Flappers & Fiction

Beyond the smoke and bustle of the grain markets, Gilded Age Chicago built its own sanctuaries of civilization. This detailed survey takes us inside the heavy oak doors of the city’s most exclusive societies, from the “millionaire’s table” at the Chicago Club to the racing verandas of Washington Park. It is a world of white-whiskered financiers and aspiring scions, where the architecture is as imposing as the membership lists. Yet the author argues these aren’t merely places of leisure; they are the moral anchors keeping the city’s youth from sliding into “haunts of dissipation.”