Talk:Hobohemia

The West Madison Stem
The West Madison Stem (Madison Street west of the Loop / downtown Chicago) is an extremely well documented early 20th century skid road and was "home" to thousands of homeless and transients - Sources are many including Frank O. Beck's Hobohemia published by Chicago's own treasured Charles H. Kerr publishing, the quintessential adept publisher of the fringes of Chicago's social movements; small, large and in between. Please stop the removal of The West Madison Stem as one of Chicago's historical hobohemia neighborhoods. ￼ Soco79 (talk) 15:21, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

The West Madison Stem - which is deserving of its own page, was also home to Dr. Ben Reitman's Hobo College - a definitive element of Hobohemia.

Furthermore Tower Town in the vicinity of the Chicago Water Tower is a small area that, while indeed was at one time used by Chicagoans that were underprivileged and part of Hobohemia, was shortly lived and mostly pre 20th century, as the Chicago Water Tower was perceived as a landmark very shortly after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 because it was one of very few structures that survived, and its geographically desirable location close to Lake Michigan just north of downtown gave way to restoration, gentrification, and became home to wealthier individuals and families in the Gold Coast and Streeterville neighborhoods and what later became known as The Magnificent Mile.

Hobohemia generally refers to (but is not exclusive of) turn of the century mix of hobo and bohemian culture By that time, Tower Town began to be largely developed.

STOP reverting the reference to the West Madison Stem. If you actually want to improve this page, work on citing references. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Soco79 (talk • contribs) 16:36, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

Two citations have been added for the West Madison Stem and Hobo Colleges / Dr. Ben Reitman's Hobo College in Chicago located on the West Madison stem. If someone can clean up these citations it would be appreciated. All the needed information is in the html. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Soco79 (talk • contribs) 13:45, 3 December 2022 (UTC)


 * Thanks for adding sources Soco79, and for your contributions on this interesting topic. I removed some content you added previously because it was unsourced; if you add the citations at the same time as adding the content you'll generally find the content stays in the article. – Arms & Hearts (talk) 19:53, 9 December 2022 (UTC)


 * Thank you for your response! It is much appreciated. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Soco79 (talk • contribs) 18:35, 15 December 2022 (UTC)