Chicago - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

History

Before the purchase of Louisiana (1803)

Before the arrival of the first Europeans, the area of Chicago was occupied by the Amerindian Potawatomi S, which took the place of Miami and the Sauk and Fox about the middle of the 18th century. The name of the city would come from the Indian word “ Checagou ” or “ Checaguar ” which means “wild onion”, “marsh” or “Mouffette”, which in known as length on the stench which reigned there formerly.

This old point of passage and connection of the Amerindians, the explorers and the missionaries, between the Canada and the basin of the the Mississippi, becomes permanent station of Traite furs. It is the Coureur of wood Louis Jolliet and the father Jésuite Jacques Marquette who, in 1673, ghost of a forwarding in the the Mississippi, arrive at the current site of Chicago. Located in the middle of vast plains covered with high and dense grasses, they call it “Meadows”. Last nine years later, Cavelier of the Room, another French explorer, takes possession of the places, in the name of the king of France. These places covered all Mississippi until the Rocky Mountains. It names this new territory “Louisiana”.

The first immigrant was Jean Baptiste Points Sand, a mongrel free Haiti in, which was installed on the river bank Chicago towards 1779 and which married a Potawatomi young person. He built a first station of draft which experienced an important development and which was sold thereafter with John Kinzie, a merchant of New York. In 1795, by the Treated of Greenville and under the constraint of the colonel Anthony Wayne, the Amerindians had to yield the area to the very new US government.

The first urban rise (1803-1871)

In 1803, an extremely military first, the Strong Dearborn, is built and was used until in 1837. During the War of 1812, its occupants were massacred by Potawatomis and it was necessary to rebuild the fort in 1816. Two years later was born the state from Illinois.

The August 12th 1833, the municipality of Chicago was constituted with a population of 350 hearts, on the grounds yielded by the Amerindian chief Black Hawk. This urban core was delimited by the streets of Kinzie, Of the Plains, Madison and State, which included a surface of approximately a square kilometer. It accepted a charter by the State of Illinois the March 4th 1837.

The opening of the channel Illinois - Michigan in 1848 allowed the boats circulating on the Big lakes to join the the Mississippi while passing by Chicago: the city knew a demographic and economic strong growth consequently and became the outlet of the Grandes cereal Plains. The same year, the railroad arrives in the city (Galena & Chicago Union Railroad). In 1860, eleven lines have Chicago for terminus and twenty others make a stop there. The situation of crossroads is also an advantage for the companies of retail sale which are established to with it (Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck and Company). The foundation of the Produce exchange of Chicago falls under this considerable economic development.

However, the natural constraints of the site posed problems of installation quickly. Chicago suffered from a marshy environment which made very difficult the installation of roads and sewers. Mud invaded the streets of the city in spring and the image of Chicago was that of a crasseux place. The authorities engaged of important work in order to raise the infrastructures and to establish a system drainage of the waste water in the years 1850. After the Typhoid epidemic of Cholera and generated by the strong rise of water in 1885, one decided to divert the river to preserve the Drinking water lake, by digging a channel which opens on the the Mississippi. Thus the river Chicago does not flow any more in the Lake Michigan, but towards the Gulf of Mexico.

The Large Fire and the rebuilding

In October 1871, 10 square kilometers of the city were reduced in ashes by the Grand fire of Chicago ( Great Chicago Fire ). The assessment was dramatic since 300 people found death and: 18000 buildings were destroyed, throwing to the street approximately: 100000 people. Fire was propagated easily because a great number of infrastructures and dwellings were built out of wood.

The fire made it possible to the town planners to think of a rebuilding of the city according to modern criteria. A few years later flowers the school of architecture of Chicago, which had an international radiation. The city becomes the laboratory of architectural experiments: in 1885, the first skyscraper in the world is built there ( Home Insurance Building ) by using a steel reinforcement. In 1909 the town-planning of Daniel Burnham was decided which made the good share with the parks located on the littoral.

In spite of the large fire, the World Fair World Columbian Exposition attracted 26 million visitors in 1893. Marks of the size of the event, some of constructions then set up make since part of the urban inheritance of Chicago: the Museum of Science and Industry and celebrates it elevated railway, which always surrounds the district of the businesses of the city baptized the Loop (Loop). All that should not make forget the social crisis which the city passes through at the end of the 19th century and which appears by demonstrations and riots. The most famous residence that of the place Haymarket the May 4th 1886 during which seven police officers die under the effect of a bomb. The strike of the 3 000 workmen of Pullman De luxe hotel Because Company shook the city in May 1894. The problems of Racisme are added to the social difficulties: since the years 1870, the Afro-Americans of the south of the country emigrate in the Manufacturing Belt in order to find an employment. They are found relegated in the ghettos of the southern part of the city. The racial riots of 1919 make 38 dead and require the intervention of the army to restore the order.

The July 24th 1915, a new tragedy strikes the city, 845 people lose the life following the shipwreck of S.S. Eastland on the Chicago River whereas with two other cruising ships, the Theodore Roosevelt and the Petoskey , it was to take along employees of the Western Electric of Chicago to a peak screws with Michigan City (Indiana).

The time of Prohibition

During the Prohibition, Chicago became the capital of the organized crime around the figures of Frank Nitti, Bugs Moran and Al Capone. The gangsters of the city benefit from his situation close to Canada, from which the cargoes came from alcohol of smuggling. Especially, they find corrupted complicities, judges and police officers. In 1929, the war of the gangs makes 29 dead in the city. The February 14th 1929, a shooting enters the two principal gangs made seven dead. It is the time of the gangsters and violence: John Dillinger is killed during a shooting in 1934, in the Lincoln Park. The Incorruptibles ( Untouchables ) is the nickname which was given by the American press to a group of agents of the American treasure (of which most famous is Eliot Ness) which fought to make respect prohibition. Al Capone ends up being arrested and imprisoned on the island of Alcatraz, close to San Francisco. Years 1920 are also years of industrial development for the city and the arrival of thousands of Afro-américain S of the rural South. Between 1910 and 1930, the black population of Chicago passes from: 44000 with: 160000. The Afro-Americans suffer from racism and discriminations. In July 1919, of the riots burst after the drowning of a young black: they last 13 days, make 38 dead, 537 wounded and of the hundreds of homeless people.

New buildings are built such as the Merchandize Mart and the Chicago Board off Trade Building which is completed in 1930. In July 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt uses the expression New Deal in a speech made with the convention of the Democratic party (the United States) joined together with Chicago.

December 2nd, 1942, the initial nuclear reaction is obtained in the laboratories of the Université of Chicago, within the framework of the Projet Manhattan.

The urban crisis after 1945

As from the years 1950, the easy and average classes leave the center of Chicago to settle in the suburbs. The city then undergoes an important economic crisis and social. The economy is struck by the closing of the slaughter-houses in 1971. February 1st, 1958, a fire occurs off in Our Lady the Angels School, located in the Humboldt Park: 92 students are killed. This drama supports the improvement of the fire protection devices in the schools of the country.

With the easing of the laws on immigration in the years 1960, the districts given up by the White become Ghetto S where the Afro-Americans concentrate, the Asian ones and the Hispanic ones. Racial riots burst in the context of the movement of the civic rights. In 1968, violences occur during Democratic Convention in a context tended after the assassination of Martin Luther King in the black districts of West and South Side and make seven dead. 1983 should be waited until to see the city directed by its first black mayor, Harold Washington. This period is also marked by the action of the democratic Richard J. Daley, mayor of Chicago of 1955 to 1976: during the 21 years of its mandate, it equips the town of four fast tracks, arranges the International airport O' Hare and renovates the Loop. Sears Tower is built in 1974 and becomes one of the prides of the city.

Chicago today

Since the years 1991, Chicago gains inhabitants again. Certain districts know recently a process of Gentrification, as in other American cities. They are renovated and attract again a population of middle-class or middle-class woman. The apartments of the face of lake are in particular a certain success.

The ambition of the current mayor, Richard Mr. Daley, is to support environmental protection all while maintaining Chicago among the most influential Métropole S world. Recent installations and the projects mark this ambition. A great number of new buildings leave ground, thus expressing the economic prosperity of Chicago. The surface of the green areas is extended and city centers it is made surer the night. The last project in date is the Chicago Spire: work should begin in June 2007 and be completed in 2010. The skyscraper should then be most of the city with 150 stages and 609,60 meters height.

Geography

Situation

Based on the south-western shore of the Lake Michigan, the site of Chicago was a long time a marshy plain drained by the river Chicago and the river Calumet, both connected to the river the Mississippi and the Illinois. During 19th century and 20th century centuries, the city developed towards the west and on banks of the lake to reach a length of approximately 45 kilometers along the Lake Michigan, to 1300 km in the west of New York and to 3300 km in the North-East of Los Angeles. The city has an average altitude of approximately 170 meters to the top of the sea level.

Its position is 41°52' 55N, 87°34' 40W, that is to say same the Latitude as Barcelona in Spain and Rome in Italy.

Climate

The Communities and districts of Chicago

Demography

The inhabitants of the town of Chicago are called Chicagoans. An estimate going back to 2006 fact state of a population of: 2873790 inhabitants in the city even of Chicago, which represents a little more of the fifth of the total population of the State of the Illinois. Average density reached: 4923 inhabitants per km ²: it is about a figure higher than to Los Angeles, but much less important than that of New York.

The population of Chicago exploded as from the years 1850: she multiplied by 3,7 in one decade and reaches the ninth place of the most populated cities the United States. This urban development is explained by economic development. The demographic maximum is reached in 1950, then the city between declining until in the years 1990. The suburbanisation of the middle-classes cause a drop in the population of the downtown area to the profit of the residential suburbs.

The population is various origins. The nonHispanic White are not majority and the proportion of Afro-Américain S is relatively important (37%) compared to other cities like New York (28%) or Los Angeles (12%). It remains however lower than that of Detroit or Washington DC. The community Hispanique (or latino) accounts for 26% of the population, that is to say a proportion equivalent to that of New York.

In 2006, violent criminality dropped in Chicago.

Pattern of the settlement by ethnicity in 2000

Economy

Chicago was always an important center for the American trade. Today, the city occupies the second stock exchange place, with the largest purse of the world, and has the second greater center town after New York. The economic weight of the agglomeration of Chicago is considerable: in 2002, the GNP of the metropolis was of 349 billion dollars.

Structure of employment in Chicago (2004)

In 2003, the first employer of the city is the federal government (88 000 employees), followed by the public schools (46 184 employees) and the municipality (39 275 employees). The most important companies by the number of employees are the chain of supermarkets Jewel-Osco (39 220 paid), Advocate Health Care (25 293 paid), SBC Communications (21 000 paid) and United Parcel Service (19 063 paid).

Cereal rise and center of transport in XIX^e

Before 1833, the principal activity of the area was the trade of the furs. Then the economic explosion attracted the speculators and the contractors. The port on the Lake Michigan developed quickly, and with him, naval construction. Chicago became one of the industrial centers of the Manufacturing Belt .

Chicago benefitted since the 19th century from the outlet from the agricultural area from the Grandes Plains, the attic of the United States. In the Years 1840, Chicago becomes the largest cereal port of the world. Agribusiness industries, of transformation of the ox and pigmeat multiplied starting from the middle of the 19th century, in particular under the impulse of Gustavus F. Swift and Philip Armor. Thus, it is in 1865 that the Union Stock Yards are founded which made of Chicago a great processing center of the cattle. One of the symbols of the city is the Bœuf, because Chicago a long time sheltered gigantic Abattoir S, to which it owes most of its fortune and of its reputation. Therefore the team of tennis shoe of Chicago is called Chicago bulldozers . The abbatoirs are remained in activity between 1865 and 1971, date on which they were transferred to Kansas City.

In the middle of the 19th century, the city becomes a very important rail junction from where share the famous line Union Pacific , towards San Francisco, which will be finished in 1869. It is in Chicago that the railway lines of the serving Amtrak meet Is and West of the United States.

Industrial development, technological and financial

Chicago east always one of the cereal primary markets of the world. The powerful agroalimentary sector ensures most of the industrial employment of the agglomeration. The industry of the piece of furniture also developed at the 19th century.

Large american companies were established in Chicago: Sears and Roebuck, Amoco, Sara Lee, and Walgreens. Boeing also transferred to it its head office located before at Seattle. Lastly, McDonald's has its head office with Oak Brook, in the suburbs chicagoenne.

Center supply of the troops during the American Civil War, the industry of the armament also thrived at the next century. Within the framework of the Projet Manhattan the December 2nd 1942 takes place at the university of Chicago the initial controlled nuclear reaction. The industrial development and urban of the 20th century pushed the municipality to pump the water of the Lake Michigan more and more far.

The industrial sector recently profited from a narrow alliance between the universities, the laboratories and the companies. That concerns before all the field of high technology: data processing and electronics with the Spyglass software, the company Motorola and US Robotics Corporation. That does not prevent the area from continuing the heavy productions such as steel, in spite of strong foreign competition. The importance of the metropolis of course confers to him tertiary functions of first order. Chicago is an important financial center, which was the first with launching the market of the contracts Dérivé S, following work of the economists of the school of Chicago on the financial quantitative analysis in the years 1950-1970. It shelters from now on the first purse world in volume of treated operations (Capitalisation of 30 billion $), because of fusion of the Produce exchange of Chicago and the Bourse marchantiale of Chicago, decided by the shareholders on July 9th, 2007.

Chicago is finally a dynamic tourist center and a famous university town. In 2002, it attracted more than 28 million visitors, of which a million come from abroad spent in Chicago more than 8,7 billion dollars and generated 442 million dollars of taxes. The city counts 26.630 hotel rooms. Many congresses and meetings proceed there each year.

Transport

Chicago is one one of the principal nodes of communication in North America. As of the XVIIIe century, with the draft of furs and the trade of wood and the agricultural productions, the city is marked by its commercial vocation. Today, the agglomeration constitutes a crossroads of five federal highways and six railway lines of national importance. Various installations and infrastructures make of Chicago a multimode Plate-forme paramount in the United States.

Public transport

Chicago has also a vast network of underground lines. Inaugurated on June 6th, 1892, the subway of Chicago is the oldest network in the world still in exploitation. It is known under the letter “L” (sometimes “EL”) for elevated because the major part of its network is air. Some sections of the network of today go back to the end of the 19th century when Chicago followed the example of New York by building air underground lines. But whereas New York started at the beginning of the 20th century with replaced its air lines with underground lines in Manhattan, Chicago preserved the majority of its original routes. All the lines leave the center of the city where some of them form celebrates it air loop, the Loop , now regarded as the limit of the downtown area. Two lines, the blue line and the red line cross the center of north to the south in underground. The stations Washington, Jackson and Monroe are connected by two 750 meters (underground of Dearborn continuous platform) and 930 meters long undergrounds (State street).

the whole network 173 kilometers is long and has 151 stations, 18 kilometers in tunnel with 21 stations and 62 kilometers into air with 89 stations. The major part of the remainder of the lines and the stations is located in the central part of the expressways, except several kilometers at the ends of the branches of the lines chestnut and blue (Douglas). The “L” is managed by the CTA ( Chicago Transit Authority ). The two airports are served by a train of the CTA, the airport O' Hare by the blue line (at 45 minutes of the downtown area) and the airport of Midway by the orange line (at 30 minutes of the downtown area).

Airports

With 76 million passengers who forward on average each year, the International airport O' Hare of Chicago is the second of the world by the number of passengers behind that of Atlanta. He knows strong problems of saturation and delays even of flight cancellation. A recasting and modernization plan of its tracks and air terminal was launched to increase its capacities considerably. It is used as hub principal of United Airlines whose seat is in Chicago. The airport of Midway is the second airport of Chicago, it is mainly used by airline companies at low prices for national flights. The company most represented with Midway is the company low cost texane Southwest Airlines. Both are located on the territory of the town of Chicago. Center town, Midway is in approximately 15 miles and O' hare with approximately 20 miles.
Chicago has a code AITA common to all the airports: CHI.

Port

Twinnings

The twin towns with Chicago are the following ones:

Sports

Chicago has two professional teams of baseball, the Cubs and the White Sox , an American football club, the Bears , a team of hockey, the Blackhawks , and the famous team of basketball, the bulldozers , which evolves/moves in the championship NBA, to which Michael Jordan belongbelonged.

Chicago was selected on April 14th, 2007 by the American Olympic national committee to represent the United States as organizing country of the Olympic Games of summer of 2016.

In 2003, the city counts 791 grounds of baseball, 704 courts of tennis, 258 sports complexes, 180 gymnasia, 90 swimming pools and 6 golf courses. There exists moreover more than 160 km of cycle tracks.

Personalities of Chicago

thumb|[[Loop (Chicago)|Loop]]|280px

Famous personalities born in Chicago

See also: List of people born in Chicago

Catholic archbishop's palace

Archdiocese of Chicago
Cathedral of the Saint-Name of Chicago

See too

Random links:

Radiata | Acted Ier | Godega di Sant'Urbano | Sedecias | Eridani theta