Printer's Row, Chicago (IL) (Images of America)

Chicago's Printers Row emerged after the Great Chicago Fire to become the most notorious crime and vice section in Chicago. Once known as the Custom House Levee, Chicago's red light district was eventually closed down. By 1905, industrialists quickly moved into the area and built towering structures to house the booming printing industry, giving the area its present day name.

From its seedy beginnings through a prosperous time as the printing center of the region to its current residential boom, Printers Row has been an endlessly fascinating part of the South Loop. Through an impressive collection of photographs, authors Ron Gordon and John Paulett chronicle the evolution and history of one of Chicago's most unique neighborhoods.