Chicago Our Kind of Town
Chicago History{
The People, Places and Events
No one
is sure when Native Americans first inhabited the Chicago region, but evidence
can be traced back to 1000 AD. By the late 1600s, there were many Native American
tribes in the region, the dominant one being the Potawatomi. In 1673, they
directed Canadian explorer Louis Jolliet and missionary Jacques Marquette
to Lake Michigan via the Chicago River. The two learned that the natives of
the region called the area around the mouth of the river 'Checaugou,' after
the wild garlic (some say onions) growing there. The first true resident of
Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point duSable, a fur trader from Santo Domingo of
French-African descent. DuSable built the first settlement in 1779 at the
mouth of the Chicago River.
In 1803 Fort Dearborn was built on the south bank of the Chicago River. In 1833, with a population of 340, the Town of Chicago was incorporated, drawing its name from an Indian word meaning "strong" or "great". In 1837, the town was incorporated as a city with a population of 4,170.
Chicago became a transportation center in 1848 when the Illinois and Michigan Canal was completed, and the first locomotive arrived. The Illinois & Michigan Canal was an inland waterway linking the Great Lakes to the Illinois River and thus to the Mississippi River and New Orleans. The population tripled in the following three years.
One of the city's great financial institutions, the Chicago Board of Trade, opened to handle the sale of grain by Illinois farmers, who had greatly improved access to Eastern markets thanks to the canal.
Like other northern cities, Chicago profited from the Civil War. The War helped the steel and tool-making industries and provided plenty of freight for the railroads and canal. In 1865, the year the war ended, the Union Stockyards opened on the South Side. Chicago's railroads and the development of the iced refrigerator car meant that meat could be shipped east to New York. By the turn of the century, Chicago's population had grown to almost two million.
On October 8, 1871, the Great Chicago Fire began on the West Side. Two days later, the fire had claimed 300 lives, left 90,000 Chicagoans without homes and destroyed $200 million worth of property. However, the disaster was turned into an opportunity to plan and rebuild the entire city.
In 1893, Chicago hosted the World's Columbian Exposition that attracted nearly 26 million visitors during its six-month run. The Columbian Exposition's Palace of Fine Arts is now home to the Museum of Science and Industry. In order to provide transportation to the fair, the Chicago Transit Authority introduced the first elevated trains to Chicago. Today, the system's "L" train encircles the city's central business district, referred to as "the Loop," and connects to other areas of the city.
In 1933, Ed Kelly became mayor. He strengthened the Democratic Party in the city, creating the legendary "machine" that would control local politics for the next fifty years. Richard J. Daley was elected mayor in 1955. He was reelected mayor five times before dying in office in 1976.
In 1971, the last of the Chicago stockyards closed. Many factories and steel mills closed because companies moved to the suburbs or the southern U.S., where taxes and wages were lower. The world's tallest building (at the time), the Sears Tower, opened in the Loop in 1974, beginning a development trend that would spur the creation of thousands of high-paying jobs in finance, law and other areas. In 1975 the Water Tower Place shopping mall opened downtown.
In the fall of 1982, Harold Washington, Chicago's first African American mayor, was elected. He was reelected in 1987 but died seven months later.
In 1989, Chicago elected as mayor Richard M. Daley, the son of Richard J. Daley.
Chicago's multicultural heritage is reflected in its neighborhoods. Chicago is home to nearly three million people from all over the world including African Americans, Asians, Europeans, Latinos, Native Americans and more.
Activity
Print out this timeline and fill in the missing information.
DuSable built the first settlement in 1779 Fort Dearborn was built Chicago was incorporated as a city Union Stockyards opened - Chicago hosted the World's Columbian Exposition -- Richard J. Daley was elected mayor Sears Tower erected in the Loop - -