This is the begining of my Chicago Page. The basics I found in Grolier's. As the months go on, you will find my personal additions, memories I have from the day I came here at 19, very much pregnant with our son, never having been away from home, with tears flowing freely for the entire 300+ mile trip, saddened from leaving all my family and friends, but excited too at a new life begining for my husband and myself. Someday I hope to add links to other interesting Chicago places that I am discovering in my WEB travels.
St. Louis will always and forever be my hometown, the place I yearn to be, BUT I have come to love Chicago, with all it's excitement, many things to see and do and most of all the many friends I have made since arriving here who have become my extended family.
an excerpt from Grolier's Encyclipedia
Chicago is a port and transportation center on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan in the state of Illinois. It has a population of 2,783,726 (1990) and has been the seat of Cook County since 1831. Long known as the nation's "second city," Chicago dropped to third place among largest U.S. cities during the 1980s as its population declined during the decade by 7.4%. Its three-state metropolitan area showed a slight increase, totaling 8,065,633 (1990).
Many of Chicago's people descend from 19th-century European immigrants, attracted to the city by industrial jobs. Nearly 40% (1990) of the population are blacks. The first steel-framework skyscraper was built (1884) in Chicago, and the city's impressive skyline includes such structures as the Sears Tower (443 m/1,454 ft), which is the world's tallest building. Indeed, the city has given its name to the Chicago school of architecture.
The Loop, the downtown area, was so named in the 1890s because of the rectangle formed by the tracks of the elevated trains. Lake Michigan exerts a strong influence on the city's climate, and Chicago has been appropriately nicknamed the Windy City.
Contemporary City The center of a heavily industrialized area, Chicago leads the country in the manufacture of telephone equipment, radios, television equipment, confectionery products, household products, musical instruments, and frozen and canned foods. Its largest industry is metal fabrication, particularly iron and steel. Several of the largest printers and publishers in the world are in Chicago. The Federal Reserve Bank was founded (1914) in Chicago, and the city still has a district bank. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the Midwest Stock Exchange, and the Chicago Board of Trade, the world's largest commodity futures market, are there.
Chicago's early importance as a transportation center has continued. Today its major airport, Chicago-O'Hare International, is the busiest in the world. Chicago's harbor, the largest on the Great Lakes, handles mostly grain and iron ore.
The University of Chicago (1890) is one of the most prestigious private universities in the country. Other institutions include the Illinois Institute of Technology (1892), Northwestern University (1851), and the Roman Catholic-supported Loyola (1870) and DePaul (1898) universities.
The Art Institute of Chicago has a world-famous collection. The Museum of Contemporary Art was founded in 1967. Scientific institutions include the Field Museum of Natural History, the Adler Planetarium, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Museum of Science and Industry. The city is home to the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
History The site of Chicago had long been an important portage point on the water route linking the Great Lakes with the Mississippi River. The United States bought a tract from the Indians in 1795, and the original settlement was a cluster of traders' shacks outside Fort Dearborn (built 1803). After the opening (1825) of the Erie Canal, Chicago became the focal point of the westward movement, and the arrival in the 1850s of the railroad assured its growth. Industry developed along with transportation, and steel production was a major boost to the city's economy. Lumbering and meat-processing plants were also built; the Union Stock Yards opened in 1865 and successfully operated for more than a century.
Just as Chicago was emerging as a major city, a devastating fire (Oct. 8-9, 1871) swept through part of it, leaving almost 100,000 people homeless and causing millions of dollars in damage. The city embarked on a rebuilding program, using stone to replace wooden buildings and creating one of the first modern fire departments in America.
Chicago was the site of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. A second major surge of growth occurred toward the turn of the century, when thousands of European immigrants arrived. As the labor movement emerged, union organizational activities were often marred by violence on both sides as with the Haymarket Riot (1886) and the Pullman Strike (1894). At the same time, movement to the suburbs began, and during the 20th century the city's population growth slowed.
The stock market crash (1929) halted major building construction, but the city did host the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition. Major construction resumed with the election (1955) of Mayor Richard J. Daley. Although Daley was influential as the head of one of the last old-time city political machines and stressed urban renewal, downtown Chicago deteriorated as city dwellers moved to the suburbs. In 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War, the mayor and city hosted the Democratic National Convention. Anti-war demonstrators followed. The ensuing riots resulted in arrests and ultimately in a famous trial of a group of men known as the Chicago Seven.
The city made history in 1979, when Jane Byrne became Chicago's first woman mayor. Following her defeat in the 1983 mayoral primaries, Harold Washington was elected the city's first black mayor. He died soon after his reelection in 1987. In 1989, Daley's son, Richard M. Daley, was elected mayor.
DeWitt Davis, Jr. Bibliography: Cromie, Robert, A Short History of Chicago (1984); Holli, M. G., and Jones, P. d'A., Ethnic Chicago, 4th ed. (1995); Miller, Donald, City of the Century (1996).
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