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Chicago Illinois Overview
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Chicago
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, as well as the third-most populous city in the United States, with nearly 2.9 million people. Located along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, it is the seat of Cook County.
Chicago is known as the "Second City," the "Windy City," the "City of Big Shoulders", and "Chi-town". When combined with its suburbs and nine surrounding counties in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana, the greater metropolitan area known as Chicagoland encompasses a population of 9.4 million, making it the third largest in the United States.
Since its 1833 founding as a frontier town of the Old Northwest, Chicago has grown into one of the ten most influential world cities. Chicago today is the financial, economic, and cultural capital of the Midwest, and is recognized as a major transportation, business, and architectural center. The city's skyscrapers, local cuisine, political traditions, and sports teams are some of its most recognized symbols.
Origin of name
The indigenous Potawatomi tribe called the marshes on which Chicago was later built "Checagou (prounounced 'She-Ka-Gan')," which translates to "wild onion" or "garlic." European explorers assigned the name to the Chicago River, followed by settlers' delegating it as the name of the city. Before Chicago's founding, the name of the river was spelled several ways, such as "Chetagu" or "Shikago."
The origin of Chicago's nickname as "The Windy City" is debated (see List of nicknames for Chicago). The most common explanation had been that the phrase was created by New York newspapers in the 1880s during a national debate over which city would host the 1893 World's Fair, making reference to the long-windedness of the city's supporters. However, "Windy City" was used before this by the Chicago Fire. As a result, the name remains in common usage.
History
During the mid-1700s, the Chicago area was inhabited primarily by Potawatomis, who took the place of the Miami and Sauk and Fox people. The first non-native settler in Chicago was Haitian. Jean-Baptiste Pointe du Sable, who arrived in the 1770s, married a Potawatomi woman and founded the area's first trading post. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Fort Dearborn Massacre. The Ottawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi later ceded the land to the United States in the Treaty with the Ottawa, etc. of 1816. On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of 350, and within seven years it grew
to a population of over 4,000. The City of Chicago was incorporated on March 4, 1837.
Starting in 1848, the city became an important transportation link between the eastern and western United States with the opening of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad, Chicago's first railway, and the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which allowed shipping from the Great Lakes through Chicago to the Mississippi River. With a flourishing economy that brought many new residents from rural communities and immigrants from Europe, Chicago grew from a city of 299,000 to nearly 1.7 million between 1870 and 1900. The city's manufacturing and retail sectors dominated the Midwest and greatly influenced the American economy, with the Union Stock Yards'
dominating the packing trade.
After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, Chicago experienced rapid rebuilding and growth. During Chicago's rebuilding period, the first skyscraper was constructed in 1885 using steel-skeleton construction. In 1893, Chicago hosted the World's Columbian Exposition on former marshland at the present location of Jackson Park. The World's Columbian Exposition drew 27.5 million visitors, and is considered among the most influential world's fairs in history. The University of Chicago was founded one year earlier in 1892 on the same location. The term "midway" for a fair or carnival referred originally to the Midway, a strip of park land that
still runs through the University of Chicago campus.
The city was the site of labor conflicts and unrest during this period, which included the Haymarket Riot on May 4, 1886. Concern for social problems among Chicago's lower classes led to the founding of Hull House in 1889, of which Jane Addams was a co-founder. The city also invested in many large, finely-landscaped municipal parks, which also included public sanitation facilities.
Lake Michigan - the primary source of fresh water for the city - was already highly polluted from population growth and the rapidly growing industries in and around Chicago. The city responded by embarking on several large public works projects, including a large excavation project which built tunnels below Lake Michigan to newly built water cribs which were two miles (3 km) off the lakeshore. However, the cribs failed to bring enough clean water since spring rains would wash the polluted water from the Chicago River into them. Beginning in 1855, Chicago constructed the first comprehensive sewer system in the U.S. In 1900, the problem of sewage was solved
by reversing the direction of the River's flow with the construction of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal leading to the Illinois River.
The 1920s brought international notoriety to Chicago as gangsters such as Al Capone battled each other and the law during the Prohibition era. Nevertheless, the 1920s also saw a large increase in Chicago industry as well as the first arrivals of the Great Migration that would lead thousands of mostly Southern blacks to Chicago and other Northern cities. 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.
Geography and climate
It sits on the continental divide at the site of the Chicago Portage, connecting the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes watersheds. The city lies beside Lake Michigan and two rivers: the Chicago River in downtown and the Calumet River in the industrial far South Side flow entirely or partially through Chicago. The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal connects the Chicago River with the Des Plaines River, which runs to the west of the city. Chicago, like much of the Midwest, has a climate that is prone to extreme, often volatile, weather conditions. The city experiences four distinct seasons. In July, the warmest month, high temperatures average 84 F (29 C)
and low temperatures 63 F (17 C). In January, the coldest month, high temperatures average 29 F (?2 C) with low temperatures averaging 13 F (?11 C). According to the National Weather Service, Chicago's highest official temperature reading of 105 F (40 C) was recorded on July 24, 1934. The lowest temperature of ?27 F (?32 C) degrees was recorded on January 20, 1985.
Chicago's yearly precipitation averages about 38 inches (965 mm). Summer is the rainiest season, with short-lived rainfall and thunderstorms more common than prolonged rainy periods. Winter is the driest season, with most of the precipitation falling as snow. Chicago's highest one day precipitation total was 6.49 inches (164 mm) which fell on August 14, 1987.
Culture
Chicago has a major theater scene, and is the birthplace of modern improvisational comedy.[40] The city is home to two renowned comedy troupes: The Second City and I.O. (formerly known as ImprovOlympic). Renowned Chicago theater companies include the Steppenwolf Theatre Company (on the city's north side), the Goodman Theatre, and the Victory Gardens Theater. Other theatres, from nearly 100 storefront performance spaces such as the Strawdog Theatre Company in the Lakeview area to landmark downtown houses such as the Chicago Theatre, present a variety of plays and musicals. The city is home to the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,
the Joffrey Ballet, and several modern and jazz dance troupes.
Chicago is known for its Chicago blues, Chicago soul, Jazz, and Gospel. This strong tradition of music and musical innovation have continued into contemporary styles. The city is the birthplace of the House style of music, and is the site of an influential Hip-Hop scene. In the 1980s the city was a center for industrial, punk and new wave (spawning the famous Wax Trax! label); this influence continued into the alternative scene of the 1990s. Chicago was an epicenter of the development of rave culture in the 1980's even through today. There is a flourishing independent rock scene, including the recent explosion of Chicago emo acts, with multiple
festivals featuring various acts each year (Lollapalooza, the Intonation Music Festival and Pitchfork Music Festival being the most prominent).
Chicago has several signature foods which reflect the city's ethnic and working-class roots. These include the deep-dish pizza and the Chicago hot dog, which is almost always made of Vienna Beef and loaded with mustard, chopped onion, sliced tomato, pickle relish, celery salt, sport peppers, and a dill pickle spear. However, putting ketchup on a Chicago hot dog is often taken as an insult. Chicago is also known for Italian Beef sandwiches and the Maxwell Street Polish (always served topped with grilled onions and mustard). The city has many upscale dining establishments as well as many ethnic restaurant districts. These include "Greektown" on
South Halsted, "Little Italy" on Taylor Street, just west of Halsted, "Chinatown" on the near South Side, and South Asian on Devon Avenue.
Sites of interest
In 1998, the city officially opened the Museum Campus, a 10-acre (4-hectare) lakefront park surrounding three of the city's main museums: the Adler Planetarium, the Field Museum of Natural History, and the Shedd Aquarium. The Museum Campus was constructed on the southern section of Grant Park. Grant Park is also home to Chicago's other major downtown museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, which is partnered with The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, located in the Hyde Park neighborhood, is housed in the only in-place surviving building from the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893.
Navy Pier, a 3000-foot (900 m) pier housing restaurants, shops, museums, exhibition halls, auditoriums, and a 150-foot-tall (45 m) Ferris wheel, is located north of Grant Park on the lakefront.
The Chicago Cultural Center, built in 1897 as Chicago's first permanent public library, now houses the city's Visitor Information Center, galleries, and exhibit halls. The ceiling of Preston Bradley Hall includes a 38-foot (11 m) Tiffany glass dome. The Oriental Institute, part of the University of Chicago, has an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern archaeological artifacts, while the Freedom Museum is dedicated to exploring and explaining the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Other museums and galleries in Chicago are the Chicago History Museum, DuSable Museum of African-American History, Mexican Fine Arts
Center Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.
Millennium Park is a rebuilt section of Grant Park that was planned for unveiling at the turn of the 21st century, though it was delayed for several years. The park includes the original sculpture Cloud Gate (known locally as The Bean). When visitors face The Bean and Lake Michigan, a curved image of the Chicago skyline is reflected back. Millennium Park also contains a restaurant with an outdoor seating section that is transformed into an ice skating rink in the winter. Two tall glass sculptures make up the Crown Fountain by Jaume Plensa. The fountain's two towers display huge LED images of Chicagoans' faces, with water spouting from their pursed
lips. Frank Gehry's ornate stainless steel bandshell, Pritzker Pavilion, is home to the Grant Park Music Festival, a free summer series of classical concerts. Behind the pavilion's stage is the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, an indoor venue for mid-sized performing arts companies, including Chicago Opera Theater and Music of the Baroque. Gehry's stainless steel BP Bridge connects Millennium Park with Daley Bicentennial Plaza.
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