[1] The Commercial Club was founded in 1877 as a capitalist reaction to the Great Upheaval, a national labor strike that began with railroad workers in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

[5] The plan gave the blueprint for the future growth and development of the entire Chicago region.

[6][7] The Commercial Club addressed many other progressive reform issues: supported street cleaning and paving projects, smoke abatement and sanitation schemes, and the development of city parks and playgrounds.

[8] They also maintained a consciousness of social reform issues like juvenile delinquency, race relations, and old-age pensions.

[10] The Civic Committee of the Commercial Club has often come under criticism for pursuing an unrealistic zeal for cutting the constitutionally protected pensions of state employees in Illinois.