Caroline Iverson Sullivan, born in 1862, lived for more than twenty years along the Chicago River. In 1924, Caroline McIlvaine, of the Chicago Historical Society, asked Sullivan to write about her life. Sullivan wrote about her twenty years growing up along the Chicago River in a manuscript she called "Chicago River." Sullivan recalled happy spring and summer outings on a small boat up the North Branch of the Chicago River from Grand Avenue with the banks "just covered with cowslips and yellow lilies." She also remembered that "our river gave us a great skating place in winter. Oh what a wonderful time everybody had, there was the Clark St. bunch, Wells Street bunch and the different bridges and localities would have their own crowds and the river was alive with skaters."

Author: Caroline Iverson Sullivan
Source: Chicago Historical Society (ICHi-37279)