In the 1850s , railroad related industries prospered near the lumber district along the South Branch of the Chicago River . Thus , the business district began to supplant the elegant residences along Michigan and Wabash Avenues south of Jackson Boulevard . Shortly after the Civil War , the city 's wealthy residents settled on Prairie Avenue due to its proximity to the Loop less than a mile away and the fact that traveling there did not involve crossing the Chicago River . In 1870 , Daniel Thompson erected the first large upper-Prairie Avenue home . Marshall Field followed in 1871 with a Richard Morris Hunt design . Prairie Avenue was the most posh Chicago address by the time of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871
Great Chicago Fire
Great Chicago Fire
Prairie Avenue