| CHICAGO is in many ways the nation's last great
city. Sarah Bernhardt called it "the pulse of America" and, though long
eclipsed by Los Angeles as the United States' largest center after New
York, Chicago really does have it all, with less of the hassle and infrastructural
problems of its coastal rivals. Founded in the early 1800s, Chicago grew
up with the country, serving as the main connection between the established
East Coast cities and the wide open Wild West frontier. This position on
the sharp edge between civilization and wilderness made the city into a
crucible of innovation; and many aspects of modern life, from skyscrapers
to suburbia, had their start, and perhaps their finest expression, here
on the shores of Lake Michigan. Despite burning to the ground in 1871,
Chicago boomed thereafter, doubling in population every decade and reaching
two million around 1900, swollen by Irish and eastern European immigrants
(Chicago still has the second largest Polish population in the world, after
Warsaw). In the early years of this century, it cemented a reputation as
a place of apparently limitless opportunity, with jobs aplenty for those
willing to work.---- from rough guide.com |