1. Amusements and Recreation
By: Danielle Faul, Sammi Koop, Brian Guth, Matt Morsches, & Jack Hanish

2. Baseball
Chicagoans were intrigued by this new sport form in the 1870’s
A local team the Chicago white stockings was assembled in 1870
The white stockings team president William Hulbert lured, New York star Albert G Spalding to the team in order to make them more competitive
The national league of professional baseball clubs was created in 1876 and Chicago won the first championship

3. Cont. Baseball
Spalding went on to become the teams player – manger president
He made the White Stockings the most successful professional baseball team, in America by 1890
He gained a second professional team in 1890
A revolt among professional baseball players led to new teams, one of which was manage by Charles A. Comiskey

4. Cont. Baseball
He stole White Stocking players, located his team on the South Side, in the heart of the Irish neighborhood, and began playing in rival league.
He also stole the White Stocking team name
The original North Side team was demoralized and eventually re name the team the Cubs.
Baseball social impact on ethnically diverse city like Chicago was important
All Chicagoans' met on equal terms

5. Horse Racing
The most poplar event in the city, was horse racing instead of baseball
By the 1880’s the city the gambling houses switched from numbers games (lotteries) to racetrack bookmaking
Garfield Park (horse track) was closed for sometime because the city officials saw it as a notorious hangout but then city officials allowed wagering to continue
Legalizing the horseracing was a way of managing the gambling problem

6. Bicycles Trendy Chicagoans experimented the bicycling craze
The bicycles were bought from Schwinn & Company, which was founded in 1895
By the mid 1890’s there were at least five hundred cycling clubs in the city
The typical bike ride consisted of riding from Michigan Avenue to their clubhouses in the outer city or the Chicago-to-Pullman road race

7. Other Sports Professional football didn’t appear, until 1920
The University of Chicago hired Amos Alonzo Stagg as a full time coach and fielded there football there first year.
He also helped make College football one of the hottest entertainment events in Chicago.
American teams did not join the national hockey league until the 1920
Basketball appeared in the 1940

8. Other Entertainment
The first Amusement Park in the nation : Paul Boynton’s water chutes, which he open in 1894
Chicago river view park, at one time the worlds largest amusement park, open in 1904
This brought people of all nationalities together and promoted this through their saying” everyone is equal on a roller coaster and they are shriek at the same time.