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Why did Louis Sullivan leave Furness and Hewitt in 1873?
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Louis Sullivan
Louis Sullivan, detail of an oil painting by Frank A. Werner, 1919; in the collection of the Chicago Historical Society.
Louis Sullivan did not leave the firm of Furness and Hewitt due to personal dissatisfaction or professional disagreement. Instead, he departed because work at the firm dwindled as a result of the Panic of 1873, a severe economic depression that began that year. Following this downturn, Sullivan left Philadelphia in November 1873 and moved to Chicago to pursue other professional opportunities.1