Aerial view of downtown Chicago
This article is about the history of Chicago.
Early days
During the mid 1700s, the Chicago area was inhabited primarily by Potawatomis, who took the place of the Miami and Sauk and Fox who had controlled the area previously. The name Chicago originates from "Checagou" (Chick-Ah-Goo-Ah) or "Checaguar" which in the Potawatomi language means 'wild onions' or 'skunk'. The area was so named because of the smell of rotting marshland onions that used to cover it. The first non-native settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, a Haitian of African descent, who settled on the Chicago River in the 1770s and married a local Potawatomi woman. In 1795, following the War of the Wabash Confederacy, the area of Chicago was ceded by the Native Americans in the Treaty of Greenville to the United States for a military post. In 1803, Fort Dearborn was built and remained in use until 1837, except between 1812 and 1816 when it was destroyed in the Fort Dearborn Massacre during the War of 1812.
Incorporation
On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago was incorporated with a population of 350. The first boundaries of the new town were Kinzie, Desplaines, Madison, and State streets, which included an area of about three-eighths of a square mile.
Within 7 years the primarily French and Native American town had a population of over 4,000. Chicago was granted a city charter by Illinois on March 4, 1837. The opening of the Illinois and Michigan Canal in 1848, allowed shipping from the Great Lakes through Chicago to the Mississippi River and so to the Gulf of Mexico. The first rail line to Chicago, the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad was completed the same year. Chicago would go on to become the transportation hub of the United States with its road, rail, water and later air connections. Chicago also became home to national retailers offering catalog shopping using these connections like Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck and Company.
Growth
Due to the geography of Chicago, early citizens faced many problems. The prairie bog nature of the area provided a fertile ground for disease-carrying insects. Early on, Chicago's population and commerce growth was stymied by lack of good transportation infrastructure. History shows that this problem was soon remedied. During spring Chicago was so muddy from the high water that horses would be stuck, past their legs in the street. One dirt road was so hazardous that it became known as the "Slough of Despond". Comical signs proclaiming "Fastest route to China" or "No Bottom Here" were placed out to warn people of the mud.
To address these transportation problems, the board of Cook County commissioners, decided to improve two country roads toward the West and Southwest. The first road went west, crossing the "dismal Nine-mile Swamp," crossed the Des Plaines River , and went southwest to Walker's Grove, now known as Plainfield. There is a dispute about the route of the second road to the South.
Early Chicago was also plagued by sewer and water problems. Many people described it as the filthiest city in America. To solve this problem Chicago embarked on the creation of a massive sewer system. In the first phase sewage pipes were laid across the city above ground with gravity moving the waste. Then in 1855 the level of the city was raised four to seven feet (one to two meters), with individual buildings jacked up and fill brought in to raise streets above the swamp and the newly laid sewer pipes.
By 1857 Chicago was the largest city in then what was known as the Northwest. In a period of twenty years Chicago grew from 4,000 people to over 90,000.
The 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago nominated home state candidate Abraham Lincoln.
At the election of April 23, 1875 the voters of Chicago choose to operate under the Illinois Cities and Villages Act of 1872 . Chicago still operates under this act, in lieu of a charter. The
Cities and Villages Act has been revised several times since, and may be found in Chapter 65 of the Illinois Compiled Statutes.
Great Chicago Fire
In 1871, most of the city burned in the Great Chicago Fire. By this time the city had a population of over 300,000. Due to the fire much of the city needed to be rebuilt; this gave city planners a clean slate to fix the problems of the past. In the following years, Chicago architecture would become influential throughout the world. The first skyscraper in the world was constructed in 1885 using novel steel skeleton construction.
20th century
Lake Michigan — the primary source of fresh water for the city — was already highly polluted from the rapidly growing industries in and around Chicago, a new way of procuring clean water was needed. The city embarked on a large tunnel excavation project and began building tunnels below Lake Michigan to newly built water cribs . The water cribs were two miles (three kilometers) off the shore of Lake Michigan. The cribs failed to bring enough clean water because spring rains would wash the polluted water from the Chicago River into them. In 1900 this problem was solved by reversing the direction of the Chicago river's flow.
On December 2, 1942, the world's first controlled nuclear reaction was conducted at the University of Chicago as part of the top secret Manhattan Project.
Mayor Richard J. Daley was elected in 1955, in the era of so-called machine politics. During Daley's tenure (he died in office in 1976), the 1968 Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago, four major expressways were built, the Sears Tower became the world's tallest building and O'Hare Airport (which later became the world's busiest airport) was constructed. In 1983, Harold Washington became the first black mayor of Chicago. Richard M. Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, became mayor in 1989.
Timeline of events
- 2004: Millennium Park opens.
- 2003: Meigs Field closed.
- 1995: The Chicago Heat Wave of 1995.
- 1992: April 13, the Chicago Flood.
- 1983: Harold Washington became the first African-American Mayor.
- 1979: May 25, the American Airlines Flight 191 crashes.
- 1979: Chicago's first woman mayor, Jane M. Byrne, takes office.
- 1978: Heavy snowstorm and city's perceived slow response lead to upset of incumbent mayor.
- 1978: First BBS goes online on February 16.
- 1973: Sears Tower, the tallest building in the world for next 30 years, was completed.
- 1969: The Chicago 8 trial opens.
- 1969: The 100-floor John Hancock Center was built.
- 1968: August 26–August 29, 1968 Democratic National Convention.
- 1966: Founding of Chicago Surrealist Group.
- 1960: The 1st of the Playboy Clubs , featuring bunnies, opened in Chicago.
- 1958: Our Lady of the Angels School Fire.
- 1958: The last streetcar ran in the city. At one time, Chicago had the largest streetcar system in the world.
- 1955: The first McDonald's franchise restaurant, owned by Ray Kroc, opened in the suburb of Des Plaines.
- 1935: January 19, Coopers Inc. sells the world's first briefs.
- 1934: John Dillinger was shot by the FBI in the alley next to the Biograph Theater.
- 1933: Mayor Anton Cermak was killed while riding in a car with President-elect Roosevelt. The assassin was thought to have been aiming for Roosevelt.
- 1933: Century of Progress World's Fair.
- 1930: Shedd Aquarium opens.
- 1930: Adler Planetarium opened, through a gift from local merchant Max Adler. It was the first planetarium in the Western Hemisphere.
- 1930: The Merchandise Mart was built for Marshall Field & Co. The $32 million, 4.2 million square foot building was the world's largest commercial building. It was sold it to Joseph P. Kennedy in 1945.
- 1929: February 14, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
- 1927: Originally called the Chicago Municipal Airport, Midway Airport opened. It was renamed in 1949 to honor the Battle of Midway in WW II. Midway was the world's busiest airport until 1959.
- 1925: The Tribune Tower was completed on Michigan Avenue. The building's large Gothic entrance contains pieces of stone from other famous buildings: Westminster Abbey, Cologne Cathedral, the Alamo, the Taj Mahal, the Great Pyramid, and the Arc de Triomphe.
- 1919: July 27, the Chicago Race Riot of 1919.
- 1919: Real estate broker Archibald Teller opened the first Fannie May candy store.
- 1915: July 24, the Eastland Disaster.
- 1913: Great Lakes Storm of 1913
- 1905: The Industrial Workers of the World was founded in June
- 1894: May 11–August 2, the Pullman Strike.
- 1893: First Ferris Wheel built by George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr..
- 1893: The World Columbian Exposition (World's Fair).
- 1892: Masonic Temple is, for two years, the tallest building in the world, using highest occupied floor criteria.
- 1891: Chicago's first elevated railway "The El," went into operation to begin the "Loop" that would circle the city's downtown area.
- 1886: May 4, the Haymarket Riot.
- 1885: Home Insurance Building is world's first skyscraper.
- 1871: October 8–October 10, the Great Chicago Fire.
- 1868: Rand McNally is formed as a railway guide company.
- 1867: Construction began on the Water Tower designed by architect W. W. Boyington .
- 1863: Mercy Hospital becomes the first hospital in Illinois.
- 1860: September 8, the Lady Elgin Disaster.
- 1855: Lager Beer Riot.
- 1854: A cholera epidemic took the lives of 5.5% of the population of Chicago.
- 1851: Chicago's first institution of higher education, Northwestern University, is founded.
- 1848: Chicago Board of Trade opens on April 3 by 82 local businessmen.
- 1848: Illinois and Michigan Canal opens and traffic begins moving through the city at a much higher rate.
- 1847: The first issue of the Chicago Tribune is printed on June 10.
- 1840: Chicago's first legally executed criminal, John Stone was hanged on Friday, July 10, for the rape and murder of Lucretia Thompson, a farmer's wife.
- 1837: C. D. Peacock jewelers was founded. It is the oldest Chicago business still operating today.
- 1837: Chicago receives its first charter.
- 1818: Illinois joins the union.
- 1816: Ft. Dearborn is rebuilt.
- 1812: August 15, the Fort Dearborn Massacre.
- 1803: The U.S. Army constructs Ft. Dearborn near the mouth of the Chicago River.
- 1796: The Potawatomi Indian wife of du Sable delivers Eulalia Pointe du Sable , Chicago's first recorded birth.
- 1795: Six square miles (16 km²) of land at the mouth of the Chicago River are reserved by the Treaty of Greenville for use by the United States.
- 1779: Haitian immigrant Jean Baptiste Point du Sable establishes Chicago's first permanent settlement near the mouth of the Chicago River.
- 1705: Conflicts develop between French traders and the Fox tribe of native Americans. Fort de Chicago is abandoned.
- 1696: Jesuit missionary Francois Pinet founds the Mission of the Guardian Angel . It is abandoned four years later.
- 1683: French Jesuits establish Fort de Chicago , the area's first true European settlement.
- 1682: French explorer René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, passes through Chicago en route to the mouth of the Mississippi River.
- 1673: French-Canadian explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet, on their way to Québec, pass through the area that will become Chicago.
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