Chicago History

Chicago Historic Timeline

Chicago's first permanent resident -- Jean Baptiste Point du Salbe, who arrived around 1779, becoming the first non-Native American resident, and was African American. His first home was a log cabin along the Chicago River.

Illinois became a state in 1818, while Chicago struggled in its wilderness. The largest population of the state around 1818 enjoyed the prosperity along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.

A canal, rather than a railroad, bridged the gap between the hustle and bustle of the Mississippi River to the Great Lakes. In 1827, the U.S. Congress authorized the digging of a canl -- the Illinois & Michigan Canal (I&M Canal) to link the Great Lakes with the Mississippi River basin.

First major population surge was in 1830.

By 1848, railroad traffic increased with a popular route between Galena (mining) and Chicago. German, Irish and Scandinavian immgrants were selling the population.

The Chicago Board of Trade opens in 1848.

By 1855, considerble labor and employment went into levitating the city -- physically lifting most buildings because most of Chicago occupied a swamp, and the streets were comprised of mud. Chicago becomes the hub for 10 rival rail ines. Railroads cut time travel between New York and chicago from 3 weeks to 2 days.

Chicago becomes the nation's rail capital. The population soars from 24,470 in 1840 to 28,000 in 1850, to 110,000 in 1860, to 300,000 in 1870. By 1890, there were 1.1 million residents.

George Pullman builds his prototype sleeping car in 1864.

In 1865, the largest employer in Chicago was the meatpacking industry, where the city was home to the Union Stock Yards. The city supplies the Union troops during the Civil War.

In 1869, the 13,730 vessels dock at Chicago Harbor exceeding the combined commercial traffic for New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, Mobile and San Francisco ports.

In the mid-1860's, State Street becomes a prime shopping boulevard.

Chicago in 1871 was a densely packed community of 300,000 built principally from wood, where more than 300,000 structures were made from wood; the sidewalks were wooden; most streets were paved with tar-swathed wooden blocks. A long hot summer and one of the largest droughts in history made the city tinder-dry.

The city's most notable event takes place -- the Chicago Fire, with the prime suspect Mrs. O'Leary's cow, who supposedly tipped over a lantern in the family's West Side barn. The death toll reached 250 or more, and 100,000 Chicagoans were left homeless. The fire destroyed more than 17,000 buildings.

The city's commerical core was back bigger and better in less than 5 years after the fire. The city's design and planning, along with its tremendous architecture and newly constructed buildings, as well as its newly enact fire code, laid the foundation for developing one of the nation's finest city's. By 1889, Chicago's population grew to 1.1 million.

"Freshly crowned as America's Second City by the 1890 census, Chicago staged a world's fair in 1893. The World's Columbian Exposition brought the glittering fantasy of an electrically lighted "White City" to the south side lakefront.

1891 -- the first skyscraper appears in Chicago.

Louis H. Sullivan became the emerging architectural genius of the emerging Chicago.

1891 -- Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Art Institute of Chicago opened the following year.

The preservation of the lakefront for public pleasure, a relevation to travelers from cities all over the world, was sancitified as public policy in Daniel Burnham's famous Chicago Plan of 1909. "Make no little plans," Burnham urged, and the sunnier side of the city's life bears the stamp of his foresight.

The infamous Chicago gangster Al Capone emergest in Chicago in 1920. Capone spent 8 years in prison for tax evasion and later died of syphilis.

Chicago stages its second successful world's fair -- The Century of Progress exposition. The fair spanned 47 acres of newly created lakefront south of the Loop, attracted 39 million visitors during its 1933-34 run.

Richard J. Daley becomes one of Chicago's most famous leaders, serving as mayor for six terms, spanning from 1955 until his death in 1976. His administration led an expansion of Chicago managing the city's growth and departments with marked success, where the phrase "The city that works," was coined.

Hugh Hefner published the first issue of Playboy from his Chicago kitchen table in 1953.

Sears Tower becomes the world's tallest building, standing at 110 stories and 1,454 feet, in 1974.

Fun Facts

The 4 stars on the Chicago flag represent Fort Dearborn, the Chicago Fire, the World's Columbian Expostion and the Century of Progress Exposition.

The Art Institute of Chicago holds the largest collection of Impressionist paintings outside the Louvre in Paris. Wives of prominent Chicago founders (Potter Palmer) may be credited for the collection.

Chicago has the largest beachfront among any other city in the U.S. There are 29 miles of lake frontage and 15 miles of public beach.

Chicago is home to the world's largest Polish population outside of Warsaw.

Chicago is home to the Lincoln Park Zoo, which is one of hte last free zoos.

Chicago's Western Aveneu is the world's longest street.

Chicago's Oceanarium is the world's largest indoor marine mammal pavilion and doubles the size of the John G. Shedd Aquarium, which is the largest indoor aquarium in the world.