Chicagoland Panorama

Charming issue of Chicagoland Panorama highlighting the regional manufacturing of Basic Products Corporation.

This fabulous bird’s eye view of the greater Chicago area was first drawn by Homer Grooman in 1958 for use in promotional material published by the Chicago Association of Commerce and Industry (note the seal in the compass rose). This edition was issued a few years later by the Sola Corporation, which was celebrating its new partnership (euphemism for acquisition) by the Basic Products Corporation (BPC).

Locations of Sola and other BPC affiliates, including its headquarters in Milwaukee are noted. In addition to extending far north into Wisconsin to include Madison, the view also stretches west to Dubuque, Iowa and the Mississippi River. Billowing mills along Lake Michigan are at the height of their production capacity and the urban sprawl seems to be contained by a thick hedge of farmland and forests. It’s interesting to consider how Chicagoland’s Panorama would look today in comparison.