History of Chicago: Difference between revisions
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==Early days of Chicago== |
==Early days of Chicago== |
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[[File:Dusable and the Frozen River cropped .jpg|thumb|180px|Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable]] |
[[File:Dusable and the Frozen River cropped .jpg|thumb|180px|Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable]] |
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I love Chicago, and at the beginning of European recorded history, the Chicago area was inhabited by a number of [[Algonquian peoples]], including the [[Mascouten]]s and [[Miami (tribe)|Miami]]s. Trade links and seasonal hunting migrations linked these peoples with their neighbours, the [[Potawatomi]]s to the east, [[Fox (tribe)|Fox]] to the north, and the [[Illiniwek|Illinois]] to the southwest. The name "Chicago" is the French version of the [[Miami language|Miami-Illinois]] word ''shikaakwa'' (" Stinky Onion"), named for the plants common along the [[Chicago River]],<ref>{{Citation |last=McCafferty |first=Michael |chapter-url=http://linguistlist.org/issues/12/12-3157.html |chapter=Disc: "Chicago" Etymology |url=http://linguistlist.org/ |title=LINGUIST list posting |date=December 21, 2001 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=McCafferty |first=Michael |url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3945/is_200307/ai_n9266765 |title=A Fresh Look at the Place Name Chicago |journal=Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society |volume=95 |issue=2 |year=2003 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Swenson |first=John F. |title=Chicagoua/Chicago: The Origin, Meaning, and Etymology of a Place Name |journal=Illinois Historical Journal |volume=84 |issue=4 |year=1991 |pages=235–248 }}</ref> and this has nothing to do with [[Chief Chicagou]] of the [[Michigamea]] people.<ref>{{Cite web |
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Revision as of 16:46, 18 May 2010
This article is about the history of Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Early days of Chicago
I love Chicago, and at the beginning of European recorded history, the Chicago area was inhabited by a number of Algonquian peoples, including the Mascoutens and Miamis. Trade links and seasonal hunting migrations linked these peoples with their neighbours, the Potawatomis to the east, Fox to the north, and the Illinois to the southwest. The name "Chicago" is the French version of the Miami-Illinois word shikaakwa (" Stinky Onion"), named for the plants common along the Chicago River,[1][2][3] and this has nothing to do with Chief Chicagou of the Michigamea people.[4]
Chicago's location at a short, swampy portage between the Chicago River (flowing originally into the Great Lakes) and the Des Plaines River (flowing into the Mississippi), attracted the attention of many French explorers travelling in the area, such as Louis Jolliet and Henri Joutel, who felt that the area had a great potential as a transportation hub. In 1696, French Jesuits built the Mission of the Guardian Angel to Christianize the local Wea and Miami people.[5] French and allied use of the Chicago portage was mostly abandoned during the 1720s because of continual raiding during the Fox Wars.[6]
During the mid 18th Century, the Chicago area was inhabited primarily by Potawatomis, who took the place of the Miami, Sauk, and Fox tribes who had previously controlled the area.
The first non-native permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, a Haitian of African and French descent, who built the first trading post on the Chicago River in the 1770s (later to form the core of modern day Chicago) and married a local Potawatomi woman. In 1795, following the Northwest Indian War, the area of Chicago was ceded by the Native Americans in the Treaty of Greenville to the United States for a military post. In 1803, Fort Dearborn was built and remained in use until 1837, after being rebuilt in 1818. In 1812 it had been destroyed in the Battle of Fort Dearborn during the War of 1812. The Potawatomi ceded the land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis.
Incorporation
On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago was incorporated with a population of 350. The first boundaries of the new town were Kinzie, Desplaines, Madison, and State Streets, which included an area of about three-eighths of a square mile (1 km²).
Within seven years the town had a population of over 4,000. Chicago was granted a city charter by the State of Illinois on March 4, 1837. The opening of the Illinois and Michigan Canal in 1848 allowed shipping from the Great Lakes through Chicago to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. The first rail line to Chicago, the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad was completed the same year. Chicago would go on to become the transportation hub of the United States with its road, rail, water and later air connections. Chicago also became home to national retailers offering catalog shopping using these connections like Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck and Company.
Growth
Due to the geography of Chicago, early citizens faced many problems. The prairie bog nature of the area provided a fertile ground for disease-carrying insects. Early on, Chicago's population and commerce growth was stymied by lack of good transportation infrastructure, though this problem was soon remedied. During spring Chicago was so muddy from the high water that horses would be stuck past their legs in the street. One dirt road was so hazardous that it became known as the "Slough of Despond". Comical signs proclaiming "Fastest route to China" or "No Bottom Here" were placed to warn people of the mud.
To address these transportation problems, the board of Cook County commissioners, decided to improve two country roads toward the West and Southwest. The first road went west, crossing the "dismal Nine-mile Swamp," crossed the Des Plaines River, and went southwest to Walker's Grove, now the Village of Plainfield. There is a dispute about the route of the second road to the South.
Early Chicago was also plagued by sewer and water problems. Many people described it as the filthiest city in America. To solve this problem, Chicago embarked on the creation of a massive sewer system. In the first phase sewage pipes were laid across the city above ground with gravity moving the waste. The city was built in a low-lying area subject to flooding. In 1856 the city council decided that the entire city should be elevated four to five feet using a newly available jacking-up process. In one instance, the 5-story Brigg’s Hotel weighing 22,000 tons was lifted while it continued to operate. Observing that such a thing could never have happened in Europe, British Historian Paul Johnson cites this astounding feat as a dramatic example of American determination and ingenuity based on the conviction that anything material is possible.[8]
In 1840, Chicago was the ninety-second most populous city in the United States. Its population grew so rapidly that twenty years later, it was the ninth most populous city in the country. In the pivotal year of 1848, Chicago saw the completion of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, its first steam locomotives, the introduction of steam-powered grain elevators, the arrival of the telegraph, and the founding of the Chicago Board of Trade [9]. By 1870 Chicago had grown to become the nation's second largest city, and one of the largest cities in the world. By 1857 Chicago was the largest city in what was then known as the Northwest. In a period of twenty years Chicago grew from 4,000 people to over 90,000.
The 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago nominated home-state candidate Abraham Lincoln.
During the election of April 23, 1875, the voters of Chicago choose to operate under the Illinois Cities and Villages Act of 1872. Chicago still operates under this act, in lieu of a charter. The Cities and Villages Act has been revised several times since, and may be found in Chapter 65 of the Illinois Compiled Statutes.
Great Chicago Fire
In 1871, most of the city burned in the Great Chicago Fire. The damage from the fire was immense; 300 people died, 18,000 buildings were destroyed and nearly 100,000 of the city's 300,000 residents were left homeless. One of the factors contributing to the fire's spread was the abundance of wood; the streets, sidewalks and many buildings were built of wood. The fire led to the incorporation of stringent fire-safety codes that included a strong preference for masonry construction.
The soft, swampy ground near the lake proved unstable ground for tall masonry buildings. While this was an early constraint, it led directly to the development of using steel frames and the invention in Chicago of the skyscraper, a building improvement that made Chicago a leader in architecture and set the model for achieving vertical city densities nationwide.
Politics and infighting stalled these plans, and developers and citizens began immediate reconstruction on the existing Jeffersonian grid. The building boom that followed saved the city's status as the transportation and trade hub of the Midwest. Massive reconstruction using the newest materials and methods catapulted Chicago into its status as a city on par with New York and established the city as the birthplace of modern architecture in the United States.[citation needed]
Other notable fires occurred in Chicago. 602 people died in the Iroquois Theater fire in 1903. The LaSalle Hotel fire in 1946 claimed the lives of 61 guests. In 1958 a Roman Catholic elementary school, Our Lady of the Angels, burned 18 minutes before the end of the school day, killing 92 children and three teaching nuns.
Haymarket Riot
The deeply polarized attitudes of labor and business classes in Chicago prompted a strike by workers lobbying for an eight-hour work day. A peaceful demonstration on May 4, 1886, at Haymarket near the west side was interrupted by a bomb thrown at police; seven police officers died. A group of anarchists were tried for inciting the riot and convicted; several were hanged and others were pardoned. The episode was a watershed moment in the labor movement and its yearly celebration would later morph into May Day.
Rapid growth
Between 1870 and 1900 Chicago grew from a city of 299,000 to nearly 1.7 million, the fastest-growing city ever at the time. Chicago's flourishing economy brought huge numbers of new residents from rural communities and immigrants from Europe. The growth in Chicago's manufacturing and retail sectors came to dominate the Midwest and greatly influence the nation's economy. The Chicago Union Stock Yards dominated the packing trade. Chicago became the world's largest rail hub, and one of its busiest ports.
Chicago accepted waves of immigration from eastern Europe from the end of the Civil War through the end of the First World War, as well as thousands of African Americans coming north in the Great Migration, starting in 1910. With new populations competing for limited housing and jobs, especially on the South Side, social tensions rose in the city. Postwar years were more difficult. Black veterans looked for more respect for having served their nation, and some whites resented it. In 1919 was the Chicago Race Riot, in a summer when other major cities also suffered mass racial violence. Much of the violence was led by members of Irish athletic clubs, who had much political power in the city and defended their "territory" against African Americans. As was typical in these occurrences, more blacks than whites died in the violence.
World's Columbian Exposition
The constant lobbying by the city's boasting lobbyists and politicians earned Chicago the nickname "Windy City" in the New York press, although this etymology may be erroneous. The city adopted the nickname as its own.
The World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 was constructed on former marshland at the present location of Jackson Park along Lake Michigan in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The land was reclaimed according to a design by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and the pavilions, which followed a classical theme, were designed by committee of the city's architects under the direction of Daniel Burnham.
The Exposition drew 27.5 million visitors, and is considered among the most influential world's fairs in history, with a wide ranging impact in art, architecture and design.[10] The fair also featured the first, and until recently, largest Ferris wheel ever built.
This was also the beginning of the Chicago School of Architecture, which continued to influence the world up through the World wars.
20th century
Lake Michigan — the primary source of fresh water for the city — was already highly polluted from the rapidly growing industries in and around Chicago; a new way of procuring clean water was needed. The city embarked on a large tunnel excavation project and began building tunnels below Lake Michigan to newly built water cribs. The water cribs were two miles (three kilometers) off the shore of Lake Michigan. The cribs failed to bring enough clean water because 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. Chicago's water and sewage systems were publicly managed, a model soon followed by other cities. 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.
With the rapid growth of new immigrants from eastern and southern Europe, as well as blacks from the South in the Great Migration, Chicago had severe social tensions in the period after World War I. Competition for jobs was increased by blacks' being hired as strikebreakers. In what was called the Red Summer of 1919, the city suffered a race riot over several days, one of numerous ones across the country. A city investigation accused ethnic Irish athletic clubs of being chiefly responsible for the outbreak of violence and white attacks against blacks.
The 1920s brought international notoriety to Chicago as gangsters, such as Al Capone, battled each other and the law during the Prohibition era. Nevertheless, this decade also saw a large increase in industry in the city as well as the first arrivals of the Great Migration that would lead thousands of mostly Southern blacks to Chicago and other Northern cities. New construction occurred rapidly, with notable Chicago landmarks such as the Merchandise Mart and art deco Chicago Board of Trade Building completed in 1930.
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 1945, US Steel was Chicago's largest single employer, with 18,000 workers at the company's South Works in the city.[11]
On December 1, 1958, the Our Lady of the Angels School Fire occurred at the Our Lady of the Angels School in the Humboldt Park area of Chicago. The fire killed 92 students and three nuns and led to fire safety improvements for public and private schools in the United States.
Starting in the 1950s, many upper- and middle-class citizens left the inner-city of Chicago for the suburbs, and the city itself shrank by nearly 700,000, leaving many impoverished neighborhoods in their wake. The City Council devised "Plan 21" to improve neighborhoods and focused on creating "Suburbs within the city" near downtown and the lakefront. As a result many poor were uprooted from newly created enclaves of Black, Latino and poor in neighborhoods like Near North, Wicker Park, Lakeview, Uptown, Cabrini Green, West Town and Lincoln Park. Since the early 1990s, Chicago has seen a turnaround from the decline common to American cities following World War II. Many formerly abandoned neighborhoods are starting to show new life and the city's diversity has grown with larger percentages of ethnic groups such as Asians, Mexicans and Puerto Ricans. In the 1990s alone, Chicago gained 113,000 new inhabitants. Since the 1920s the lakefront has been crowded with high rise apartment buildings for middle classes who work in the city (few of them have children, however). (The lakefront is warmer in winter and cooler in summer.) Many decaying inner-city neighborhoods on the North and West sides have been gentrified by young couples.
Mayor Richard J. Daley was elected in 1955, in the era of so-called machine politics. During Daley's tenure (he died in office in 1976), the violence-filled 1968 Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago, four major expressways were built, the Sears Tower became the world's tallest building and O'Hare Airport (which became the world's busiest airport) was constructed.Several neighborhoods near downtown and the lakefront were transformed into "suburbs within the city." In the Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Wicker Park and Humboldt Park communities, the Young Lords marched and held sit ins to protest the displacement of Latinos and the poor. Major riots burned out sections of the black neighborhoods of the South and West side, especially in 1968.
In 1979 Jane Byrne, the city's first woman mayor, was elected, winning the Democratic primary due to a city-wide outrage about the ineffective snow removal across the city.
Dan Goodwin, in 1981, successfully scaled the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center. On the 37th floor of the John Hancock Center, after Chicago's fire department attempted to knock Goodwin off the building with water from a fire hose and by destroying window glass in his path, Mayor Jane Byrne intervened, allowing Goodwin to continue to the top.
In 1983, Harold Washington became the first black mayor of Chicago. Richard M. Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, became mayor in 1989, and has been repeatedly reelected.
One new development under the younger Daley has sparked debate, the destruction of the city's vast public housing projects. New projects during Daley's administration have been making world headlines and have made Chicago larger, environmentally friendlier, and more accessible. With a new skyline to form in 2009, the city is growing faster with a denser atmosphere and a more breathable one as well. The park district, which is committed to the biodiversity recovery plan, is set to restore damaged natural areas of the city as well as creating new ones, including the creation of rooftop gardens on most flattop skyscrapers.
Chicago earned the title of "City of the Year" in 2008 from GQ for contributions in architecture and literature, its world of politics, and the downtown's starring role in the Batman movie The Dark Knight.[12] The city was also rated as having the most balanced economy in the United States due to its high level of diversification.[13]
Timeline of events
See also
Notes
- ^ McCafferty, Michael (December 21, 2001), "Disc: "Chicago" Etymology", LINGUIST list posting
- ^ McCafferty, Michael (2003), "A Fresh Look at the Place Name Chicago", Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, 95 (2)
- ^ Swenson, John F. (1991), "Chicagoua/Chicago: The Origin, Meaning, and Etymology of a Place Name", Illinois Historical Journal, 84 (4): 235–248
- ^ Steward, John F. (1903). "Lost Maramech and Earliest Chicago". Chicago: Fleming H. Revell Company. pp. 23, 26, 54, 68, 152, et al.- In the 17th century, it was a Miami town, a Miami portage, a Miami river (see 1684 map, p. 23)
- ^ Garraghan, Gilbert J. (1921). The Catholic Church in Chicago, 1673-1871, p. 13. Loyola University Press.
- ^ Charles J. Balesi. The Time of the French in the Heart of North America, 1673-1818. 3rd ed. (2000).
- ^ Frank Alfred Randall, John D. Randall, History of the Development of Building Construction in Chicago 1999, pp. 57, 88: The Merchants' Hotel burned in 1867 and was rebuilt in 1868 as the St James Hotel, which burned in the Great Fire, 1871.
- ^ Paul Johnson, History of the American People, Harper Perennial, U.S.A., 1999, p.570.
- ^ Goebel-Bain, Angela, 2009, "From Humble Beginnings: Lincoln's Illinois 1830-1861," The Living Museum, 71(1&2): 5-25; p. 21
- ^ Chicago History. Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau.
- ^ Frum, David (2000). How We Got Here: The '70s. New York, New York: Basic Books. p. 22. ISBN 0465041957.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Konkol, Mark (2008-12-07). "Chicago is GQ's 'City of the Year'". Chicago Sun-Times. Newsbank. Retrieved 2009-02-22.
- ^ Template:PDFlink. Accessed from World Business Chicago.
References
- Chicago Timeline. Chicago Public Library at www.chipublib.org/004chicago/chihist.html.
- The Encyclopedia of Chicago (online version) by Janice L. Reiff, Ann Durkin Keating, and James R. Grossman
- City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America by Donald L. Miller ISBN 0-684-80194-9
External links
- History of Chicago from its founding to the World's Fair at PBS.org
- The Northwest Chicago Historical Society's official website
- Forgotten Chicago, a resource for hidden chicago gems
