We promised to tell the stories.  First, this card was mailed in 1909, with stamp and postmark.  1909 happens to be the year the La Salle, one of Chicago’s premier hotels, opened.  But in 1946, as the Chicago Tribune wrote, “a devastating blaze swept through the supposedly fireproof building, reducing its magnificent lobby to a charred cavern, taking the lives of 61 people and leaving more than 200 injured.”  The hotel was rebuilt and lived on until 1976, when it finally closed.  Grade: 1