One Hundred Years of Land Values in Chicago: The Relationship of the Growth of Chicago to the Rise of Its Land Values, 1830-1933

A meaningful addition to the social and economic history of Chicago from 1830 to 1933.

Of Interest:

Early American Land Companies: Their Influence on Corporate Development

Land Title Origins: A Tale of Force and Fraud

Read an excerpt from the book.

A source of invaluable data and analysis for students of urban land economics, this exhaustively researched book was the first comprehensive study of land values in a large city undergoing a period of dizzying growth. Between 1830 and 1933, Chicago grew from a cluster of a dozen log huts to a booming city of 211 square miles and a population of almost 3.5 million.

A source of invaluable data and analysis for students of urban land economics, One Hundred Years Of Land Values In Chicago was the first comprehensive study of land values in a large city over a long period of time. The author successfully wove in the social and economic history of Chicago as well.

The book covers the years 1830-1933, a period of dizzying growth during which Chicago grew from a cluster of a dozen log huts at the site where the Chicago River meets Lake Michigan, to a booming city of 211 square miles and a population of almost 3.5 million. Over those hundred years, ground value grew from a few thousand dollars to more than $5 billion.

What a century it was! Chicago rode a roller-coaster ride of the railroad boom, the Civil War, the Great Chicago Fire, the first skyscrapers, the First World's Fair, the First World War, and the Great Depression.

The book is exhaustively researched, with 103 maps showing land values of specific sections in various years; the evolution of the railroad; the growth of public transportation (from horse car lines and street-car lines to elevated lines); sewer construction; the distribution of buildings of various heights; population densities; residential areas by predominant ethnic groups, among others. There are 103 data tables as well, including employment and wage figures; mortgage rates and amounts; property sales and rents; and various comparisons with cities of similar size.

Review by Gail Owens Hoelscher
From Turnarounds and Workouts, August 15, 2001

This book represents the first comprehensive study of land values in a large city over a long period of time. The author's goal was to trace cyclical fluctuation in land values in an American city, in the expectation of contributing to the policy debate on taxing real estate investments. He managed to achieve much more, however. Indeed from the viewpoint of land values, he offers a fascinating general history of Chicago through the early 1930s. He very skillfully interweaves the city's social and economic history into its land economic history and interprets the interrelationships among them.

The book covers the years 1830-1933, a period of dizzying growth, during which time Chicago grew from a cluster of a dozen log huts at the site where the Chicago River meets Lake Michigan, to a booming city of 211 square miles and a population of almost 3.5 million. Over those hundred years, ground value grew from a few thousand dollars to more than %5 billion. And what a century it was, a roller coaster of the railroad boom, the Civil War, the Great Chicago Fire, the first skyscrapers, the first World's Fair, World War I and the Great Depression.

The reader is immediately struck by the sheer size of the research project the author designed and undertook. He examined thousands of actual real estate sales and compared them with the appraisals and opinions of real estate dealers. He researched and had drawn 103 maps showing land values of specific sections of the city in various years; the evolution of the railroad; the growth of public transportation (from horse-car lines and street-car lines to elevated lines); sewer construction; the distribution of buildings of various heights; population densities; and residential areas by predominant ethnic group, among others. There are 103 data tables as well, including the value of various buildings in different years; construction of infrastructure; number and types of registered vehicles; employment and wages; mortgage rates and amounts; property sales and rents; and various comparisons with cities of similar size.

The author defines a real estate cycle as "the composite effect of the cyclical movements of a series of forces that are to a certain degree independent and yet which communicate impulses to each other in a time sequence, so that when the initial or primary factor appears it tends to set the others in motion in a definite order." He found that in Chicago during the period studied, these forces, in the order in which they appeared , were population growth; rent levels, and operating costs of existing buildings and new construction; land values; and subdivision activity. He divides these forces into 20 "events," all the way from the first, "gross rents begin to rise rapidly;" through to the sixth, "volume of building is stimulated by easy credit;" the eleventh, "lavish expenditure for public improvements;" the seventeenth, "banks reverse their boom policy on real estate," leading to stagnation and foreclosures; the nineteenth, "the wreckage is cleared away;" and finally, "ready for another boom."

One Hundred Years of Land Values in Chicago is a source of invaluable data and analysis on the subject of urban land economics, and is equally fascinating from the standpoint of American history.

The author notes that "with all its kaleidoscopic neighborhoods and its babble of tongues... with all its rough edges and its bluntness, Chicago is a city with a unique and magnetic personality." And well worth reading about.

Homer Hoyt was one of the early well respected real estate theorists who developed the theory that communities will tend to grow toward their largest neighboring city, all other things being equal. My Hoyt was overjoyed with the application of his theory in a modern setting and donated funds to establish the Homer Hoyt Center at Florida State University, which is now known as the Homer Hoyt Program in Land Economics and Finance.