Chicago, Illinois
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| Missing image Chicago-cityseal.gif |
| City flag | City seal |
| City nickname: "The Windy City" | |
| City motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: "City in a Garden") | |
| Missing image US-IL-Chicago.jpg Location in the state of Illinois | |
| Counties | Cook County, Illinois DuPage County, Illinois |
| Area - Total - Water | 606.1 km² (234.0 mi²) 17.8 km² (6.9 mi²) 2.94% |
| Population - Total (2000) - Metropolitan - Density | 2,896,016 9,286,207 4,923.0/km² |
| Time zone | Central: UTC–6 |
| Location | Template:Coor dms |
| Mayor | Richard M. Daley |
| City website (http://egov.cityofchicago.org/) | |
| Missing image Chicago_Downtown_Aerial_View.jpg Aerial view of downtown Chicago | |
Chicago, Illinois — officially the City of Chicago and colloquially known as Chicago, the Second City and the Windy City — is the third largest city of the United States after New York City and Los Angeles and is the largest inland city of the nation. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 2,896,016 people. Classified as a world class city, it is the fourth largest in North America and the seventh largest in Western Hemisphere. The city itself covers 606.1 km² (234.0 mi²) but when combined with its suburbs and eight collar counties, forming the greater metropolitan area known as Chicagoland, it encompasses more than 5,000 mi² with a population that nears approximately 10 million people. Chicago and Chicagoland, when combined with the greater Milwaukee region, is often considered a megacity or megalopolis with a population that nears approximately 12 million people.
A former frontier town in existence for over 175 years, Chicago is located in the midwest state of Illinois along the western shores of Lake Michigan. With several colloquial nicknames, Chicago is ranked by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network as one of the ten alpha world cities. Chicago is known for its cultural and ethnic diversity and frontier and political history. Its unique cuisine, skyscrapers and sports teams are also the most recognized symbols of the city.
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History
Main article: History of Chicago
The area now known as Chicago was primarily inhabited by Potawatomis. In the 1770s the first non-native settler, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, a Haitian of African descent, settled on the banks of the Chicago River. In 1795, the Chicago area was ceded by the Native Americans in the Treaty of Greenville to the United States for use as a military post. In 1803, Fort Dearborn was built. It was destroyed in the Fort Dearborn Massacre during the War of 1812, but was rebuilt in 1816 and remained in use until 1837.
On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago was incorporated with a population of 350. On March 4, 1837, Chicago was granted a city charter by the state.
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 also completed in 1848. Chicago would go on to become the transportation hub of the United States with its road, rail, and water (and later air) connections. Chicago also became home to nationwide retailers such as Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck and Company that offered catalog shopping using these connections.
In 1855, the level of the city was raised four to seven feet, with individual buildings jacked up and fill brought in to raise streets above the swamp.
The 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago nominated home-state candidate Abraham Lincoln.
In 1871, most of the city burned in the Great Chicago Fire. In the following years, Chicago rebuilt itself and its architecture became influential throughout the world. The first skyscraper was constructed in 1885 using novel steel-skeleton construction. Chicago's resurgence onto the world scene was capped by the World Columbian Exposition (1893 Chicago World's Fair).
The 1880s and 1890s were a time when many Chicagoans made their fortune, but the ordinary person's lot was fairly grim, with poor housing, disease and long hours the norm. Two noted events of this period were the Haymarket Riot, which started in a way that is still under debate and the Pullman Strike of 1894, started when railcar magnate George Pullman turned workers out of their company housing when they were no longer needed. Today, Chicago remains a town of still-strong unions as a result of a tradition of labor militancy.
The Chicago River's direction of flow was reversed in 1900 to prevent sewage from running into Lake Michigan, the city's water source. Instead, the River flowed into the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, and eventually into the Mississippi River.
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.
In August 1968, the Democratic National Convention in Chicago was disrupted, at first by peaceful, if noisy, protests and then by what an ex-governor of Illinois characterized as a "police riot" when overworked Chicago police charged demonstrators on Michigan avenue.
Chicago's population declines and lack of new construction, characteristic of the town during the 1960s and 1970s, have been reversed by a considerable amount of mostly private investment which make its center today quite lively, with a number of museums, a first rate symphony and opera company, and many live theaters. At the same time, pathologies remain including homelessness and crime. In a reversal of the pattern of the 1960s which is an emulation of modern Paris, the very wealthy once again dominate the city center, with new residential housing in the Loop (even the financial district), River North (formerly the Near North Side) and south of the Loop, while the poor have been migrating to the older ring of suburbs of Chicago.
Lively ethnic neighborhoods have long been a Chicago feature. Prior to World War I and the dispersal and persecution of German-Americans consequent on war hysteria, Lincoln Avenue was a major German-speaking area. Today, the Chinatown near 35th and Cermak is a tourist draw, and Devon avenue is a lively Indian neighborhood based on Indians and Pakistanis working as professionals in Chicago.
Related topics
Law and government
Main article: Law and government of Chicago
Chicagocityhall.jpg
The government of the City of Chicago is divided into executive and legislative branches. The mayor is the chief executive, elected by general election for a term of four years. The mayor appoints commissioners and other officials who oversee the various departments. The current mayor is Richard M. Daley. In addition to the mayor, Chicago's two other citywide elected officials are the clerk and the treasurer.
The City Council is the legislative branch and is made up of 50 aldermen, one elected from each ward in the city. The council enacts local ordinances and approves the city budget. Government priorities and activities are established in a budget ordinance usually adopted each November. The council takes official action through the passage of ordinances and resolutions.
The city is the county seat of Cook County.
Related topics
- Chicago City Hall
- Chicago City Council
- City Departments
- Chicago Police Department
- Chicago Fire Department
- Mayors of Chicago
- Chicago aldermen
- Sister cities of Chicago
- Municipal Flag of Chicago
- Municipal Code of Chicago (http://library7.municode.com/gateway.dll/IL/illinois/7539?f=templates&fn=default.htm&npusername=13322&nppassword=MCC&npac_credentialspresent=true&vid=default)
Geography
Main article: Geography of Chicago
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Chicago is located in northeastern Illinois at the southwestern tip of Lake Michigan. When the city we know today was initially founded in the 1830s the land was swampy and most of the early building began around the mouth of the Chicago River. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Chicago has a total area of 606.1 km² (234.0 mi²), of which 588.3 km² (227.1 mi²) is land and 17.8 km² (6.9 mi²) is water. The total area is 2.94% water. The city has been built on relatively flat land; the average height of land is 579 feet (176 metres) above sea level.
The city lies beside Lake Michigan and two rivers, the Chicago in Downtown Chicago and the Calumet in the industrial Far South Side, entirely or partially flow through Chicago. Connecting the Chicago River with the Des Plaines is the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.
The Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) consists of Cook County and five surrounding Illinois counties as well as the Chicago–Gary–Kenosha Consolidated Statistical Area (CSA), which is made up of nine counties, two of them in northwestern Indiana and one in southeastern Wisconsin.
Chicago is also recognized around the world for its magnificent skyline, and is globally ranked fourth based on number of buildings and floors.[1] (http://www.emporis.com/en/bu/sk/st/sr/)
Template:Mapit-US-cityscale A list of the color aerial views of the urban area of Chicago.
Related topics
- Chicagoland
- Chicago parks
- Chicago neighborhoods
- Chicago community areas
- Chicago landmarks
- The Tallest Buildings
- Chicago GIS Maps (http://maps.cityofchicago.org/website/public/intro.htm)
Climate
Main article: Climate of Chicago
Chicago has a climate typical of the Midwest. Sudden changes of weather, large daily temperature ranges, and unpredictable precipitation patterns are all staples of Chicago weather. Chicago has four clearly defined seasons, although in certain years some seasons may overextend their welcome and linger into months they do not traditionally occupy. For example, in Chicago it has snowed in September (1942), been 90°F (33°C) in March (1982), and had a day where the high and low temperatures differed by more than 65°F (31°C) in one day (February 8, 1900).
The highest temperature ever recorded in Chicago is an unofficial 109°F (44°C) on July 24, 1935. The highest official temperature ever recorded is 105°F (42°C) on July 17, 1995 during the Chicago Heat Wave. The coldest temperature ever recorded officially in Chicago is -27°F (-33°C) on January 11, 1982, with unofficial reports of -30°F.
Economy
Chicago_bot.jpg
Main article: Economy of Chicago
Chicago has been a center for commerce in the United States for most of its modern history. Today Chicago remains the United States' second financial center with the nation's second largest central business district and third largest gross metropolitan product. In fact Chicago's gross metropolitan product would rank 18th in the world if it were a nation-state at approximately 380 billion dollars. Before it was incorporated as a town in 1833 the primary industry was the fur trade. Chicago's early explosive growth led many land speculators and enterprising individuals to the area. Situated on the Great Lakes and with so many new people settling the area, Chicago became an ideal location for shipping and receiving goods. With that, many railroads started to be built from Chicago to other parts of the country, further aiding the growth of the city. Additionally, the building of the Illinois and Michigan Canal helped move goods south down the Mississippi River.
In the 1840s Chicago became the largest grain port in the world, shipping food from the Mississippi Valley region which was also growing into the largest food-producing region in the world. In 1848 Chicago built its first grain elevator, and in 1858 there were twelve grain elevators dotting the skyline. Carl Sandburg described Chicago as a "stacker of wheat", and some would argue that the grain elevators were Chicago's first skyscrapers.
In the 1850s and 1860s Chicago's pork and beef industry exploded. Great entrepreneurs such as Gustavus F. Swift and Philip Armour helped the area to become the largest producer of meat products in the world at the time. By 1862 Chicago had displaced Cincinnati, Ohio, as "Porkopolis". During the 1860s two factors helped this development: First, the Civil War increased the demand for food products, and Chicago's transportation network ensured that goods could be delivered quickly to soldiers all over the northern United States; second, meat packing plants began to utilize ice. Before this time, meat production and distribution facilities, otherwise known as disassembly plants, had to shut down in the hot summer months. More operating months meant hundreds of thousands of new man-hours in which people could work.
The efficiency of Chicago's meat packing industry and its disassembly plants inspired others such as Henry Ford when he developed Model-T assembly lines. Today, we consider industries such as steel, oil, and banking to be the great global market segments, but in the 1860s Chicago's pork and beef industry represented the first global industry. As the major meat companies grew in Chicago many, such as Armour, created global enterprises and communicated with divisions spread across the globe via telegraph.
Modern-day futures and commodity trading markets were pioneered in Chicago. A number of events led to this, along with Chicago's transportation systems and geographic proximity to the rest of the country. Massive amounts of goods passed through Chicago from places in the Mississippi Valley such as St. Louis, Missouri. Grain was stored in Chicago, and people began buying contracts on it. Later, people as far away as New York City began buying contracts by telegraph on the goods that would be stored in Chicago in the future. From this were established the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), and the modern systems we use today for futures and commodity trading.
Today Chicago is considered to be a Prime Accountancy, Advertising and Legal Service Centers by the GaWC.
Related topics
Demographics
Main article: Demographics of Chicago
Chicagoskyline2005.jpg
People living in the Chicago area are called "Chicagoans."
As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there are 2,896,016 people, 1,061,928 households, and 632,909 families residing in the city of Chicago proper. This encompasses about one-fifth of the entire population of the state of Illinois and 1% of the population of the United States. The population density is 4,923.0/km² (12,750.3/mi²). There are 1,152,868 housing units at an average density of 1,959.8/km² (5,075.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 41.97% White, 36.77% Black or African American, 0.36% Native American, 4.35% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 13.58% from other races, and 2.92% from two or more races. Of the population, 26.02% are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Chicago's unique culture arises from it being a melting pot, with nearly even percentages of whites and African-Americans and a sizeable Hispanic minority. The main white ethnic groups in Chicago are Irish, German, Italian and Polish. Chicago has a large Irish-American population on its South Side. Many of Chicago's politicians have come from this population, including the current mayor, Richard M. Daley. Chicago has the largest ethnically Polish population outside of Polish capital of Warsaw, making it one of the most important Polonia centers. It is also considered to be the second-largest Serbian city in the world after Belgrade (which has a population of two million).
There are 1,061,928 households, of which 28.9% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.1% are married couples living together, 18.9% have a female householder with no husband present, and 40.4% are non-families. Of all households, 32.6% are made up of individuals and 8.7% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.67 and the average family size is 3.50.
Of the city population, 26.2% are under the age of 18, 11.2% are from 18 to 24, 33.4% are from 25 to 44, 18.9% are from 45 to 64, and 10.3% are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 32 years. For every 100 females there are 94.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 91.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $38,625, and the median income for a family is $42,724. Males have a median income of $35,907 versus $30,536 for females. The per capita income for the city is $20,175. Below the poverty line are 19.6% of the population and 16.6% of the families. Of the total population, 28.1% of those under the age of 18 and 15.5% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Related topics
- Maps of Chicago
- Chicago Metropolitan Population
- ChicagoIrish.org (http://www.chicagoirish.org)
Colleges and universities
Main article: Colleges and universities of Chicago
UChicago_gate.jpg
Chicago holds a distinguished place in the United States for higher education as the home of such schools as the University of Chicago in Hyde Park and Northwestern University in Evanston. Two of the most honored institutions of the Roman Catholic Church are DePaul University in Lincoln Park and Loyola University in Rogers Park and Edgewater. Loyola is one of the largest institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities.
Major research universities such as the Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois at Chicago call Chicago home. Columbia College, Roosevelt University and The School of the Art Institute are major schools geared towards urban studies, fine arts and performance arts. Community colleges were pioneered by locals William Rainey Harper and J. Stanley Brown in 1899. They inspired the creation of the City Colleges of Chicago.
Communications and media
Chicago is considered to command the third-largest market in North America (after New York City and Los Angeles - although Mexico City is larger, its market does not hold such importance) and as such has many different forms of media and outlets to support its status. Additionally Chicago is considered to be the Prime Global Advertising Service Center by the GaWC.
Related topics
Arts and culture
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For its youth as compared to Eastern cities, Chicago has made many significant pop-cultural contributions. In the field of music, Chicago is well-known for its Chicago blues, but it is also the birthplace of the House style of music, whose history is related to the development and fostering of the techno electronic style of music in nearby Detroit.
The rock band Chicago was named after the city, although its original name was the Chicago Transit Authority. The band's name was shortened to Chicago after the CTA threatened to sue them for unauthorized use of the original.
In the field of popular cuisine, Chicago style Pizza provides the antithesis to New York styles and hot dogs, being synonymous with deep-dish and stuffed pizza in addition to being linked to a robustly complex Chicago style Hot Dog (often called "the garbage dog") that challenges the relative simplicity of a New York coney dog. Chicago has a homegrown riposte to the "po' boy" of New Orleans and the equivalent "hoagie" of Philadelphia in the Italian beef sandwich. The Italian Beef typically includes cheese, peppers, and onions. Another local specialty is "cheese fries", French fries covered in cheese.
In addition, Chicago schools have developed in various studies, such as the famed Chicago school of architecture and the Chicago schools of economic theory, literary criticism and urban sociology, the latter three founded at the University of Chicago.
Chicago is a well-known theater capital and is the mecca for improvizational comedy. It is home to The Second City and ImprovOlympic, two of the largest comedy troupes in the world. Many world-famous actors and comedians are from Chicago or have studied there, particularly at Northwestern University.
Chicago also has a great literary tradition. Carl Sandburg, a Pulitzer Prize–winning poet and Abraham Lincoln biographer, gave the city one of its best-known nicknames, "City of Big Shoulders", in his Chicago Poems (1916). These poems are representative of Chicago's spirit. At the same time, Sandburg, who was a lifelong Socialist, published other less well-known poems criticising Chicago's disparities in wealth.
Historically, Chicago is remembered for machine politics ("Vote early and vote often" and "A city run of the Daleys, by the Daleys, for the Daleys" are two phrases associated with Chicago politics), meat packing (as mentioned in the nicknames section and made infamous by Upton Sinclair's The Jungle), and gangster violence during Prohibition (some key figures are linked to Chicago, such as Al Capone and John Dillinger).
Chicago is home to the Moody Bible Institute, named after Dwight L. Moody, a 19th Century evangelist who held a Sunday School and founded a church there.
Related topics
Sports
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Chicago is also identified with many sports teams. It is one of the few cities in the United States with two professional baseball teams (Cubs, White Sox) plus professional football (Bears), soccer (Fire), basketball (Bulls), and two professional hockey teams (the Blackhawks and the minor-league Wolves). In the early history of the city, sports were at the heart of some founding legends. During the city's boomtown days local authorities staged a dogfight, knowing that it would attract some of the more unsavory characters on the town's crime scene. As soon as the fight began, police moved in and arrested every criminal and escorted them to the city borders. While the complete truth of the story is sometimes doubted, it is important as an early Chicago legend and does reflect the early days of sports in the city. Early Chicago had only the most primitive of sports. Until about 1850, men outnumbered women and this male-dominated subculture encouraged gambling and drinking, as well as activities such as billiards and horse racing.
| Club | Sport | League | Stadium | Logo |
| Chicago Bears | Football | National Football League | Soldier Field | Missing image ChicagoBears_100.png Chicago Bears Logo |
| Chicago Blackhawks | Hockey | National Hockey League | United Center |  |
| Chicago Bulls | Basketball | National Basketball Association | United Center |  |
| Chicago Cubs | Baseball | Major League Baseball: National League | Wrigley Field | Missing image ChicagoCubs_100.png Chicago Cubs Logo |
| Chicago Fire | Soccer | Major League Soccer | Soldier Field | Missing image Chicago_Fire_logo.gif Chicago Fire Logo |
| Chicago White Sox | Baseball | Major League Baseball: American League | U.S. Cellular Field |  |
Related topics
- Arlington Park
- Chicago Motor Speedway
- Chicago Blitz
- Chicago Rush
- Chicago Enforcers
- Chicago Bruisers
- Chicago Wolves
- U.S. cities with teams from four major sports.
Health and medicine
The United States has the largest health care system in the world, and Chicago is arguably the capital of that system. The city is first among the major dental and medical training centers in the United States. It is also home to the sprawling Illinois Medical District on the Near West Side as well as the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, the American Dental Association, and the American College of Surgeons. The University of Illinois at Chicago claims to be the largest medical school in the United States (1300 students, including those at campuses in Peoria, Rockford and Urbana-Champaign). [2] (http://www.uic.edu/depts/mcam/aboutcom.html/)
Related topics
Transportation
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Chicago can be considered one of the prime transportation hubs in America. Much of this status stems from its geographic proximity during a time when the United States was growing quickly in population and area. The Illinois and Michigan Canal, completed in 1848, allowed for transport around the world with connecting waterways through Chicago all the way to New York and the Atlantic, west to St. Louis, and south to New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. Chicago then became one of the largest grain and lumber ports in the world, with grain going to more established populations and lumber being sent to the forest-starved prairies where new settlers needed to build. Even today Chicago's importance in global distribution remains as it is the third largest inter-modal port in the world after Hong Kong and Singapore.
In the 1850s the railroads started growing from Chicago faster than anywhere else in the world. By 1856, Chicago was the railroad hub of America and by the end of the decade more than 100 trains were coming and going each day. This network allowed Chicago to become the center of the meat packing industry. Chicago is still the railroad hub of the United States. All of the Class I railroads in existence in the United States maintain (often multiple) terminals in and around Chicago, and the city is served by a large number of smaller railroads that both interconnect the larger railroads and connect to locations not served by the larger railroads.
In the 20th century, Chicago held on to its status as a transportation hub with the building of three airports: O'Hare International Airport, Midway Airport, and Meigs Field. Meigs Field, which was closed by Mayor Richard M. Daley in a nighttime coup, was a relatively small airstrip but unique because of its proximity to Chicago's downtown, and as an airstrip for private planes it was one of the busiest in the world. The land is to be converted into a lakeside park. In the 21st century, Chicago is working toward maintaining its status as a U.S. and international transportation hub by working to expand O'Hare International Airport. Additionally, a new airport has been proposed for Peotone, Illinois, and the city is working toward expanding its ties with the Gary/Chicago International Airport in Gary, Indiana. Template:CTA Related topics
- Airports of Chicago
- Mass transit in Chicago
- Streets and highways of Chicago
- Multilevel streets in Chicago
- Chicago Regional Port District
- Chicago rail stations
- Route 66
- Chicago Trolley Company
- Chicago Tunnel Company
- Chicago Pedway
- Public Transit Trip Planner (http://tripsweb.rtachicago.com/)
Tourism and recreation
Museums
- Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave. One of the premier museums in the United States. Famous pieces include American Gothic by Grant Wood, and A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat
- Chicago Cultural Center (Home Page (http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Tourism/CultureCenterTour/)), 78 E. Washington St. Except holidays, M-Th 10AM-7PM, F 10AM-6PM, Sa 10AM-5PM, Su 11AM-5PM. Built in 1897 as Chicago's first public library, the building now houses the city's Visitor Information Center, galleries, and exhibit halls. The ceiling of Preston Bradley Hall includes a 38-foot Tiffany glass dome.
- Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 S. Lake Shore Dr., +1 312-922-9410. Every day 9AM-5PM. Chicago's natural history museum. Highlights include the largest Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton in the world as well as a great, kids-friendly Egyptian exhibit. $12 ($7 children, seniors and students; Monday and Tuesday are free seasonally).
- Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave., +1 312-280-2660. Tu 10AM-8PM, W-Su 10AM-5PM. Art of all types from around the world made since 1945. $10 ($6 student, free Tu after 5PM).
- Oriental Institute, part of the University of Chicago, one of the best collections of ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern archeology in the world.
- Shedd Aquarium, 1200 S. Lake Shore Dr., +1 312-939-2438. Located on the Museum Campus, the Shedd Aquarium is home to a large collection of marine life from throughout the world. The Pacific Northwest–themed Oceanarium features dolphins, whales, and other animals from the region, as well as a panoramic view of Lake Michigan.
- Spertus Institute - Museum dedicated solely to Judaica.
Related topics
- Photos of Chicago - Terra Galleria (http://www.terragalleria.com/america/mid-west/illinois/)
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References
When creating references please refer to the Wikipedia Cite Sources guidelines.
- City of Chicago Homepage (http://www.cityofchicago.org/)
- The Encyclopedia of Chicago ISBN 0226310159
- The Encyclopedia of Chicago (online version) (http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/)
- City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America by Donald L. Miller ISBN 0684801949
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