in his early years in indiana, mccutcheon wrote a weekly column of local news for the "lafayette journal". he moved to chicago, illinois, in 1890, after graduating from purdue university, to work as an artist for the "chicago morning news" (later named the "news record", the "chicago record", and finally the "record-herald"). mccutcheon sketched images of major news events and occasionally wrote feature stories and news articles. mccutcheon urged george ade, his friend and sigma chi fraternity brother, to join him at the newspaper and the two were roommates in chicago for a few years. (ade later became a well-known author, journalist, and playwright.) in 1892 mccutcheon and ade collaborated on "all roads lead to the fair," which were illustrated stories about the world's columbian exhibition in chicago. mccutcheon also illustrated ade's series of stories about everyday life in chicago called "stories of the streets and the town." collections of ade's articles and mccutcheon's illustrations were published in a series of books from 1894 to 1900.