Chicago Driving Park (Horse Racing)
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Product Details
Intricately engraved antique stock certificate from the Chicago Driving Park dating back to the 1880's. This document, which is signed by the company President and Secretary, was printed by Western Bank Note & Engraving Co. and measures approximately 10 1/4" (w) by 7 3/4" (h).
This certificate great features a horse race in front of the track's grandstand.
The piece also features a beautiful embossed gold seal.
Images
You will receive the exact certificate pictured.
Historical Context
The Chicago Driving Park was a horse track on Chicago's West Side immediately west of today's Garfield Park.
The track was a trotting track, a hugely popular form of horse racing for urban communities in the 19th Century. Thousands of attendees would attend (and gamble) on the races, with the massive crowds often packed shoulder-to-shoulder.
Probably the most famous horse to race at the track was Troubadour - who won the Criterion Stakes there in 1884 as a two year old.
"Buffalo Bill" Cody brought his “Buffalo Bill's Wild West” to the track in 1883. An outdoor extravaganza, the “Wild West” featured scores of cowboys, scouts, buffalo hunters and Cheyenne, Pawnee and Lakota men and women.
Open to the public, the Native American encampments attracted throngs of curious onlookers throughout the decadeslong run of Cody's traveling show.
Confident they were seeing, as advertisements promised, “genuine illustrations of life on the plains,” Chicagoans thrilled to spine-tingling re-enactments of buffalo hunts, Pony Express rides, stagecoach attacks and, in later years, Custer's Last Stand. Staples of the show were rodeo acts and “marvelous shooting” exhibitions, at which Cody excelled. But at the May 1885 Chicago appearance of the “Wild West,” a diminutive young woman named Annie Oakley outshone even Cody with her marksmanship. She'd remain a star attraction of the show for 17 seasons.
Additional Information
Certificates carry no value on any of today's financial indexes and no transfer of ownership is implied. All items offered are collectible in nature only. So, you can frame them, but you can't cash them in!
All of our pieces are original - we do not sell reproductions. If you ever find out that one of our pieces is not authentic, you may return it for a full refund of the purchase price and any associated shipping charges.