"For the student of geology have been succinctly set forth the operation of the pre-historic influences which were at work upon the site of Chicago ages before man trod upon the earth. Following this is a complete and connected, though condensed, narrative history of the 'Garden City,' through its various stages of village, town and municipality, showing the formative causes and describing the central events of each decade in Chicago's civic, financial and political relations. In connection with this narrative history, but following it, many subjects of special interest or importance have been treated topically. Among the most prominent of these may be enumerated : trade and commerce, the railroad interests centering in Chicago, the enormous manufacturing industries, the financial institutions of the city, public works, the parks, the drainage canal, bridges, tunnels, intramural transit, the bench and bar (to which is appended a special chapter relating to notable trials), the growth of religion as shown by church history, the professions of medicine and dentistry, the steadily growing influence of the press, libraries, authors, art, amusements, clubs, homes, and the labor disturbances of 1894" --