Chester Gould

Born in November of 1900 in Pawnee, Oklahoma and in 1919 his family moved to Stillwater, where he attended Oklahoma A & M (now OSU) until 1921. It was in that year he moved to Chicago where he transferred to Northwestern University School of Continuing Studies. A fan of the comics since he was a child, Gould found work as an artist, and created several popular comic strips for the newspapers. It was in 1931 when Chester was hired as a cartoonist for the Chicago Tribune that he introduced Dick Tracy to the papers, and the popularity of the character and comic grew. During Gould's run on the comic, which he drew for 46 years from his home in Woodstock, Illinois, the stories were rarely pre-planned, as Chester liked to improvise stories while drawing them. While fans praised this exciting story approach, they were often uncomfortable with the strange plot developments it created. Chester was also accused of making Dick's character too politically right-wing, perhaps even using the character to channel his own political ideas. Nevertheless, Chester Gould has created a dynamic character that has remained popular over the years, and still continues to grow in fame with new readers. Chester Gould died on May 11, 1985 at the age of 84. Mr. Gould, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for giving the world Dick Tracy, because he'll always be to me, America's #1 plainclothes detective.