Portal:Chicago

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The Chicago Portal

Chicago (/ʃɪˈkɑːɡoʊ/ (listen), locally also /ʃɪˈkɔːɡoʊ/), officially the City of Chicago, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the third most populous city in the United States. With an estimated population of 2,705,994 (2018), it is also the most populous city in the Midwestern United States. Chicago is the county seat of Cook County, the second most populous county in the US, with a small portion of the northwest side of the city extending into DuPage County near O'Hare Airport. Chicago is the principal city of the Chicago metropolitan area, often referred to as Chicagoland. At nearly 10 million people, the metropolitan area is the third most populous in the United States.

Located on the shores of freshwater Lake Michigan, Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837 near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed and grew rapidly in the mid-19th century. After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which destroyed several square miles and left more than 100,000 homeless, the city made a concerted effort to rebuild. The construction boom accelerated population growth throughout the following decades, and by 1900, less than 30 years after the great fire, Chicago was the fifth-largest city in the world. Chicago made noted contributions to urban planning and zoning standards, including new construction styles (including the Chicago School of architecture), the development of the City Beautiful Movement, and the steel-framed skyscraper.

Chicago is an international hub for finance, culture, commerce, industry, education, technology, telecommunications, and transportation. It is the site of the creation of the first standardized futures contracts, issued by the Chicago Board of Trade, which today is the largest and most diverse derivatives market in the world, generating 20% of all volume in commodities and financial futures alone. Depending on the particular year, the city's O'Hare International Airport is routinely ranked as the world's fifth or sixth busiest airport according to tracked data by the Airports Council International. The region also has the largest number of federal highways and is the nation's railroad hub. Chicago was listed as an alpha global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, and it ranked seventh in the entire world in the 2017 Global Cities Index. The Chicago area has one of the highest gross domestic products (GDP) in the world, generating $689 billion in 2018. In addition, the city has one of the world's most diversified and balanced economies, with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. Chicago is home to several Fortune 500 companies, including Allstate, Boeing, Exelon, Kraft Heinz, McDonald's, Mondelez International, Sears, United Airlines Holdings, and Walgreens.

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The Reputation were an indie rock band from Chicago, Illinois. The band was fronted by former Sarge singer-songwriter Elizabeth Elmore, with other positions filled by various members. The band, which formed while Elmore was attending law school, released two albums between the years of 2001 and 2006, both of which were met with generally positive reviews. The band has toured the United States and the United Kingdom.

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General images

The following are images from various Chicago-related articles on Wikipedia.

Traditional Potawatomi regalia on display at the Field Museum of Natural History
The former Harpo Studios in West Loop, Chicago was home of The Oprah Winfrey Show from 1986 until 2011 and other Harpo Production operations until 2015.
A Polish market in Chicago
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
The Chicago Theatre
Chicago Union Station, opened in 1925, is the third-busiest passenger rail terminal in the United States
Willie Dixon
Jay Pritzker Pavilion by night
Chicago Police Department SUV, 2011
Flag of Chicago
The Chicago Building (1904–05) is a prime example of the Chicago School, displaying both variations of the Chicago window.
Chicago Theatre
O'Hare International Airport
Greetings from Chicago Mural in Logan Square
A satellite image of Chicago
Since its completion in 1991, the Harold Washington Library has appeared in Guinness World Records as the largest public library building in the world.
The Chicago Picasso
The spire of the Gateway Theatre is modeled on the Royal Castle in Warsaw
Ferries offer sightseeing tours and water-taxi transportation along the Chicago River and Lake Michigan.
Aerial View of Navy Pier at Night
Men outside a soup kitchen during the Great Depression (1931)
Daley Plaza with Picasso statue and City Hall in background. State law courts are in the Daley Plaza Building at right
The Chicago Board of Trade Building
Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs
Aerial photo of the Jane Byrne Interchange, opened in the 1960s
Buckingham Fountain, looking north in 2005
Chicago Half Marathon on Lake Shore Drive on the South Side.
Chicago-style hot dog
Protesters in Grant Park outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention
The main hall of the Field Museum of Natural History in 2007, with Sue the T. rex in the foreground
Carl Sandburg's most famous description of the city is as "Hog Butcher for the World/Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat/ Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler,/ Stormy, Husky, Brawling, City of the Big Shoulders."
Downtown Chicago and the Chicago River in January 2014
The Wrigley Building and Tribune Tower
WGN began in the early days of radio and developed into a multi-platform broadcaster, including a cable television super-station.
A Chicago jazz club
The National Hellenic Museum in Greektown is one of several ethnic museums comprising the Chicago Cultural Alliance.
Court of Honor at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893
Downtown and the North Side with beaches lining the waterfront
Map of racial distribution in Chicago, 2010 U.S. Census. Each dot is 25 people: White, Black, Asian, Hispanic or Other (yellow)
Community areas of the City of Chicago
Prentice Women's Hospital on the Northwestern Memorial Hospital Downtown Campus
Interactive map outlining Chicago
The University of Chicago, as seen from the Midway Plaisance
Amtrak train on the Empire Builder route departs Chicago from Union Station
Chicago-style stuffed pizza
Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears
An artist's rendering of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871
Replica of Daniel Chester French's Statue of the Republic at the site of the World's Columbian Exposition.
The Magnificent Mile hosts numerous upscale stores, as well as landmarks like the Chicago Water Tower

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Selected list

This is a list of seasons completed by the Chicago Bears American football franchise of the National Football League. The list documents the season-by-season records of the Bears' franchise from 1920 to present, including postseason records, and league awards for individual players or head coaches. The Bears franchise was founded as the Decatur Staleys, a charter member of the American Professional Football Association. The team moved to Chicago in 1921, and changed their name to the Bears in 1922, the same year the APFA changed its name to the National Football League. The Chicago Bears have played over one thousand games. In those games, the club won nine professional American football championships including eight NFL Championships and one Super Bowl—the second most in the NFL after the Green Bay Packers' twelve. The franchise captured seventeen NFL divisional titles and four NFL conference championships, and recorded more regular season (677) and overall victories (693) than any other NFL franchise. (Read more...)

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Selected biography

Jonathan James "Jon" Scheyer is an All-American 6' 5" guard, who led his high school team to an Illinois state basketball championship and the 2009–10 Duke Blue Devils to the 2010 NCAA Basketball Championship. He was a prolific high school scorer, and later an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) leader in numerous statistical categories, ranging from free throw percentage and three point shots/game to assists/turnover ratio. A high school All-American, he once scored 21 points in a game's final 75 seconds of play in an attempt to spark a comeback. The 4th-leading scorer in Illinois high school history, he led his team to a state championship in 2005 and was named Illinois Mr. Basketball in 2006. He chose Duke, for whom he moved from shooting guard to point guard towards the end of the 2008–09 season, and was the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the 2009 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament. In his senior year in 2009–10 as Duke's captain, he led the team to ACC regular season and Tournament championships and to the NCAA National Championship. He led the championship team in points per game, assists, free throw percentage, and steals per game. Scheyer was a 2010 consensus All-American (Second Team), a unanimous 2009–10 All-ACC First Team selection, and was named to the 2010 ACC All-Tournament First Team. He played the most consecutive games in Duke history (144), shot the third-highest free throw percentage (.861), shot the third-most free throws (608), shot the fourth-most 3-pointers (297), and is ranked ninth in scoring (2,077 points). He holds the ACC single-season record for minutes (1,470 in 2009–10) and the Duke freshman free throw record (115), shares the Duke record for points off the bench in a game (27), and had the third-longest streak of consecutive free throws in Duke history (40). He was not drafted in the 2010 NBA draft.

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Selected landmark

The DeKalb County Courthouse is located in the county seat of DeKalb County, Illinois, U.S.A., the city of Sycamore. The Classical Revival structure sits on a square facing Illinois Route 64 as it passes through the city. The current courthouse was constructed in 1905 amid controversy over where the courthouse and thus, ultimately, the county seat would be located. The current building is the third structure to bear the name "DeKalb County Courthouse." DeKalb County's Courthouse still serves as the county's primary judicial center and is a contributing property to the Sycamore Historic District. The district joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. As the county's primary courthouse for over 100 years, the site has been host to many trials, including prominent murder cases. The building is cast in the Classical Revival architectural style and contains elements common to that style. Stained glass, columns and a pediment are among the more noticeable features at a glance. The rear facade of the building is designed to resemble a temple and also features stained glass windows. A stone porte-cochere covers the rear driveway. Inside the building's third floor courtroom is more stained glass, in the form of a skylight. During the early 1980s a made for television movie had scenes filmed in the DeKalb County Courthouse's courtroom.

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Selected quote

"I'm impressed with the people from Chicago. Hollywood is hype, New York is talk, Chicago is work." — Michael Douglas

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Did you know?

...that Ronald Reagan announced his engagement to his first wife, Jane Wyman, at the Chicago Theatre (pictured)?
...that the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, an outdoor bandshell and great lawn, uses an innovative sound system that recreates an indoor concert hall sound experience?
...that the Grant Park Music Festival, a Chicago tradition since its 1931 introduction by Anton Cermak, is America's only remaining free, outdoor concert series featuring classical music?
...that the Chicago City Council revoked the McCarthy Building's Chicago Landmark status to make way for the controversial redevelopment of Chicago's Block 37 in the Chicago Loop?