Not many people realize that Chicago was once the movie capitol of the world. That title lasted exactly one decade (1907-1917), and it was thanks to the movie studio known as Essanay Studios.

The studio was located on Argyle Street in the Uptown neighborhood. The name "Essanay" comes from the initials of the studio's founding partners: George Spoor and Bronco Billy Anderson. At that time there was still quite a bit of open space to film in that neighborhood, and Essanay preferred to shoot outdoors if possible. They also built an indoor studio at that location.

On the day the studio was opened (in 1907), the Cubs were in the midst of a magical season, on their way to their first World Series title.

They were in town playing a six game series at West Side Grounds against the Phillies that week. The teams split the six games, with Cubs stud starters Jack Pfiester, Orval Overall and Ed Reulbach each registering a win. All three of their wins were shutouts, something the Cubs did quite often in 1907. They got 32 shutouts that season, tied for the most in Cubs history.

As the Cubs built one of the greatest dynasties in baseball history, Essanay was doing the same on Argyle Street.

They had the world's number one box-office star ( Charlie Chaplin), a glamor queen ( Gloria Swanson) and the most famous cowboy star in the world ("Bronco Billy" Anderson).

Spoor was the businessman. He had run a news-stand and a film projector company. Anderson was the talent. He was a former vaudeville actor who became famous playing one of the outlaws in the 1903 mega-hit, "The Great Train Robbery".

Essanay quickly became the studio for westerns and comedy. "Bronco Billy" cranked out one western a week for 376 straight weeks. (A few were shot in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, the rest at Essanay locations in Colorado or California.) Spoor ran the business side of things.

Despite Bronco Billy's success, however, the studio really lived and died with Charlie Chaplin. He created maybe his most famous film of all time, "The Tramp", during his Essanay era. Other Essanay Chaplin titles include "The Champion", "The Bank", and "Shanghaied." But most of Chaplin's Essanay work wasn't filmed in Chicago. The only one he shot here was "His New Job."

Nevertheless, he gave Essanay it's greatest year ever.

Unfortunatley, Chaplin also left Essanay the following year (1916) for more money, which dealt a death blow to the company. A year later, the rest of the movie making world had moved to southern California for better weather (and year-round filming possibilities), and Essanay died a quick and painful death. By 1917, only the plain brick building on Argyle remained as a reminder of this era.

Essanay studios was only operating in Chicago for eleven years, but in those years, the Cubs were in the World Series three times, and began playing their games in what is now known as Wrigley Field. It was a critical era in Cubs and Chicago history.