About this Event
📚🏛️ Books, Bricks & Big City Secrets: Exploring Printer’s Row! 🖨️✨
🍂Bonus Walk This Sunday Afternoon: Let’s Explore Printer’s Row!🏛️👣
Have you ever walked through Printer’s Row and wondered about the stories behind its towering brick lofts, early skyscrapers, old publishing houses, and railroad buildings? Now’s your chance to discover what makes this South Loop neighborhood so special! 😍
We’ll begin at the magnificent Monadnock Building and walk south through the historic South Dearborn and Printer’s Row corridor. Along the way, we’ll explore Chicago School architecture, early skyscrapers, printing and publishing, Linotype technology, industrial loft buildings, adaptive reuse, and the railroad connections that helped make Chicago a national center of commerce and culture.
This is another chance to join me for a fascinating walk through one of Chicago’s most architecturally distinctive historic districts. I’ve offered this walk once before, and we’re bringing it back for another round of history, architecture, and hidden gems! 🙌
🎤 Led by your passionate, ever-curious guide—that’s me! 😊
Perfect for architecture lovers, history buffs, book lovers, photographers, and anyone who enjoys being a tourist in their own city!
👥 Multi-group event! Expect a great crowd!
🍂🏛️ WANT TO EXPLORE MORE THAN ONE NEIGHBORHOOD ON SUNDAY?
You’re welcome to join me for Printer’s Row in the afternoon only, or attend both this walk and the Prairie Avenue walk earlier in the day! Each tour is a separate experience, with its own route, stories, and $20 fee. Choose one or both—whatever works best for you! 😊👣
📍 TOUR DETAILS
🗓️ Sunday, November 1, 2026
⏰ 2 PM–approximately 4:15 PM
🚶 Approximately 1.5–2 miles at a casual pace
📍 START: Monadnock Building, 53 W. Jackson Blvd.
🏁 END: Dearborn Station, 47 W. Polk St.
💥 To join this engaging experience, purchase a ticket on Eventbrite or pay in person
Prefer to Pay In Person? Don’t want to deal with credit cards or online payments? No problem! If you’d rather pay in cash on the day of the tour, just contact me in advance to reserve your spot: 📱Call or Text: 312-835-4259
🌦️ Outdoors | Casual pace | Rain or shine
🚶 This is primarily an exterior architecture and history walk. We are not planning to go inside buildings, although a brief stop inside Grace Place/Grace Chapel may be possible if access is available.
🔎 WHAT WILL WE DISCOVER?
🏛️ Chicago School architecture and early skyscrapers
🧱 The Monadnock, Fisher, Old Colony, and Manhattan buildings
🖨️ Chicago’s printing, publishing, and typesetting history
🔠 Linotype technology and the revolution in printing
📚 Historic Printer’s Row lofts and Chicago’s book culture
🏢 R. R. Donnelley, Lakeside Press, and the publishing industry
🚂 Railroads, freight, and historic Dearborn Station
🏙️ Historic preservation and adaptive reuse in the South Loop
📸 Bring your camera! This isn't a dedicated photo walk, but there will be plenty worth photographing!
🏛️ **ROUTE HIGHLIGHTS (**stops and order are subject to change)
🏛️ Monadnock Building
🏢 Fisher Building
🏢 Old Colony Building
🏛️ Manhattan Building
🖨️ Caxton Building
🏢 Old Franklin/Conkey Building
🏙️ Morton Building
🔠 Peterson Linotype Building
🖨️ Regan Printing House
📚 Printers Block/Plymouth Court
🔠 Mergenthaler Linotype Building
🏢 Moser Building
🏢 Pope Building
📖 Lakeside Press Building
🚂 Transportation Building
⛪ Grace Place/Grace Chapel
📚 Rowe Building/Sandmeyer’s Bookstore
🖨️ Donohue Building
🧱 Donohue Annex
🏢 New Franklin Building
🏭 Borland Manufacturing Buildings
🚉 Dearborn Station — our ending point!
📜 WHY PRINTER’S ROW?
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Printer’s Row was a bustling center of Chicago’s printing and publishing industries. Printers, publishers, typesetters, paper dealers, and related businesses filled the blocks south of the Loop, producing books, newspapers, catalogs, advertisements, and other printed materials distributed across the country.
The neighborhood’s industrial past is still visible in its distinctive architecture: tall brick façades, enormous windows, industrial details, and some of Chicago’s earliest skyscrapers.
Today, many of these historic buildings have been adapted for new uses, while Printer’s Row remains a special place for readers, writers, architecture lovers, and anyone who appreciates a great Chicago street story. 📚🏙️
🎒 WHAT TO BRING
👟 Comfortable walking shoes
💧 Water bottle
🍂 Weather-appropriate clothing for a Chicago fall day
☂️ Umbrella or rain jacket if needed
📸 Camera or phone
💵 Your $20 tour fee
🚇 GETTING THERE
🚇 CTA: The Monadnock Building is near the Jackson stations, with access to the Blue and Red Lines and several bus routes.
🚗 Street parking and paid garages are available nearby, but availability and rates vary. Allow extra time for traffic, parking, and walking to the starting point.
💡 Parking tip: This is a one-way walk. Dearborn Station is approximately six blocks south of the Monadnock Building—a 12–15 minute walk back, depending on your route and pace. If driving, consider parking somewhere between Jackson Boulevard and Polk Street to make your return easier.
SpotHero and ParkWhiz may help you find a nearby parking spot.
🌐 CTA Trip Planner: https://www.transitchicago.com/planatrip/
👋 Please arrive a few minutes early so we're ready to go at 2 PM!
🍽️ OPTIONAL FOOD AFTER THE WALK
Want to keep the conversation going after our tour? Depending on group interest, we may check out one of these nearby spots:
🥪 Half Sour
🌮 Flaco’s Tacos
☕ Meli Café
Post-walk food is completely optional, and everyone pays for their own meal.
📱 RSVP & CONTACT
👋 Please check in with Giovina when you arrive!
📲 Lost or running late? Call or text 312-835-4259.
⚠️ Please keep your RSVP updated if your plans change.
🖨️🏙️ COME EXPLORE PRINTER’S ROW WITH ME!
Spend your Sunday afternoon discovering Chicago’s printing history, early skyscrapers, industrial architecture, and hidden South Loop gems.
Whether this is your only outing of the day or the second stop on a full day of Chicago adventures, I’d love to have you along!
Come walk, learn, and be a tourist in your own city! 😊👣📚
📍 How to Find Us – Meet OUTSIDE of Monadnock Building — 53 W. Jackson Blvd. - look for the large group gathered,. Do not block entrance of the building as it is an active office building. Look for the large group gathered - we are hard to miss!
🛑 Note: This is an outdoor walk. Remember walk ends about 6 blocks from where we start so plan your parking or transit accordingly.
📞 Lost or running late? Call or text me at (312) 835-4259.
Want to Learn More About the Group? Check out our Meetup page here:🔗 1001 Things to See in Chicago Before You Die https://www.meetup.com/1001-things-to-see-in-chicago-before-you-die/
Event venue & nearby stays
Monadnock Building, 53 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.