Despite Chicago experiencing a recent stabilization in population, the City lies in a transitional state that resembles very little of past generations. The stockyards, steel mills and rail yards that gave Chicago its nickname, “The City of Broad Shoulders” are gone and the working class people who oiled and operated “The City that Works” have disappeared.

From gentrification, deindustrialization, and relocation, Chicago’s identity has changed. Many of the buildings in this set are a direct result of this shift. They are representatives of middle and lower class populations that have been forcefully pushed out; their remnants symbolic of a neglect to recognize the working man’s presence.