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This article is about the U.S. city in Illinois. For other uses, see Chicago (disambiguation).
City of Chicago
City
From top left: Chicago Theater, the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower, the University of Chicago, the skyline from the Museum Campus, Navy Pier, the Field Museum, and Crown Fountain in Millenium Park
From top left: Chicago Theater, the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower, the University of Chicago, the skyline from the Museum Campus, Navy Pier, the Field Museum, and Crown Fountain in Millenium Park
Flag of City of Chicago
Flag
Official seal of City of Chicago
Seal
Nicknames: 
The Windy City, The Second City, Chi-Town, Hog Butcher for the World, City of Big Shoulders, The City That Works, and others found at List of nicknames for Chicago
Motto(s): 
Template:Lang-la (Template:Lang-en), Make No Small Plans, I Will
Location in the Chicago metro area and Illinois
Location in the Chicago metro area and Illinois
CountryUnited States
StateIllinois
CountiesCook, DuPage
Settled1770s
IncorporatedMarch 4, 1837
Named forTemplate:Lang-mia
("Wild onion")
SeatCook County
Government
 • TypeMayor-council
 • MayorRichard M. Daley
 • City Council
Aldermen
 • State House
Representative
 • State Senate
State senators
 • U.S. House
Representatives
Area
 • City234.0 sq mi (606 km2)
 • Land227.2 sq mi (588 km2)
 • Water6.9 sq mi (18 km2)  3.0%
 • Urban
2,122.8 sq mi (5,498 km2)
 • Metro
10,874 sq mi (28,160 km2)
Elevation
586 ft (179 m)
Population
 (2008)[1]
 • City2,853,114 (3rd U.S.)
 • Density12,649/sq mi (4,884/km2)
 • Urban
8,711,000
 • Metro
9,785,747
 • Demonym
Chicagoan
Time zoneUTC-6 (CST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
Area code(s)312, 773, 872
Websitewww.cityofchicago.org

Chicago (/ʃɨˈkɑːɡoʊ/ⓘ or /ʃɨˈkɔːɡoʊ/) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with over 2.8 million people is the third largest city in the United States. Located on the southwestern shores of Lake Michigan, Chicago is the third-most densely populated major city in the U.S.,[2] and anchor to the world's 26th largest metropolitan area[3] with over 9.5 million people across three states.[4][5]

After a series of wars with the local American Natives, Chicago was founded in 1833, near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. The city became a major transportation and telecommunications hub in North America.[6] Today, the city retains its status as a major hub, both for industry and infrastructure, with its O'Hare Airport as the second busiest airport in the world. In modern times, the city has taken on additional dimension as a center for business and finance, and is listed as one of the world's top ten Global Financial Centers. Chicago is a stronghold of the Democratic Party, and has been home to influential politicians, including the current President of the United States, Barack Obama. The World Cities Study Group at Loughborough University rated Chicago as an alpha world city.[7]

In 2007, the city attracted 32.8 million domestic visitors[8] and about 1.15 million foreign visitors.[9] Making use of its abundant resources, Chicago has a heritage for hosting major international, national, regional, and local events that include commerce, culture, entertainment, politics, and sports. In 2008, Chicago was chosen as one of the final four world city candidates to host the 2016 Summer Olympics and is the only American city on the list.

Globally recognized,[nb 1] Chicago has numerous nicknames, which reflect the impressions and opinions about historical and contemporary Chicago. The best known include: "Chi-town"; the "Windy City" with reference to Chicago politicians and residents boasting about their city; "Second City,"[nb 2] due to the city generally being the second most prestigious in the nation in terms of culture, entertainment, and finance;[nb 3] and the "City of Big Shoulders", referring to its numerous skyscrapers (whose steel frame designs were largely pioneered in Chicago), described as being husky and brawling.[12]

History

Main article: History of Chicago
See also: Political history of Chicago

Early history

See also: Origin of the name "Windy City"

During the mid-18th century the area was inhabited by a native American tribe known as the Potawatomis, who had taken the place of the Miami and Sauk and Fox peoples. The first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago, Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, who was a man of mixed African and European heritage born in Saint-Domingue (modern day Haiti), arrived in the 1770s, married a Potawatomi woman, and founded the area’s first trading post. In 1795, following the Northwest Indian War, an area that was to be part of Chicago was turned over by some Native Americans in the Treaty of Greenville to the United States for a military post. In 1803 the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in the 1812 Fort Dearborn massacre. The Ottawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi later ceded additional land to the United States in the 1804 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were eventually forcibly removed from their land following the Treaty of Chicago in 1833. On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of around 200.[13] Within seven years it grew to a population of over 4,000. The City of Chicago was incorporated on March 4, 1837. The name "Chicago" is a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, meaning “wild onion”, from the Miami-Illinois language.[14][15][16][17]

Infrastructure and regional development

Chicago - State St at Madison St, 1897

The city began its step toward national primacy as an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicago’s first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, opened in 1838, which also marked the opening of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. The canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants abroad. Manufacturing and retail sectors became dominant among Midwestern cities, influencing the American economy, particularly in meatpacking, with the advent of the refrigerated rail car and the regional centrality of the city's Union Stock Yards.[18]

In February 1856, the Chesbrough plan for the building of Chicago's and the United States' first comprehensive sewerage system was approved by the Common Council.[19] The project raised much of central Chicago to a new grade. Untreated sewage and industrial waste now flowed into the Chicago River, thence into Lake Michigan, polluting the primary source of fresh water for the city. The city responded by tunneling two miles (3 km) out into Lake Michigan to newly built water cribs. In 1900, the problem of sewage was largely resolved when Chicago reversed the flow of the river, a process that began with the construction and improvement of the Illinois and Michigan Canal and completed with the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal leading to the Illinois River which joins the Mississippi River.

Artist's rendering of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871

After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed a third of the city, including the entire central business district, Chicago experienced rapid rebuilding and growth.[20] During its rebuilding period, Chicago constructed the world's first skyscraper in 1885, using steel-skeleton construction. Labor conflicts and unrest followed, including the Haymarket affair on May 4, 1886. Concern for social problems among Chicago’s lower classes led Jane Addams to be a co-founder of Hull House in 1889. Programs developed there became a model for the new field of social work. The city also invested in many large, well-landscaped municipal parks, which also included public sanitation facilities.

In 1893, Chicago hosted the World's Columbian Exposition on former marshland at the present location of Jackson Park. The Exposition drew 27.5 million visitors, and is considered the most influential world's fair in history.[21] The University of Chicago was founded in 1892 on the same South Side location. The term "midway" for a fair or carnival referred originally to the Midway Plaisance, a strip of park land that still runs through the University of Chicago campus and connects Washington and Jackson Parks.

20th century

buildings along the sides of a river in a panorama view
Chicago River is the south border (right) of the Near North Side and Streeterville and the north border (left) of Chicago Loop, Lakeshore East and Illinois Center (from Lake Shore Drive's Link Bridge with Trump International Hotel and Tower at jog in the river in the center)

The 1920s brought notoriety to Chicago as gangsters, including the notorious Al Capone, battled each other and law enforcement on the city streets during the Prohibition era. Chicago had over 1,000 gangs in the 1920s.[22] The 1920s also saw a major expansion in industry. The availability of jobs attracted African Americans from the South. Arriving in the tens of thousands during the Great Migration, the newcomers had an immense cultural impact. It was during this wave that Chicago became a center for jazz, with King Oliver leading the way.[23] In 1933, Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak was fatally wounded in Miami during a failed assassination attempt on President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Willis Tower, at 108 stories, stands as Chicago's tallest building since its completion in 1974 and is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

On December 2, 1942, physicist Enrico Fermi conducted the world’s first controlled nuclear reaction at the University of Chicago as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project.

Mayor Richard J. Daley was elected in 1955, in the era of machine politics. Starting in the 1960s, many residents, as in most American cities, left the city for the suburbs. Structural changes in industry caused heavy losses of jobs for lower skilled workers. In 1966 James Bevel, Martin Luther King Jr., and Al Raby led the Chicago Open Housing Movement, which culminated in agreements between Mayor Richard J. Daley and the movement leaders. Two years later, the city hosted the tumultuous 1968 Democratic National Convention, which featured physical confrontations both inside and outside the convention hall, including full-scale riots, or in some cases police riots, in city streets. Major construction projects, including Sears Tower (which in 1974 became the world’s tallest building), University of Illinois at Chicago, McCormick Place, and O'Hare Airport, were undertaken during Richard J. Daley's tenure. When he died, Michael Anthony Bilandic was mayor for three years. His loss in a primary election has been attributed to the city’s inability to properly plow city streets during a heavy snowstorm. In 1979, Jane Byrne, the city’s first female mayor, was elected. She popularized the city as a movie location and tourist destination.

In 1983 Harold Washington became the first African American to be elected to the office of mayor, in one of the closest mayoral elections in Chicago. After Washington won the Democratic primary, racial motivations caused a few Democratic alderman and ward committeemen to back the Republican candidate Bernard Epton, who ran on the slogan Before it’s too late, a thinly veiled appeal to fear.[24] Washington’s term in office saw new attention given to poor and minority neighborhoods. His administration reduced the longtime dominance of city contracts and employment by ethnic whites. Washington died in office of a heart attack in 1987, shortly after being elected to a second term. Current mayor Richard M. Daley[needs update], son of the late Richard J. Daley, was elected in 1989. He has led many progressive changes to the city, including improving parks; creating incentives for sustainable development, including green roofs; and major new developments. Since the 1990s, the city has undergone a revitalization in which some lower class areas have been transformed to higher priced and middle-class neighborhoods.

Jason D. Brown. Jason father the cutest kid in the world. Nikko E. Brown 12 Dec 2006

Geography

See also: Geography of Chicago, Lake Michigan, and Chicago metropolitan area

Topography

Aerial view of downtown and the North Side. Beaches can be seen at far right.

Chicago is located in northeastern Illinois at the southwestern tip of Lake Michigan. It sits on a 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's history and economy are closely tied to its proximity to Lake Michigan. While the Chicago River historically handled much of the region's waterborne cargo, today's huge lake freighters use the city's Lake Calumet Harbor on the South Side. The lake also provides another positive effect, moderating Chicago's climate; making waterfront neighborhoods slightly warmer in winter and cooler in summer.

When Chicago was founded in the 1830s, most of the early building began around the mouth of the Chicago River, as can be seen on a map of the city's original 58 blocks.[25] The overall grade of the city's central, built-up areas, is relatively consistent with the natural flatness of its overall natural geography, generally exhibiting only slight differentiation otherwise. The average land elevation is 579 ft (176 m) above sea level. The lowest points are along the lake shore at 577 ft (176 m), while the highest point, at 735 ft (224 m), is a landfill located in the Hegewisch community area on the city's far south side.

Lake Shore Drive next to Burnham Park on the South Side.

Lake Shore Drive runs adjacent to a large portion of Chicago's lakefront. Parks along the lakeshore include: Lincoln Park, Grant Park, Burnham Park and Jackson Park; 29 public beaches are also found along the shore. Near downtown, landfills extend into the Lake, providing space for the Jardine Water Purification Plant, Navy Pier, Northerly Island, the Museum Campus, Soldier Field and large portions of the McCormick Place Convention Center. Most of the city's high-rise commercial and residential buildings can be found within a few blocks of the lake.

Chicago Harbor Lighthouse

Chicagoland is an informal name for the Chicago metro area, used primarily by copywriters, advertising agencies, and traffic reporters. There is no precise definition for the term "Chicagoland", but it generally means the city and its suburbs together. The Chicago Tribune, which coined the term, includes the city of Chicago, the rest of Cook County, eight nearby Illinois counties: Lake, McHenry, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Grundy, Will and Kankakee, and three counties in Indiana: Lake, Porter, and LaPorte.[26] The Illinois Department of Tourism defines Chicagoland as Cook County without the city of Chicago, and only Lake, DuPage, Kane and Will counties.[27] The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce defines it as all of Cook and DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties.[28]

Climate

The city lies within the humid continental climate zone, and experiences four distinct seasons. Summers are warm and humid with average high temperatures of 80-85°F (27-29°C) and lows of 61-65 °F (16-19°C). Winters are cold, snowy and windy with temperatures below freezing. Spring and fall are mild with low humidity.

According to the National Weather Service, Chicago's highest official temperature reading of 107 °F (42 °C) was recorded on June 1, 1934. The lowest temperature of −27 °F (−33 °C) was recorded on January 20, 1985. Along with long, hot dry spells in the summer, Chicago can suffer extreme winter cold spells. In the entire month of January 1977, the temperature did not rise above 31 °F (−1 °C). The average temperature that month was around 10 °F (−12 °C).

Climate data for Chicago, IL
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Source: Illinois State Climatologist Data[29]

Cityscape

A panoramic view of the Chicago Skyline stretching from Shedd Aquarium to Navy Pier taken from Adler Planetarium.

Architecture

Looking north from the Michigan Avenue Bridge on Chicago's 'Magnificent Mile', the Wrigley Building and Tribune Tower are in the foreground, with the John Hancock Center in the distance.
See also: Architecture of Chicago, List of tallest buildings in Chicago, and List of Chicago Landmarks

The outcome of the Great Chicago Fire led to the largest building boom in the history of the nation. Perhaps the most outstanding of these events was the relocation of many of the nation's most prominent architects to the city from New England, for construction of the 1893 World Columbian Exposition.

In 1885, the first steel-framed high-rise building rose in Chicago, ushering in the skyscraper era.[30] Today, Chicago's skyline is among the world's tallest and most dense.[31] Downtown's historic buildings include the Chicago Board of Trade Building in the Loop, with others along the lakefront and the Chicago River. Once first on the list of largest buildings in the world and still listed twentieth, the Merchandise Mart (this building has its own zip code) stands near the junction of the north and south river branches. Presently, the four tallest in the city are Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower), Trump International Hotel and Tower, the Aon Center (previously the Standard Oil Building), and the John Hancock Center. The city's architecture includes high-rise office and residential towers, mid-rise buildings, low-rise structures and single-family homes, including bungalows. Industrialized areas, such as the Indiana border, south of Midway Airport, and the banks of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal are clustered. Future skyline plans include, amongst others, the supertall Chicago Spire.

Multiple kinds and scales of houses, townhouses, condominiums and apartment buildings can be found in Chicago. Large swaths of Chicago's residential areas away from the lake in the "bungalow belt" are characterized by bungalows built from the early 20th century through the end of World War II. Chicago is also a prominent center of the Polish Cathedral style of church architecture. One of Chicago's suburbs is Oak Park, home to the late architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

Public art and monuments

Chicago is well known for its wealth of public art, including works by such artistic heavyweights as Chagall, Picasso, Miro and Abakanowicz that are all to be found outdoors. Several of these have been financed through the B. F. Ferguson fund.

City sculptures additionally honor the many people and topics reflecting the rich history of Chicago. There are monuments to:

There are also preliminary plans to erect a 1:1-scale replica of Wacław Szymanowski's Art Nouveau statue of Frederic Chopin found in Warsaw's Royal Baths along Chicago's lakefront [32] in addition to a different sculpture commemorating the artist in Chopin Park for the 200th anniversary of Frederic Chopin's birth.

Neighborhoods

Community areas by side
Main articles: Neighborhoods of Chicago, Chicago Loop, and South Side (Chicago)

Chicago is partitioned into four main sections: Downtown (which contains the Loop), the North Side, the South Side, and the West Side. In the late 1920s, sociologists at the University of Chicago subdivided the city into 77 distinct community areas. The boundaries of these areas are more clearly defined than those of the over 210 neighborhoods throughout the city, allowing for better year-by-year comparisons.

Downtown is the center of Chicago's cultural, commercial and financial institutions, and home to Grant Park and many of the city's skyscrapers. Many of the city's financial institutions are located within a section of downtown called "The Loop", which is an eight block by five block square of city streets that are encircled by elevated rail tracks.

The North Side is the most densely populated residential section of the city and many high-rises are located on this side of the city along the lakefront. Lincoln Park is a 1,200-acre (490 ha) park stretching for 5.5 mi (8.9 km) along the waterfront and is also home to the Lincoln Park Zoo. The River North neighborhood features the nation's largest concentration of contemporary art galleries outside of New York City. As a Polonia center, due to the city having the largest population of Poles of any city in the world outside of Warsaw, Chicago celebrates every Labor Day weekend at the Taste of Polonia Festival in the Jefferson Park area.[33]

The South Side is home to one of the city's largest parades, the annual African American Bud Billiken Day parade, and the University of Chicago. Parkland stretches along the waterfront of the South Side. Two of the city's largest parks are also located here: Jackson Park, bordering the waterfront, hosted the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893 and is the site of the Museum of Science and Industry. Slightly farther west is Washington Park, which is currently being considered as the primary site of the Olympic Stadium for the 2016 Summer Olympics, if Chicago wins the bid. The two parks are connected by a strip of parkland called Midway Plaisance. Also, the U.S. automaker, Ford Motor Company, has an assembly plant located on the South Side.

The West Side holds the Garfield Park Conservatory, one of the largest collections of tropical plants of any U.S. city. Cultural attractions include Humboldt Park's Puerto Rican Day Parade festival, and the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen. The Near West Side holds the television production company of Harpo Studios.

Culture and contemporary life

Main article: Culture of Chicago
See also: Visual arts of Chicago

The city's waterfront allure and nightlife has attracted residents and tourists alike. Over one-third of the city population is concentrated in the lakefront neighborhoods (from Rogers Park in the north to South Shore in the south). The North Side has a large gay and lesbian community. Two North Side neighborhoods in particular, Lakeview and the Andersonville area of the Edgewater neighborhood, are home to many LGBT businesses and organizations. The area surrounding the North Side intersections of Halsted, Belmont, and Clark is a gay district known as "Boystown". The city has many upscale dining establishments as well as many ethnic restaurant districts. These include the Mexican villages such as Pilsen on 18th street and "La Villita" on 26th street, "Greektown" on South Halsted, "Little Italy" on Taylor Street, just west of Halsted, "Chinatown" on the near South Side, Polish fare reigns at Belmont-Central, "Little Seoul" on and around Lawrence Avenue, a cluster of Vietnamese restaurants on Argyle Street and South Asian (Indian/Pakistani) on Devon Avenue.

Entertainment and performing arts

The legendary Chicago Theatre
See also: Theatre in Chicago and List of people from Chicago

Chicago’s theater community spawned modern improvisational theater.[34] Two renowned comedy troupes emerged—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. Chicago offers Broadway-style entertainment at theaters such as Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre, Bank of America Theatre, Cadillac Palace Theatre, Auditorium Building of Roosevelt University, and Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place. Polish language productions for Chicago's large Polish speaking population can be seen at the historic Gateway Theatre in Jefferson Park. Since 1968, the Joseph Jefferson Awards are given annually to acknowledge excellence in theater in the Chicago area.

A Chicago jazz club

Classical music offerings include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, recognized as one of the finest orchestras in the world,[35] which performs at Symphony Center. Also performing regularly at Symphony Center is the Chicago Sinfonietta, a more diverse and multicultural counterpart to the CSO. In the summer, many outdoor concerts are given in Grant Park and Millennium Park. Ravinia Park, located 25 miles (40 km) north of Chicago, is also a favorite destination for many Chicagoans, with performances occasionally given in Chicago locations such as the Harris Theater. The Civic Opera House is home to the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

The Joffrey Ballet and Chicago Festival Ballet perform in various venues, including the Harris Theater in Millennium Park. Chicago is home to several other modern and jazz dance troupes, such as the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.

Other live music genre which are part of the city's cultural heritage include Chicago blues, Chicago soul, jazz, and gospel. The city is the birthplace of house 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. This influence continued into the alternative rock of the 1990s. The city has been an epicenter for rave culture since the 1980s. A flourishing independent rock music culture brought forth Chicago indie. The city has also been spawning a critically acclaimed underground metal scene with various bands gaining national attention in the metal and hard rock world[citation needed]. Annual festivals feature various acts such as Lollapalooza, the Intonation Music Festival and Pitchfork Music Festival.

Tourism

Navy Pier, located just east of Streeterville, is 3,000 ft (910 m) long and houses retail stores, restaurants, museums, exhibition halls and auditoriums. Its 150-foot (46 m) tall Ferris wheel is one of the most visited landmarks in the Midwest, attracting about 8 million people annually.[36]

Chicago attracted an approximate combined 35 million people in 2007 from around the nation and abroad.[8][9] Upscale shopping along the Magnificent Mile and State Street, thousands of restaurants, as well as Chicago's eminent architecture, continue to draw tourists. The city is the United States' third-largest convention destination. Most conventions are held at McCormick Place, just south of Soldier Field. The historic Chicago Cultural Center (1897), originally serving as the Chicago Public Library, now houses the city's Visitor Information Center, galleries and exhibit halls. The ceiling of its Preston Bradley Hall includes a 38 ft (12 m) Tiffany glass dome. Millennium Park sits on a deck built over a portion of the former Illinois Central rail yard. The park includes the reflective Cloud Gate sculpture (known locally as "The Bean"). An outdoor Millennium Park restaurant transforms into an ice rink in the winter. Two tall glass sculptures make up the Crown Fountain. The fountain's two towers display visual effects from LED images of Chicagoans' faces, along with water spouting from their lips. Frank Gehry's detailed, stainless steel band shell, the Pritzker Pavilion, hosts the classical Grant Park Music Festival concert series. Behind the pavilion's stage is the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, an indoor venue for mid-sized performing arts companies, including the Chicago Opera Theater and Music of the Baroque.

The Magnificent Mile hosts numerous, upscale stores, as well as landmarks like the Chicago Water Tower.

In 1998, the city officially opened the Museum Campus, a 10-acre (4.0 ha) 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 joins the southern section of Grant Park, which includes the renowned Art Institute of Chicago. Buckingham Fountain anchors the downtown park along the lakefront. The Oriental Institute, part of the University of Chicago, has an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern archaeological artifacts. Other museums and galleries in Chicago include the Chicago History Museum, the DuSable Museum of African-American History, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, the Polish Museum of America, the Museum of Broadcast Communications and the Museum of Science and Industry.

Parks

Main article: Parks of Chicago
Portage Park on the Northwest side and Washington Square Park on the Near North Side.

When Chicago incorporated in 1837, it chose the motto "Urbs in Horto", a Latin phrase which translates into English as "City in a Garden". Today the Chicago Park District consists of 552 parks with over 7,300 acres (30 km²) of municipal parkland as well as 33 sand beaches, nine museums, two world-class conservatories, 16 historic lagoons and 10 bird and wildlife gardens. Lincoln Park, the largest of the city parks, covers 1200 acres and has over 20 million visitors each year, making it second only to Central Park in New York City in number of visitors.[37] With accommodations for more than 5,000 boats, Chicago has the nation's largest municipal harbor system; even larger than systems in cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, or Miami. The system is operated by the Chicago Park District which also operates the city's parks. In addition to ongoing beautification and renewal projects for existing parks, a number of new parks have been added in recent years such as Ping Tom Memorial Park, DuSable Park and most notably Millennium Park. The wealth of greenspace afforded by Chicago's parks is further augmented by the Cook County Forest Preserves, a network of open spaces containing forest, prairie, wetland, streams, and lakes that are set aside as natural areas which lie along the city's periphery, home to both the Chicago Botanic Garden and Brookfield Zoo.

Cuisine

See also: Chicago farmers' markets, Chicago Dining, and Food Manufacturers of Chicago
Polish market in Chicago.

Chicago lays claim to a large number of regional specialties, all of which reflect the city's ethnic and working class roots. Included among these are its nationally renowned deep-dish pizza, although locally the Chicago-style thin crust is also popular; featuring a thinner than normal crust. There are very few pizzerias that specialize in true Chicago-style deep dish, the most prominent being Gino's East, Giordano's and Lou Malnati's. The number of "authentic" Chicago pizzerias specializing in the thin crust version is much higher, with many being "Mom and Pop" style shops. Among the largest chains in Chicago area are Home Run Inn, Rosati's and Aurelio's. The Chicago-style hot dog, typically a Vienna Beef dog loaded with an array of fixings that often includes Chicago's own neon green pickle relish, yellow mustard, pickled sport peppers, tomato wedges, dill pickle spear and topped off with celery salt. Ketchup on a Chicago hot dog is frowned upon.[38] There are two other distinctly Chicago sandwiches, the Italian beef sandwich, which is thinly sliced beef slowly simmered in an au jus served on an Italian roll with sweet peppers or spicy giardiniera, and the Maxwell Street Polish, which is a kielbasa—typically from either the Vienna Beef Company or the Bobak Sausage Company—on a hot dog roll, topped with grilled onions, yellow mustard and the optional sport peppers. Two other ethnic local creations are the Puerto Rican jibarito, a sandwich made with flattened, fried green plantains instead of bread and Greek saganaki, an appetizer of fried cheese.[39] McDonald's even adds its own downtown flavor, with their Rock-n-Roll McDonald's.

The grand tour of Chicago cuisine culminates annually in Grant Park at the Taste of Chicago which runs from the final week of June through Fourth of July weekend. Chicago features a number of celebrity chefs, a list which includes Charlie Trotter, Rick Tramonto, Jean Joho, Grant Achatz, and Rick Bayless.

Chicago features a wide selection of vegetarian cuisine, with 22 fully vegetarian restaurants and many vegetarian-friendly establishments within the city.[40][41]

Sports

Main article: Sports in Chicago
See also: Category:Sports in Chicago, Illinois
File:Wigley Field - by Kaczmarczyk.jpg
Wrigley Field
Soldier Field
United Center

Chicago was named the Best Sports City in the United States by The Sporting News in 1993 and 2006.[42] The city is home to two Major League Baseball (MLB) teams: the Chicago Cubs of the National League (NL), who play in Wrigley Field on the city's North Side, and the Chicago White Sox of the American League (AL), who play in U.S. Cellular Field on the city's South Side. Chicago is the only city in North America that has had more than one MLB franchise every year since the AL began in 1900. The Chicago Bears, one of the last two remaining charter members of the National Football League (NFL), have won nine NFL Championships, including Super Bowl XX. The other remaining charter franchise, the Chicago Cardinals, also started out in the city, but are now known as the Arizona Cardinals. The Bears play their home games at Soldier Field on Chicago's lakefront.

The Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA) are one of the most recognized basketball teams in the world. During the 1990s with Michael Jordan leading them, the Bulls took six NBA championships in eight seasons (only failing to do so in the two years of Jordan's absence). The Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL), who began play in 1926, have won three Stanley Cups. The Blackhawks also hosted the 2009 NHL Winter Classic at Wrigley Field. Both the Bulls and Blackhawks play at the United Center on the Near West Side.

The Chicago Fire are members of Major League Soccer. The Fire have won one league and four Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cups, since their inaugural season in 1998. In 2006, the club moved to its current home, Toyota Park in suburban Bridgeview, after playing its first eight seasons downtown at Soldier Field and at Cardinal Stadium in Naperville. The club is now the third professional soccer team to call Chicago home, or associate its name with Chicago, the first two being the former Chicago Sting of the North American Soccer League (and later of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL)), and the former Chicago Power of the National Professional Soccer League II. The Chicago Red Stars of Women's Professional Soccer also play in Toyota Park. The Chicago Bandits of National Pro Fastpitch play at Judson Field in Elgin and the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League play at the Allstate Arena. The former Chicago Rush of the suspended Arena Football League, also played at the Allstate Arena. The Chicago Sky of the Women's National Basketball Association began play in 2006. The Sky's home arena is the UIC Pavilion. Also calling the UIC Pavilion home are the Windy City Rollers of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, Chicago's premiere roller derby league. The Chicago Slaughter of the Continental Indoor Football League began in 2006 and play at the Sears Centre. The Chicago Storm played from 2004 to 2007 in the MISL, when they moved to the Xtreme Soccer League after the MISL folded. The Chicago Storm also play at the Sears Centre.

The Chicago Machine, a Major League Lacrosse team, has been playing since 2006. Their home field is Toyota Park, but they are playing their 2009 season opener and closer at Soldier Field.[43]

The Chicago Marathon has been held every October since 1977. This event is one of five World Marathon Majors.[44]

In 1994, the United States hosted a successful FIFA World Cup with games played at Soldier Field.

Chicago was selected on April 14, 2007, to represent the United States internationally in the bidding for the 2016 Summer Olympics.[45][46] Chicago also hosted the 1959 Pan American Games and the Gay Games VII in 2006. Chicago was selected to host the 1904 Olympics, but they were transferred to St. Louis to coincide with the World's Fair.[47] On June 4, 2008, the International Olympic Committee selected Chicago as one of four candidate cities for the 2016 games.

Starting just off Navy Pier is Chicago Yacht Club's Race to Mackinac, a 330-mile (530 km) offshore sailboat race held each July that is the longest annual freshwater sailing distance race in the world. 2010 marks the 102nd running of the "Mac".[48]

At the collegiate level, Chicago and suburban Evanston have two national athletic conferences, the Big East Conference with DePaul University, and the Big Ten Conference with Northwestern University in Evanston.

Media

See also: Media in Chicago and Chicago International Film Festival
Harpo Studios, headquarters of talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

The Chicago metropolitan area is the third-largest media market in North America, after New York City and Los Angeles.[49] Each of the big four U.S. television networks, CBS, ABC, NBC and FOX, directly owns and operates a high-definition television station in Chicago (WBBM, WLS, WMAQ and WFLD, respectively). WGN-TV, which is owned by the Tribune Company, is carried with some programming differences, as "WGN America" on cable TV nationwide and in parts of the Caribbean. The city is also the home of several talk shows, including The Oprah Winfrey Show on WLS-TV, while Chicago Public Radio produces programs such as PRI's This American Life and NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! Chicago's PBS station can be seen on WTTW, producer of shows, such as Sneak Previews, The Frugal Gourmet, Lamb Chop's Play-Along and The McLaughlin Group, just to name a few and WYCC.

There are two major daily newspapers published in Chicago, the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times, with the former having the larger circulation. There are also several regional and special-interest newspapers, such as the Dziennik Związkowy (Polish Daily News),the Chicago Reader, the Daily Southtown, the Chicago Defender, the Chicago Sports Weekly, the Daily Herald, StreetWise, The Chicago Free Press and the Windy City Times.

The city of Chicago is home to a large number of advertising agencies, in both traditional and new media forms of marketing and promotion, ranking third behind New York City and Los Angeles.

Chicago is a filming-friendly location. Since the 1980s, many motion pictures have been filmed in the city, most notably John Hughes' classic Ferris Bueller's Day Off and the massive blockbuster success, The Dark Knight and its predecessor, Batman Begins.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Chicago
The Chicago Board of Trade Building at night

Chicago has the third largest gross metropolitan product in the nation—approximately $506 billion according to 2007 estimates.[50] The city has also been rated as having the most balanced economy in the United States, due to its high level of diversification.[51] Chicago was named the fourth most important business center in the world in the MasterCard Worldwide Centers of Commerce Index.[52] Additionally, the Chicago metropolitan area recorded the greatest number of new or expanded corporate facilities in the United States for six of the past seven years.[53] In 2008, Chicago placed 16th on the UBS list of the world's richest cities.[54]

Chicago is a major world financial center, with the second largest central business district in the U.S.[55] The city is the headquarters of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (the Seventh District of the Federal Reserve). The city is also home to three major financial and futures exchanges, including the Chicago Stock Exchange, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (the "Merc"), which includes the former Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). Perhaps due to the influence of the Chicago school of economics, the city also has markets trading unusual contracts such as emissions (on the Chicago Climate Exchange) and equity style indices (on the US Futures Exchange).

The city and its surrounding metropolitan area are home to the second largest labor pool in the United States with approximately 4.25 million workers.[56]

Manufacturing, printing, publishing and food processing also play major roles in the city's economy. Several medical products and services companies are headquartered in the Chicago area, including Baxter International, Abbott Laboratories, and the Healthcare Financial Services division of General Electric. Moreover, the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which helped move goods from the Great Lakes south on the Mississippi River, and of the railroads in the 19th century made the city a major transportation center in the United States. In the 1840s, Chicago became a major grain port, and in the 1850s and 1860s Chicago's pork and beef industry expanded. As the major meat companies grew in Chicago many, such as Armour and Company, created global enterprises. Though the meatpacking industry currently plays a lesser role in the city's economy, Chicago continues to be a major transportation and distribution center.

Late in the 19th Century, Chicago was part of the bicycle craze, as home to Western Wheel Company, which introduced stamping to the production process and significantly reduced costs,[57] while early in the 20th Century, the city was part of the automobile revolution, hosting the brass era car builder Bugmobile, which was founded there in 1907.[58] Chicago was also home to Schwinn bicycles.

Chicago is a major world convention destination. The city's main convention center is McCormick Place. With its four interconnected buildings, it is the third largest convention center in the world. Chicago also ranks third in the U.S. (behind Las Vegas and Orlando) in number of conventions hosted annually.[59] In addition, Chicago is home to eleven Fortune 500 companies, while the metropolitan area hosts an additional 21 Fortune 500 companies.[60] The state of Illinois is home to 66 Fortune 1000 companies.[61] The city of Chicago also hosts 12 Fortune Global 500 companies and 17 Financial Times 500 companies. The city claims one Dow 30 company as well: aerospace giant Boeing, which moved its headquarters from Seattle to the Chicago Loop in 2001. The Globalization and World Cities Research Network at Loughborough University in England classified Chicago as an "alpha− world city" in a 2008 study.[62][63]

Demographics

Historical Populations[64]
Census
year		 Population Rank %±
1840 4,470 92 --
1850 29,963 24 570.3%
1860 112,172 9 274.4%
1870 298,977 5 166.5%
1880 503,185 4 68.3%
1890 1,099,850 2 118.6%
1900 1,698,575 2 54.4%
1910 2,185,283 2 28.7%
1920 2,701,705 2 23.6%
1930 3,376,438 2 25.0%
1940 3,396,808 2 0.6%
1950 3,620,962 2 6.6%
1960 3,550,404 2 -1.9%
1970 3,366,957 2 -5.2%
1980 3,005,072 2 -10.7%
1990 2,783,726 3 -7.4%
2000 2,896,016 3 4.0%
2008 2,853,114 3 -1.5%
Main article: Demographics of Chicago

During its first century as a city, Chicago grew at a rate that ranked among the fastest growing in the world. Within the span of forty years, the city's population grew from slightly under 30,000 to over 1 million by 1890. By the close of the 19th century, Chicago was the fifth largest city in the world,[65] and the largest of the cities that did not exist at the dawn of the century. Within fifty years of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the population had tripled to over 3 million,[66] and reached its highest ever-recorded population of 3.6 million for the 1950 census.

As of the 2000 census, there were 2,896,016 people, 1,061,928 households, and 632,558 families residing within Chicago. More than half the population of the state of Illinois lives in the Chicago metropolitan area. The population density of the city itself was 12,750.3 people per square mile (4,923.0/km2), making it one of the nation's most densely populated cities. There were 1,152,868 housing units at an average density of 5,075.8 per square mile (1,959.8/km2). Of the 1,061,928 households, 28.9% have children under the age of 18 living in them, 35.1% were married couples living together, 18.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.4% were non-families.[67] The median income for a household in the city was $38,625, and the median income for a family was $42,724. Males had a median income of $35,907 versus $30,536 for females. About 16.6% of families and 19.6% of the population lived below the poverty line.[68]

As of the 2005-2007 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, White Americans made up 37.6% of Chicago's population; of which 30.9% were non-Hispanic whites. Blacks or African Americans made up 35.0% of Chicago's population; of which 34.7% were non-Hispanic blacks. American Indians made up 0.2% of Chicago's population; of which 0.1% were non-Hispanic. Asian Americans made up 4.9% of Chicago's population while Pacific Islander Americans made up only 0.1% of the city's population; of which less than 0.1% were non-Hispanic. Individuals from some other race made up 20.6% of Chicago's population; of which 0.3% were non-Hispanic. Individuals from two or more races made up 1.6% of Chicago's population; of which 0.9% were non-Hispanic. In addition, Hispanics and Latinos made up 28.1% of Chicago's population.[69][70]

The main ethnic groups in Chicago are African American, Irish, German, Italian, Mexican, English, Bulgarian, Greek, Chinese, Slovak, Lithuanian, Polish, Bosnian, Czech, Filipino, Serbian, Russian, Ukrainian, Indian, Arab, and Puerto Rican. Poles in Chicago constitute the largest Polish population outside of the Polish capital of Warsaw.[33]

Because of Chicago's large multi-ethnic population, a wide variety of faiths are practiced. Various Christian denominations such as diverse Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches are found throughout the area along with adherents of Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism[citation needed], Sikhism, Bahá'í, and others.

Law and government

A Critical Mass gathering on the Daley Plaza, with Chicago City Hall in the background and Chicago Picasso on the right
Main article: Law and government of Chicago
See also: List of Chicago city departments and Political history of Chicago

Chicago is the county seat of Cook County. The government of the City of Chicago is divided into executive and legislative branches. The Mayor of Chicago is the chief executive, elected by general election for a term of four years, with no term limits. The mayor appoints commissioners and other officials who oversee the various departments. 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.

During much of the last half of the 19th century, Chicago's politics were dominated by a growing Democratic Party organization dominated by ethnic ward-heelers. During the 1880s and 1890s, Chicago had a powerful radical tradition with large and highly organized socialist, anarchist and labor organizations.[71] For much of the 20th century, Chicago has been among the largest and most reliable Democratic strongholds in the United States, with Chicago's Democratic vote the state of Illinois has been "solid blue" in presidential elections since 1992. The citizens of Chicago have not elected a Republican mayor since 1927, when William Thompson was voted into office. The strength of the party in the city is partly a consequence of Illinois state politics, where the Republicans have come to represent the rural and farm concerns while the Democrats support urban issues such as Chicago's public school funding. Although Chicago includes less than 25% of the state's population, eight of Illinois' nineteen U.S. Representatives have part of the city in their districts.

Former Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley's mastery of machine politics preserved the Chicago Democratic Machine long after the demise of similar machines in other large U.S. cities.[72] During much of that time, the city administration found opposition mainly from a liberal "independent" faction of the Democratic Party. The independents finally gained control of city government in 1983 with the election of Harold Washington. Since 1989, Chicago has been under the leadership of Richard M. Daley, the son of Richard J. Daley. Because of the dominance of the Democratic Party in Chicago, the Democratic primary vote held in the spring is generally more significant than the general elections in November.

Crime

Main articles: Crime in Chicago and Organized crime in Chicago

Murders in the city peaked first in 1974, with 970 murders when the city's population was over three million people (resulting in a murder rate of around 29 per 100,000), and again in 1992 with 943 murders, resulting in a murder rate of 34 per 100,000.[73] Chicago, along with other major US cities, experienced a significant reduction in violent crime rates through the 1990s, eventually recording 448 homicides in 2004, the lowest total since 1965 (15.65 per 100,000.) Chicago's homicide tally remained steady throughout 2005, 2006, and 2007 with 449, 452, and 435 respectively.

In 2008, murders rebounded to 510 to lead the country, breaking 500 for the first time since 2003, [74] [75] though the generally lower trends in 2009 seem to indicate that 2008 was a statistical outlier from the overall trends of lower crime in Chicago.[76]

Education

Main article: Chicago Public Schools
Lincoln Park High School

There are 666 public schools,[77] 394 private schools, 83 colleges, and 88 libraries in the Chicago proper. Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is the governing body of the school district that contains over 600 public elementary and high schools citywide, including several selective-admission magnet schools. The district, with an enrollment exceeding 400,000 students (2005 stat.), ranks as the third largest in the U.S.[78] Chicago's private schools are largely run by religious groups, with the two largest systems being the Catholic and Lutheran schools. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago operates the city's Catholic schools, including the Jesuit preparatory schools. Some of the more prominent Catholic schools are: Brother Rice High School, Loyola Academy, St. Ignatius College Prep, St. Scholastica Academy, Mount Carmel High School, Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School, Marist High School, St. Patrick High School and Resurrection High School. In addition to Chicago's network of 32 Lutheran schools,[79] there are also several private schools run by other denominations and faiths, such as the Ida Crown Jewish Academy in West Ridge and the Fasman Yeshiva High School in Skokie, a nearby suburb. Additionally, a number of private schools are run in a completely secular educational environment, such as the Latin School of Chicago, the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools in Hyde Park, the Francis W. Parker School, the Chicago City Day School in Lake View, and the Morgan Park Academy. Chicago is also home of the prestigious Chicago Academy for the Arts, a high school focused on six different categories of the arts, such as Media Arts, Visual Arts, Music, Dance, Musical Theatre and Theatre. It has been heralded as the best arts high school in the country.[citation needed] Children commute from as far away as South Bend, Indiana, every day to attend classes.

Colleges and universities

For a more comprehensive list, see List of colleges and universities in Chicago.
The University of Chicago, as seen from the Midway Plaisance

Since the 1850s, Chicago has been a world center of higher education and research with several universities that are in the city proper or in the immediate environs. These institutions consistently rank among the top "National Universities" in the United States, as determined by U.S. News & World Report. They include: the University of Chicago, which also ranks among the world's top ten; Northwestern University; Illinois Institute of Technology; Loyola University Chicago; DePaul University and the University of Illinois at Chicago.[80] Other notable schools include: Chicago State University; The School of the Art Institute of Chicago; East-West University; North Park University; Northeastern Illinois University; Columbia College Chicago; Robert Morris University; Roosevelt University and Rush University.

William Rainey Harper, the first president of the University of Chicago, was instrumental in the creation of the junior college concept, establishing nearby Joliet Junior College as the first in the nation in 1901.[81] His legacy continues with the multiple community colleges in the Chicago proper, including the seven City Colleges of Chicago, Richard J. Daley College, Kennedy-King College, Malcolm X College, Olive-Harvey College, Harry S Truman College, Harold Washington College and Wilbur Wright College, in addition to the privately held MacCormac College.

The Chicago proper also has a large concentration of graduate schools, seminaries and theological schools. The city is home to the Adler School of Professional Psychology, the Catholic Theological Union, the Chicago Theological Seminary, the John Marshall Law School, the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, the McCormick Theological Seminary, the Meadville Lombard Theological School, the North Park Theological Seminary, the University of Chicago Divinity School, the Moody Bible Institute, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, the Spertus Institute and the Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago.

Infrastructure

Transportation

A CTA Brown Line train leaving the Madison/Wabash station in the Chicago Loop
Main articles: Streets and highways of Chicago, Mass transit in Chicago, Chicago 'L', and List of airports in the Chicago area

Chicago is a major transportation hub in the United States. It is an important component in global distribution, as it is the third largest inter-modal port in the world after Hong Kong and Singapore.[82] Additionally, it is the only city in North America in which six Class I railroads meet.[83] As of 2002, severe freight train congestion caused trains to take as long to get through the Chicago region as it took to get there from the West Coast of the country (about 2 days).[84] About one-third of the country's freight trains pass through the city, making it a major national bottleneck.[85] Announced in 2003, the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) initiative is using about $1.5B in private railroad, state, local, and federal funding to improve rail infrastructure in the region to reduce freight rail congestion by about one third.[86] This is also expected to have a positive impact on passenger rail and road congestion, as well as create new greenspace.[87]

View of the Chicago 'L' tracks in the Loop from Wabash Avenue, with 35 East Wacker and Trump International Hotel and Tower in the background

Chicago is one of the largest hubs of passenger rail service in the nation. Many Amtrak long distance services originate from Union Station. Such services terminate in New York, Seattle, Portland, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Antonio, and Washington, D.C. Amtrak also provides a number of short-haul services throughout Illinois and toward nearby Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Saint Louis, and Detroit. An attempt was made in the early 20th century to link Chicago with New York City via the Chicago – New York Electric Air Line Railroad. Parts of this were built, but it was ultimately never completed.

Nine interstate highways run through Chicago and its suburbs. Segments that link to the city center are named after influential politicians, with four of them named after former U.S. Presidents. Traffic reports tend to use the names rather than interstate numbers.

The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) coordinates the operation of the three service boards: CTA, Metra, and Pace. The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) handles public transportation in the city of Chicago and a few adjacent suburbs. The CTA operates an extensive network of buses and a rapid transit elevated and subway system known as the 'L' (for "elevated"), with lines designated by colors. These rapid transit lines also serve both Midway and O'Hare Airports. The CTA's rail lines consist of the Red, Blue, Green, Orange, Brown, Purple, Pink, and Yellow lines. Both the Red and Blue lines offer 24 hour service which makes Chicago one of the few cities in the world (and one of only two American cities) to offer rail service every day of the year for 24 hours around the clock. A new subway/elevated line, the Circle Line, is also in the planning stages by the CTA. Metra operates commuter rail service in Chicago and its suburbs. The Metra Electric Line shares the railway with the South Shore Line's NICTD Northern Indiana Commuter Rail Service, providing commuter service between South Bend and Chicago. Pace provides bus and paratransit service in over 200 surrounding suburbs with some extensions into the city as well.

Chicago offers a wide array of bicycle transportation facilities and events, including miles of on-street bike lanes, 10,000 bike racks, a state-of-the-art central bicycle commuter station in Millennium Park and the annual Bike Chicago festival. The network has 100 mi (160 km) of on-street bike lanes and 50 mi (80 km) of off-street trails. Bicycles are permitted on CTA trains and their fleet of over 2,000 buses that have been equipped with racks that carry bikes. The successes of the Bike Program are due in large part to Mayor Daley's leadership and the incorporation of bicycling into the mandates and programs of the Chicago Department of Transportation, CTA, Chicago Park District and the Mayor's Office of Special Events, in partnership with the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation.[88]

Chicago is served by Midway International Airport on the south side and O'Hare International Airport, the world's second busiest airport, on the far northwest side. In 2005, O'Hare was the world's busiest airport by aircraft movements and the second busiest by total passenger traffic (due to government enforced flight caps).[89] Both O'Hare and Midway are owned and operated by the City of Chicago. Gary/Chicago International Airport, located in nearby Gary, Indiana, serves as the third Chicago area airport. Chicago Rockford International Airport, formerly Greater Rockford Airport, serves as a regional base for United Parcel Service cargo flights, some passenger flights, and occasionally as a reliever to O'Hare, usually in times of bad weather. Chicago is the world headquarters for United Airlines, the world's second-largest airline by revenue-passenger-kilometers and the city is the second largest hub for American Airlines. Midway airport serves as a major 'focus city' for Southwest Airlines, the world's largest low-cost airline.

Template:Chicagoland expressways

Telecommunications

Using only 3% of the total available bandwidth capacity and 13% of the available fiber pairs, Chicago area data centers move data for local, area, regional and international networks.[6]

Health systems

The new Prentice Women's Hospital at Northwestern University's Medical Center.

Chicago is home to the Illinois Medical District, on the Near West Side. It includes Rush University Medical Center, the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago, Jesse Brown VA Hospital, and John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, the largest trauma-center in the city.

The University of Chicago operates the University of Chicago Medical Center, which was ranked the fourteenth best hospital in the country by U.S. News & World Report.[90] It is the only hospital in Illinois ever to be included in the magazine's "Honor Roll" of the best hospitals in the United States.[91]

The Chicago campus of Northwestern University includes Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (rated best US rehabilitation hospital by U.S. News and World Report), the new Prentice Women's Hospital, and the new Lurie Children's Hospital, (currently under construction).

The University of Illinois College of Medicine at UIC is the largest medical school in the United States (2600 students including those at campuses in Peoria, Rockford and Urbana-Champaign).[92]

In addition, the Chicago Medical School and Loyola University Chicago's Stritch School of Medicine are located in the suburbs of North Chicago and Maywood, respectively. The Midwestern University Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine is in Downers Grove.

The American Medical Association, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, American Osteopathic Association, American Dental Association, Academy of General Dentistry, American Dietetic Association, American College of Surgeons, American Society for Clinical Pathology, American College of Healthcare Executives and the American Hospital Association, and Blue Cross Blue Shield are all based in Chicago.

Utilities

Electricity for most of northern Illinois is provided by Commonwealth Edison, also known as ComEd. Their service territory borders Iroquois County to the south, the Wisconsin border to the north, the Iowa border to the west and the Indiana border to the east. In northern Illinois, ComEd (a division of Exelon) operates the greatest number of nuclear generating plants in any US state. Because of this, ComEd reports indicate that Chicago receives about 75% of its electricity from nuclear power. Recently, the city started the installation of wind turbines on government buildings with the aim to promote the use of renewable energy.[93][94][95]

Domestic and industrial waste was once incinerated but it is now landfilled, mainly in the Calumet area. From 1995 to 2008, the city had a blue bag program to divert certain refuse from landfills.[96] In the fall of 2007 the city began a pilot program for blue bin recycling similar to that of other cities due to low participation rates in the blue bag program. After completion of the pilot the city will determine whether to roll it out to all wards.

Sister cities

Chicago has twenty-seven Sister Cities and one Friendship City.[97] Like Chicago, many of them are or were, the second city of their country, having very similar-sized populations, or they are the main city of a country that has sent many immigrants to Chicago over the years. Paris is a Partner City, due to the one sister city policy of their respective French commune.[98] A twin city partnership with Karachi, Pakistan, was contemplated and initiated in 2000, but was never implemented.[99]

To celebrate the sister cities, Chicago hosts a yearly festival in Daley Plaza, which features cultural acts and food tastings from the other cities.[97] In addition, the Chicago Sister Cities program hosts a number of delegation and formal exchanges.[97] In some cases, these exchanges have led to further informal collaborations, such as the academic relationship between the Buehler Center on Aging, Health & Society at the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University and the Institute of Gerontology of the Ukraine (originally of the Soviet Union), that was originally established as part of the Chicago-Kiev sister cities program.[100]

Bibliography

  • Clymer, Floyd (1950). Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877-1925. New York: Bonanza Books. OCLC 1966986.
  • Madigan, Charles, ed. (2004). Global Chicago. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-02941-0. OCLC 54400307.
  • Montejano, David, ed. (1999). Chicano Politics and Society in the Late Twentieth Century. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-75215-6. OCLC 38879251.
  • Norcliffe, Glen (2001). The Ride to Modernity: The Bicycle in Canada, 1869-1900. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-4398-4. OCLC 46625313.
  • Pogorzelski, Daniel (2008). Portage Park (IL) (Images of America). Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-5229-1. OCLC 212843071. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Sawyer, R. Keith (2002). Improvised dialogue: emergence and creativity in conversation. Westport, Conn.: Ablex Pub. ISBN 1-56750-677-1. OCLC 59373382.
  • Schneirov, Richard (1998). Labor and urban politics: class conflict and the origins of modern liberalism in Chicago, 1864-97. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-06676-6. OCLC 37246254.
  • Spears, Timothy B. (2005). Chicago dreaming: Midwesterners and the city, 1871-1919. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-76874-0. OCLC 56086689.
  • Swenson, John F. (Winter 1991). "Chicagoua/Chicago: The origin, meaning, and etymology of a place name". Illinois Historical Journal. 84 (4): p. 235-248. ISSN 0748-8149. OCLC 25174749. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help)

Notes

  1. ^ Chicago notoriety comes from being the subject or being referenced in novels, plays, movies, songs, various types of journals (e.g., sports, entertainment, business, trade, and academic), and the news media.
  2. ^ A.J.Liebling coined the "Second City" phrase and applied it to Chicago[10]
  3. ^ "Chicago came to be known as America's Second City - second that is, to New York - because it appeared so intent on becoming number one"[11]

References

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  31. ^ World's Tallest Cities. UltrapolisProject.com.
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  34. ^ Sawyer 2002, p 14
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