Chicago’s Automotive History

In a way, the American automobile industry was born in Chicago. While in town for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, a 30-year-old Henry Ford saw Gottlieb Damiler’s gasoline-powered internal combustion engine on a carriage. He also visited the Union Stock Yards and saw its efficiency, with a different person responsible for each aspect of the butchering process.

By Dave Lifton (@daveeatschicago)

Chicago was an important player in those early days of the “horseless carriage.” A growing upper class created a strong demand, and the city had already become a manufacturing capital, with a system of waterways and railroads that made the shipment of goods to all parts of the country possible.

The city even held the first automobile race in the U.S. To promote the benefits of the new invention, the Chicago Times-Herald sponsored a race between Chicago and Milwaukee and back, to be held on Thanksgiving Day, 1895. More than 80 drivers signed up, but a snowstorm the night before caused the route to be shortened to Evanston, and only six showed up, with two finishing. J. Frank Duryea took home $2,000 for completing the 54-mile course in 10 hours.

Six years later, Chicago also hosted the country’s first auto show at the Coliseum in the South Loop. The nine-day event featured 65 companies showing their vehicles, and was attended by 30,000 people.

Before long, the city was awash with entrepreneurs trying their hand at building cars, with 28 companies springing up in the early 20^th century producing automobiles, trucks and high-wheeled buggies. Ford’s success resulted in Detroit becoming America’s car capital, and automobile production in Chicago more or less stopped by the end of World War I. However, locally made steel and auto parts ensured that the city played a vital role in the industry for decades.

Concurrently, the South Loop was filling up with showrooms for car manufacturers, with many designed by the city’s most prestigious architectural firms.  The buildings are distinguished by their high ground floors with wide windows and terra cotta ornamentation. At its height, 116 dealerships lined Michigan Ave. between 14^th St. and 26^th St., with familiar brands like Cadillac and Buick sitting alongside long-defunct companies, such as Hudson, Stoddard-Dayton, and Locomobile, before its decline during the Great Depression. Now, only 56 of those buildings remain, and the “Motor Row District” was designated a Chicago Landmark in 2000.

As the automobile grew in popularity, clubs consisting of motorists sprung up all over the nation devoted to lobbying for better roads and traffic safety. In 1902, nine of them met in Chicago with the intention of nationalizing their efforts, and the American Automobile Association was born.

Four years later, a similar group formed in Chicago, and became affiliated with AAA in 1914. After numerous temporary homes, it moved into a permanent location at 68 E. Wacker Place in January 1929. Designed by Holabird & Root, the 15-story Art Deco masterpiece became a place where members coming through town could pick up maps, guides, and hotel listings. Above the elevators is muralist John Warner Norton’s 19’ x 29’ map of the U.S., detailing its major cities, highways, and national parks.

The Chicago Motor Club moved its headquarters to Aurora in the mid-‘80s and the building sat empty from 2004 to 2015, during which time it became a Chicago Landmark. It’s now a Hampton Inn, and has been restored, with a 1928 Ford Model A on the balcony overlooking the lobby.

But arguably Chicago’s most famous contribution to the growth of the automobile stems from being the starting point of Route 66, America’s “Mother Road.” Starting at the intersection of Michigan Ave. and Jackson Blvd., it connected Chicago and Los Angeles, a distance of 2,400 miles. In 2024, the city erected a new sign across the street from the Art Institute of Chicago, and three other locations to promote the road’s history and importance.

As for that 1895 race, it was not the last time Chicagoans got to experience auto racing. Even before the 2023 arrival of NASCAR’s street race through downtown, the area had a lengthy history with racing. From 1953–95, Santa Fe Speedway operated in Willow Springs, offering stock car, motorcycle and midget car racing on its half-mile and quarter-mile clay tracks.

Six years after Santa Fe’s closing, Chicagoland Speedway opened in Joliet to bring NASCAR and IndyCar races to the Chicago area. The 1.5-mile tri-oval track hosted many major events, including NASCAR’s annual Camping World 400 and Chicagoland 300 until it closed in 2019. The adjacent Route 66 Raceway remains open, with National Hot Rod Association drag races on its quarter-mile strip, and truck pulls and demolition derbies held regularly at the Dirt Oval 66.

The author has not owned a car since 1995.