What is the difference from Chicago now and Chicago in 1920?

Answer 1

Chicago has more people now - about 2.7 million in 1920, about 2.8 million now.

Chicago no longer has the union stockyards, which means it smells much better now. In addition, in 1920 Chicago was a huge center for steel production, which it no longer is. Chicago had many different kinds of other factories then, too, but today the service sector is the largest component of Chicago's economy. This means the air quality is higher now than it was in 1920.

Chicago is much, much taller than it was in 1920. In 1920, the Masonic Temple at State and Randolph was the tallest building at 22 stories. Today Chicago has hundreds of buildings taller than that, with the tallest (Willis Tower - formerly named the Sears Tower) being five times as tall.

Chicago had a lot of trains in 1920, but serious air travel was still a few years away, since Midway Airport wasn't built until 1923.

1920s Chicago would have had a large German population, although World War I caused many German-Americans to drop German celebrations due to harassment during the war with Germany.

There were no expressways in Chicago in 1920, only a few wide boulevards, so streetcars were on every major street, and the "L" was highly used. In fact, trains were so much better then that you could board a train on the elevated tracks in the Loop and ride it all the way to Milwaukee!