An iconic Chicago building could soon be facing an identity crisis. Geoffrey Baer has the backstory of a prominent – and sometimes underrated – member of Chicago’s skyline.

Geoffrey Baer shares the history of Chicago’s original tiny houses – coach houses – in this installment of Ask Geoffrey. 

For about 70 years, Chicago boys who were chronic school-skippers were sent to a residential facility in a bucolic setting that was once WTTW’s neighbor. Our own history teacher Geoffrey Baer explains.

It’s not so glamorous anymore, but there was a time when people clamored to enjoy the novelty of eating fast food from the comfort of their cars. Geoffrey Baer serves up some fast food history with a side of super signs in this week’s Ask Geoffrey.

(WTTW News)

They’re rare now, but rooftop water tanks once stood sentinel atop every large building in the city, keeping them safe from threat of fire.

Geoffrey Baer has the scoop on some Chicago ice cream history.

Geoffrey Baer shares the story of a clash between women’s suffragists and anti-lynching activists.

Charlie Finley participates in the WTTW auction in 1976. (WTTW)

Longtime viewers might remember a time when for one wild week a year, they could buy everything from spark plugs to mink coats right here at our studios. Geoffrey Baer revisits that era.

(WTTW News)

Longtime Chicago Ald. Roman Pucinski once said, “There’s nothing as crucial to an alderman as garbage.” So how did garbage cans become a source and symbol of political power in this city? Geoffrey Baer talks trash.

Chicago common brick. (Courtesy Will Quam)

Chicago’s brick buildings put on a refined face for the street side, but if you peek past the facade, you’ll find that what’s holding them up is a little bit rougher. Geoffrey Baer has this history of the Chicago common brick.

History buffs are big fans of historical markers, those often-overlooked plaques that tell the tales of site-specific events from years past. Geoffrey Baer tells us about some unusual historical markers around Chicago.

(WTTW News)

A onetime tree nursery became a bucolic place of rest and recovery for tuberculosis patients on Chicago’s North Side. Geoffrey Baer has the story of a decadeslong battle against a contagion.

As Chicago baseball fans hunker down and hope for the return of their favorite summertime sport, a viewer wonders how Chicago sports soldiered through the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918.

The Spanish flu pandemic (Library of Congress)

In 1918, a deadly strain of influenza killed more people than World War I, and thousands of Chicagoans were among the dead. But it could have been much worse. Geoffrey Baer explains.

The 1918 Spanish flu was not even close to being Chicago’s first bout with fast-spreading disease. Geoffrey Baer looks at how Chicago managed a tidal wave of diseases in its earliest years.

(rjasso / Pixabay)

Chicagoans may never agree about sports teams or local politics, but if there’s one thing that unites the city, it’s our elevated train lines — known, of course, as the “L.” Geoffrey Baer has this preview of the highly anticipated show.