Prairie Avenue, as depicted on the dust jacket of Arthur Meeker’s 1949 novel, Prairie Avenue. Artwork by John O’Hara Cosgrave II.
Arthur Meeker was born in 1902 and grew up on Prairie Avenue as it was in its twilight years as Chicago’s “sunny street that held the sifted few.” By the time the novel was published, the fabled street had slipped into oblivion with many of the grand mansions having been replaced by printing plants and warehouses. The few that survived, including Glessner House and Meeker’s own childhood home a few doors away, had been converted to offices or boarding houses.
For many Chicagoans, the novel was the first time they had ever heard of the street. Its serialization in the Chicago Tribune and its selection as the May book of the month by the Literary Guild of America made it a national best-seller. The novel brought renewed interest in the Gilded Age, when Chicago’s most prominent families built their palatial homes on the street and entertained in a style that has never been matched.