Chicago history, from portage mud to front-page ink.
Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch trade Chicago stories across centuries, from Fort Dearborn and the Great Chicago Fire to the Haymarket, the Stockyards and the 1919 race riots. Guests, archival tape and primary sources read aloud fill out conversations that readily wander toward puns, Malort and the odd cicada.
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Windy City Historians Podcast is Chicago history told as a running conversation between Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch. The city is the only subject. Within it, the reach is long, stretching from the Chicago Portage that Native peoples and fur traders crossed to the crowded newspaper trade of the 1920s. The episode list reads like a map of the city's turning points: Fort Dearborn and 1812, the Great Chicago Fire, the 1893 World's Fair, the Haymarket, the Stockyards, brewing, the Great Migration, World War I, the 1919 race riots and the reversal of the Chicago River. One organizing idea stands out. A set of episodes is titled after the stars of the Chicago flag, each star marking an important date in the city's history, and the 1893 Exposition alone stretches over three parts. Guests shape several installments. Historian John William Nelson, a professor at Texas Tech, talks through his book Muddy Ground, describing how the Anishinaabeg who settled along the portage profited from its traffic by charging tolls, selling crops and repairing, selling and carrying canoes. Other episodes feature Ann Durkin Keating on early Chicago and David Daruszka, a retired railroad engineer and historian, on his experiences as a locomotive engineer. The hosts like to let the past speak for itself. They read Hubbard's account of three days forcing boats through Mud Lake, men sinking to the waist and then fighting off leeches and mosquitoes, and they place the spot between Pulaski and Harlem for anyone who knows the map. 'Episode 30 – The Front Page' plays a recording of Harry Romanoff telling tales from the front page era, audio the hosts believe few people outside the original room have heard. Method gets airtime too, with talk of weighing whether a source can be trusted and how scattered letters add up to knowledge. Then there is the playful side. 'Special Episode – Buzzing Through Time' takes the 2024 cicada emergence and turns it into a tour of earlier emergence years, touching Cold War paranoia, Watergate and the Daley era. Footage of the Lahaina fire is set beside written descriptions of the Great Chicago Fire, a reminder that old accounts can suddenly look current. Tangents wander widely, from Malort shots served with cicadas to a 1920s quack procedure, and Tom Skilling's weather column gets drafted to pin down a date. A Muddy Waters joke surfaces, a sequel title becomes an Electric Boogaloo gag, and a chicken-greased telephone from the front page era turns into an open call for its whereabouts. Where to start depends on appetite. For guest-led scholarship, 'Episode 31 – Muddy Ground'; for newsroom lore and archival tape, 'Episode 30 – The Front Page'; for a lighter cross-section of the city's timeline, the cicada special.
Made for: Suits a listener curious about Chicago's past who enjoys history as relaxed two-person talk, with primary sources read aloud, archival audio and room for a pun or a detour.
What sets it apart: It pairs guest scholarship and read-aloud primary sources with offbeat frames, such as charting the city's timeline through cicada emergences or naming episodes after the stars of the Chicago flag.
This is not your Grandad's podcast - WELCOME to the Windy City Historians (WCH) Podcast! Windy City Historians Podcast is a podcast on and about Chicago history for anyone curious about the Windy City hosted by authors and historians Christopher Lynch & Patrick McBriarty. Started in March 2019, we share Chicago history and some great Chicago stories.
One newspaper man's chicken-greased phone could send you down a Chicago history rabbit hole.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A Chicago portage opens onto a layered history of trade, conflict, and cultural exchange.
Chicago's portage sits at the center of this single-episode review, as historian John William Nelson's Muddy Ground frames a conversation about Native peoples, outside powers, and the movement of boats or goods between waterways.
A cicada's buzz opens onto the Chicago Fire, politics, and the persistence of local memory.
Chicago's cicadas give this special episode a nimble way into the city's past, starting with the 13-year and 17-year broods, their 2024 emergence, and their early identification in the Midwest.
Chicago's newspaper past comes alive through nine papers, an airline bluff, and a grease-clogged newsroom relic.
Episode 30, "The Front Page Era," treats Chicago's newspaper history as a window into a city once served by nine competing papers, each chasing readers who relied on print to understand what was happening beyond their own neighborhoods.
A grounded look at Chicago's 1919 race riot through neighborhood defense, labor conflict, and public memory.
Chicago's 1919 race riot is framed as a story of neighborhood assault, armed defense, and public memory. The hosts separate it from the 1905 street fighting tied to imported Black scab labor, then turn to Black residents taking guns home to defend their neighborhoods and homes.
A Chicago wartime story where German language, Colonel McCormick, and Pershing's promised promotion connect patriotism with ambition.
This episode follows the First World War into Chicago's daily life, starting with the risk of speaking German in the wrong tavern and widening into the city's wartime power circles.
Black Hills history, told on location.
Vegas history with a barstool pulse.
Connecticut history with national echoes.
Texas history, sourced and road-tested.
Maine history, widened through public talks.
Windy City Historians hosts Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch interview Texas Tech historian John William Nelson about Muddy Ground, Native Peoples, Chicago Portage, and the Transformation of a Continent.
Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch frame Windy City Historians' cicada episode around the 13-year and 17-year broods, first identified in 1786 and 1790 and reunited in 1803 and 2024.
Windy City Historians hosts Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch examine Chicago's 1920s newspaper market, when nine papers competed for readers and afternoon editions delivered updates to commuters.
Windy City Historians hosts Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch investigate Chicago’s 1919 race riots during the nationwide Red Summer.
Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch interview historian Joe Gostaitis about how World War I changed Chicago's German identity, entertainment economy, politics, and civic life.
Windy City Historians hosts Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch interview historian Charles Branham about how roughly 1.2 million African Americans moved from the South to northern cities during the Great Migration.
Windy City Historians Episode 26 examines Chicago's 1908 street-address ordinance and the 1909 Plan of Chicago with cartographer and historian Dennis McClendon.
Windy City Historians hosts Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch interview Northwestern professor Bill Savage about George Ade, The Old-Time Saloon, and Chicago's drinking culture during Prohibition.
David Daruska, a retired train engineer and railroad historian, explains how locomotive crews manage 12-hour limits, computerized alerts, federal rules, and the possibility of working beyond 12 hours to clear a crossing.
Windy City Historians hosts Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch interview retired engineer and historian David R.
Windy City Historians hosts Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch use Chicago policeman John Fitzpatrick's career to connect Haymarket, the 1893 Columbian Exposition, the H.H.
Hosts Patrick McBrierty and Christopher Lynch interview Paul Derica, director of exhibitions at the Newberry Library, in part two of their three-part series on the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.
Windy City Historians Episode 21, “The Third Star – Part III,” concludes its discussion of the 1893 Columbian Exposition with Newberry Library exhibitions director Paul DeRica and Chicago Reader writer Jeff Nichols.
Windy City Historians hosts Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch examine Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition as the third star on the Chicago flag, following Fort Dearborn and the Great Chicago Fire.
Windy City Historians hosts Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch interview author Joe Gustaitis about Chicago in 1893, the year he calls “Chicago's Greatest Year.” Joe argues that 1893 mattered beyond the Columbian Exposition because Chicago was competing with Cincinnati, St.
Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch connect the 1886 Haymarket conflict to Chicago's labor history, including the Knights of Labor's organizing of women, African-Americans, and immigrant workers.
Windy City Historians hosts Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch examine the Great Chicago Fire of October 8, 1871, identified as Chicago's second flag star.
Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch examine the Union Stockyard Company, which opened on Christmas Day in 1865 and became a Chicago tourist destination alongside the 1893 World's Fair.
Windy City Historians hosts Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch interview Chicago historian Liz Gerbe about how alcohol shaped Chicago's society, politics, trade, and brewing industry.
Windy City Historians hosts Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch use historian Ann Durkin Keating's account to trace Chicago from Fort Dearborn in 1803 through the city's 1837 incorporation.
Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch examine Chicago epidemics, the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic, and the COVID-19 context of their 2020 recording.
Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch continue their interview with Ann Durkin Keating about Fort Dearborn's evacuation and the events leading to August 15, 1812.
Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch examine the first star on Chicago's flag, which commemorates the 1812 Fort Dearborn era and was placed alongside stars for the 1871 Chicago Fire and 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.
Windy City Historians hosts Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch examine Chicago's first documented murder, the June 17, 1812 death of Jean Lalim near Fort Dearborn.
Windy City Historians hosts Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch interview North Central College professor Ann Keating about Chicago’s early history before Fort Dearborn and the 1830 James Thompson plat.
Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch examine Jean-Baptiste Pointe du Sable, a French-speaking man of Haitian background identified as Chicago's first permanent settler near the Chicago River.
Windy City Historians hosts Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch interview Reed Lewis, Ken Lewis, and Chuck McHenry about the 1973 reenactment of the 1673 Marquette and Joliet expedition.
Windy City Historians hosts Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch interview Paul Meineke about his 2017, 70-day canoe trip from the Mississippi headwaters in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico.
Windy City Historians hosts Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch follow the LaSalle 2 expedition through a November crisis at Death's Door, where four teenagers become separated in roughly 38- to 39-degree water.
Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch examine René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, whose name appears on LaSalle Street, a Lincoln Park statue, an Illinois city, and the LaSalle Bridge.
Patrick McBriarty and Christopher Lynch complete their two-part discussion with John Swenson about the place called Chicago and Spirit Trail Mound in Olympia Fields.