in the 60s. Chicago history was taught in elementary schools, both public and parochial. In 4th grade we were even issued a Chicago history text book.

[biggunsmallbrains]

Originally Posted by nana053

In 1950, I found this:

Top 10 Cities of the Year 1950

1 New York, United States 12,463,000
2 London, United Kingdom 8,860,000
3 Tokyo, Japan 7,000,000
4 Paris, France 5,900,000
5 Shanghai, China 5,406,000
6 Moscow, Russia 5,100,000
7 Buenos Aires, Argentina 5,000,000
8 Chicago, United States 4,906,000
9 Ruhr, Germany 4,900,000
10 Kolkata, India 4,800,000

Note that Chicago is #8 not #4 on this list.

According to this site, in 1940 Chicago had a population 3,396,808
Chicago Growth, 1850-1990

Tokyo had 6,778,804
London had 4,013,400

Can't find much on Shanghai or Paris for that time frame.

That may be accurate for the Chicago area at that time but the city proper never has had over 4 million people.
Demographics of Chicago - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The movie makers, presumably, would be using the US census data from 1940 of about 3.5 million if they were just counting the city and not the metro area. Maybe they were counting the surrounding area too. With WWII just over, Europe and Asia ravaged by wartime destruction including to their populations, it is quite possible Chicago could have made the top 4 in the world. Even in those figure you present from 1950, Chicago is still within a million of fourth. Buenos Aires had a large influx of Europeans after WWII. Moscow, Paris and Shanghai were either just occupied or close to it. So, its very possible that it was 4th in the world at that time.

Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed

[squirrels]

Very interesting. Especially that view of Navy Pier. Everything looks so different.