In memoriam: Cartographer Dennis McClendon, ‘Mr. Downtown,’ left his mark on Chicago transit

The RTA is marking the passing of cartographer and Chicago historian Dennis McClendon, who provided cartographic work to the RTA for more than a decade. McClendon passed away on August 7.

According to his website, his design firm, Chicago CartoGraphics, created a wide variety of maps for the tourism industry and real estate firms, for books such as the AIA Guide to Chicago Architecture and the Encyclopedia of Chicago, the region’s CTA and Pace transit maps, as well as most Chicago-area bike maps. He was well known as an expert on the city’s built environment and transportation, quoted regularly on WTTW’s “Ask Geoffrey” and WBEZ’s Curious City. He spoke to a wide variety of audiences, including professional conferences, university classes and colloquiums, Newberry Library programs, architectural lecture series, regional library audiences, and senior centers.

McClendon was perhaps best known for designing the CTA’s maps in 1993 when the agency switched to the color-coded system currently in use. According to this 2023 Streetsblog Chicago article marking the 30th anniversary of the change, the CTA began the renaming process by changing the maps and signs to get riders used to the new designations. McClendon’s designs are still in use today.

Since 2012, McClendon assisted the RTA in design and periodic updates to the agency's map publications. This specifically consisted of the Downtown map, English and Spanish versions of the System map, and seven subregional maps.

“In 2015, when the RTA started work reintroducing subregional maps, Dennis was up for the challenge, insisting that descriptions of all Pace routes be included on the seven maps,” said Kevin Stanciel, Division Manager for Regional Coordination.

An avid transit rider himself, Dennis's knowledge of the region's network of bus routes and train lines was impressive. "You could name any CTA or Pace bus service and Dennis could go into detail describing its routing from the top of his head,” said Chris Szmurlo, RTA Principal Analyst for Data Services and Analytics.

McClendon continued to work on RTA maps through this month when he was working with staff on a rebrand and update to the transit maps the agency provides for the region. He was passionate in his work and was always perfecting his cartographic design. McClendon and his contributions to the RTA's map publications as well as to the region as whole will be immensely missed.