John Raber,5760 Lafayette Ave., Englewood,Ill(19th c.)
I am writing the first book from the American point of view about 19th century rotunda panoramas.These were the biggest paintings in the world,50 x 400=20,000 square feet, housed in their own rotundas which were 16-sided polygons.Chicago in 1893 had 6 panorama companies and 6 panorama rotundas. I want to learn deep-background about Englewood,Illinois which was a Chicago suburb up to June 30,1889, and later a Chicago neighborhood.OLD CHICAGO HOUSES:110 Stately Landmarks and Their Stories,by John Drury(1941 University of Chicago Press)has a short chapter on the John Raber house,including photo.I wonder whether John Raber knew panorama entrepreneur Howard H.Gross (1853-1920)of Englewood, who produced panoramas of JERUSALEM ON THE DAY OF THE CRUCIFIXION and BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG every 90 days from September 1885 thru September 1888 for cities from coast to coast and beyond.