Black text on a white background. Five different colored candles replace the letter "i" in Chicago. Small black text is right below the candles. 

This button commemorates the 150th "birthday" of Chicago, Illinois. Chicago was incorporated in 1837 and was a transportation hub. It was the site of the Chicago Portage and received its first railroad line in 1848, which helped link the western and eastern United States. By the 1850s, the geographic location and importance to shipping had enabled Chicago to become a political center, too. I was the home of Stephen Douglas and the location where Abraham Lincoln was nominated by the Republican Party. In 1871, a fire destroyed large section of downtown Chicago. The fire excluded its railroad and stockyards, so the raw material of its economy remained intact. Chicagoans rebuilt a modern city made of steel and in 1885 it became home to the nation's first skyscraper.

In 1893, Chicago hosted the World's Columbian Exposition, which celebrated the city, the nation, and the triumph of Western Civilization. By end of the century, Chicago had also become a city of immigrants; one in three were foreign-born. In the early 1900s, Chicago became a industrial city as well. The industrial jobs brought African-Americans from the South to Chicago. The newcomers brought with them a culture that flourished, contributing the the Black Renaissance and the New Negro Movement. It also brought race riots when in 1919 the white and black Chicagoans violently attacked each other over housing and job market concerns. 1919 was also the first year of Prohibition, which helped introduce Chicagoans and the nation to many popular gangsters, such as Al Capone and Bugs Moran, which culminated with the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929.   

In celebration of the city's one hundredth birthday, it, again, hosted a World's Fair in 1933 and 1934. Its theme was the technological progress, and there were few cities better suited to host it. By the 1940s, Chicago became the home of the world's first nuclear reaction as part of the Manhattan Project. After WWII, Chicago, like many major US cities, saw an out flux of whites to the suburbs. The demographic shift changed the city's make-up and changes in Chicago's industry led to job shortages in the early 1960s. By then of the decade, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movements had begun working with the city's political machine to improved the situation. The agreements did not apply to more radical groups involved with the 1968 protest of the Democratic National Convention, which ended in a city riot. It was business as usual by the 1970s and major construction projects erected the Willis (Sears) Tower, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the O'Hare International Airport. In 1983, Chicago elected its first African-American mayor who was reelected in 1987 and later died.

A portrait photograph of Cardinal George Mundelein. 

George William Mundelein (July 2, 1872 - October 2, 1939) was the archbishop (1915-1939) and cardinal (1924-1939) of Chicago. Cardinal Mundelein was a leading figure in the Americanization of the Catholic Church. He strove to unify the ethnic Catholic groups such as the Poles and Italians into one parish, the effort was somewhat successful. As a moral leader, Cardinal Mundelein condemned Adolph Hitler and wished to establish a higher learning facility for Catholics in Chicago. He founded St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Area, Illinois, a town northwest of Chicago. Area later changed their name to Mundelein in his honor.  

White text over a green banner in the center of the button with green text over a white background above and below the banner.

The Anti-Litter club was formed by the Chicago Park District. This club is mentioned in a 1934 newspaper article that explains that the club was used to educate citizens of the effects of litter. In 1934, 12,000 waste baskets were put in Chicago parks to help promote clean parks and no littering.

An illustration of (from left to right): a purple house, a grey column with a gold eagle on top, a brown house, and a blue house. Red and blue text on a white background. 

Logan Square Preservation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public of the architecture, history, and beautification of the community. Logan Square is a historic neighborhood on the northwest side of Chicago. The area consists of scenic gardens, architecturally elegant homes and churches. The community is characterized by its grand boulevards and sophisticated setting. Please see the link below for additional information. 

The organization conduct walking tours, and the button was to commemorate the 25th year of the walking tour on September 9, 2006. 

An illustration of upside down red triangle with a brown feather going through its empty center. Red text sits above and below the image. Everything is set on a white background. 

In 1844, the first Young Men's Christian Association or Y.M.C.A. was founded in London England. The Y.M.C.A. experienced quick growth from 1844 to 1855 and spread across the United States, Canada, and Europe. The first Y.M.C.A in the United States was founded in Boston in 1851. The Y.M.C.A. was founded on Christian principles but has since expanded to include a broader audience and promotes the strengthening of communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility rather than promoting Christianity or morality.

The red triangle has been an emblem of the Y.M.C.A. since 1891. The three sides represent the spirit, mind, and body. The triangle represents the Y.M.C.A.’s philosophy in that a triangle is not just three separate sides but the sum of three sides that together form a triangular figure. Thus in regards to a man, he is not just a body, a mind, and a spirit, but a result of all three.

An illustration of upside down red triangle with a green feather going through its empty center. Red text sits above and below the image. Everything is set on a white background. 

In 1844, the first Young Men's Christian Association or Y.M.C.A. was founded in London England. The Y.M.C.A. experienced quick growth from 1844 to 1855 and spread across the United States, Canada, and Europe. The first Y.M.C.A in the United States was founded in Boston in 1851. The Y.M.C.A. was founded on Christian principles but has since expanded to include a broader audience and promotes the strengthening of communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility rather than promoting Christianity or morality.

The red triangle has been an emblem of the Y.M.C.A. since 1891. The three sides represent the spirit, mind, and body. The triangle represents the Y.M.C.A.’s philosophy in that a triangle is not just three separate sides but the sum of three sides that together form a triangular figure. Thus in regards to a man, he is not just a body, a mind, and a spirit, but a result of all three.

White text one a blue background.

In the late 1930s, the Chicago junkmen were troubled by a number of things. The wholesale price of steel had dropped by nearly fifty percent and troubles with retail junk shops ensued over the prices. In 1937, around fifteen hundred United Junk Peddlers union members went on strike against the retail shops. The retail owners had the junkmen arrested. A local judge told the junkmen they were not protected by the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 because they were independent contractors, which ignored the fact that the union was part of the Committee for Industrial Organizations. By late November 1937, the union members circumvented the problem.  They began a cooperative junkyard and sold their steel directly to the steel mills, which eliminated the need for the retailers and wholesalers. This button from the local 467 dates from that time.

Large blue text on a white background. 

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An illustration of a chicken and cow with blue text above and below the illustration.  Surrounding the illustration is an illustration of a wooden ring with separate pieces of rope wrapped around it at various points and blue text in a circular formation. Everything sits on a white background.  

The National Poultry, Butter and Egg Association (NPBEA) gained public notice in 1906 for their support of what became the Pure Food and Drug Act.  At the time, the association was called the National Poultry and Game Association. The Chicago-based NPBEA, lamented the extinction of the turkey and lobbied the US Congress to save it in the early 1920s. By the 1937 convention, the NPBEA had ridden out the Great Depression and looked towards the future. It focused on helping its constituents until the 1960s.

A red three sits in the center with blue text in a curved and straight formation above and below the number. Everything is set against a white background with a red edge. 

Have info on this button? Contact us here.