Chicago tourist information

During the mid-1700s, the Chicago area was inhabited primarily by Potawatomis, who took the place of the Miami and Sauk and Fox people. The first non-native settler in Chicago was Haitian. Jean-Baptiste Pointe du Sable, who arrived in the 1770s, married a Potawatomi woman and founded the area's first trading post. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Fort Dearborn Massacre.

The Ottawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi later ceded the land to the United States in the Treaty with the Ottawa, etc. of 1816. On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of 350, and within seven years it grew to a population of over 4,000. The City of Chicago was incorporated on March 4, 1837.

Transportation Link
Starting in 1848, the city became an important transportation link between the eastern and western United States with the opening of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad, Chicago's first railway, and the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which allowed shipping from the Great Lakes through Chicago to the Mississippi River. With a flourishing economy that brought many new residents from rural communities and immigrants from Europe, Chicago grew from a city of 299,000 to nearly 1.7 million between 1870 and 1900. The city's manufacturing and retail sectors dominated the Midwest and greatly influenced the American economy, with the Union Stock Yards' dominating the packing trade.

Great Chicago Fire of 1871
After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, Chicago experienced rapid rebuilding and growth. During Chicago's rebuilding period, the first skyscraper was constructed in 1885 using steel-skeleton construction. By 1893, Chicago hosted the World's Columbian Exposition on former marshland at the present location of Jackson Park. The World's Columbian Exposition drew 27.5 million visitors, and is considered among the most influential world's fairs in history. Nevertheless, the city was the site of labor conflicts and unrest, which included the Haymarket Riot on May 4, 1886. Social problems among Chicago's lower classes led to the founding of Hull House in 1889, of which Jane Addams was a co-founder.

Water and Pollution
Lake Michigan - the primary source of fresh water for the city - was already highly polluted from population growth and the rapidly growing industries in and around Chicago. The city responded by embarking on several large public works projects, including a large excavation project which built tunnels below Lake Michigan to newly built water cribs which were two miles (3 km) off the lakeshore. However, the cribs failed to bring enough clean water since spring rains would wash the polluted water from the Chicago River into them. Beginning in 1855, Chicago constructed the first comprehensive sewer system in the U.S. In 1900, the problem of sewage was solved by reversing the direction of the River's flow with the construction of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal leading to the Illinois River.

Gangsters
The 1920s brought international notoriety to Chicago as gangsters, such as Al Capone, battled each other and the law during the Prohibition era. Nevertheless, the 1920s also saw a large increase in Chicago industry as well as the first arrivals of the Great Migration that would lead thousands of mostly Southern blacks to Chicago and other Northern cities. On December 2, 1942, the world's first controlled nuclear reaction was conducted at the University of Chicago as part of the top secret Manhattan Project.

Machine Politics
Mayor Richard J. Daley was elected in 1955, in the era of so-called machine politics. Starting in the 1950s, many upper and middle-class citizens left the inner-city of Chicago for the suburbs and left many impoverished neighborhoods in their wake. Nevertheless, the city hosted the 1968 Democratic National Convention and saw the construction of the Sears Tower (which became the world's tallest building), McCormick Place, and O'Hare Airport. In 1979 Jane Byrne, the city's first female mayor, was elected, and in 1983 Harold Washington became the first African American to be elected to the office of mayor.

Like Father, Like Son?
Richard M. Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, became mayor in 1989. New projects during the younger Daley's administration have made Chicago larger, environmentally friendlier, and more accessible. Since the early 1990s, Chicago has seen a turnaround with increased ethnic diversity and many formerly abandoned neighborhoods starting to show new life. As a part of its environmentally friendly image, Chicago has declared Peregrine Falcon, a protected species that started to build its nests in Chicago skyscrapers, the official bird of the city in 1999. Since Mayor Richard M. Daley has taken office in 1989, the City of Chicago has also enjoyed a resurgence in tourism.

Chicago is considered to be the premier transportation hub in America. 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. Additionally, it is the only city in North America in which all six Class I railroads meet.

Grid System
The streets of Chicago primarily follow a grid system. The baselines for numbering streets and buildings are State Street (east-west numbering) and Madison (north-south numbering). Street numbers begin at "1" at the baselines and run numerically in directions indicated to the city limits, with N, S, E, and W indicating directions. Chicago is divided into one-mile sections which contain eight blocks to the mile, with each block's addresses occupying a 100-number range. Even-numbered addresses are on the north and west sides of streets; odd-numbered address are on the south and east sides.

Interstate Highways
Seven interstate highways run through Chicago. Segments that link to the city center are named after influential politicians, and traffic reports tend to use the names rather than interstate numbers. The Kennedy Expressway is I-90 from the Loop to O'Hare International Airport. The Dan Ryan Expressway is I-90/94 from south of the "Circle Interchange" to the I-57 Split, and from the I-57 Split south is the Bishop Ford Expressway. The rest of I-94 is called the Edens Expressway. I-90 becomes the Chicago Skyway when it breaks off from the Dan Ryan Expressway. Other named highway segments are the Stevenson Expressway (I-55) and Eisenhower Expressway (I-290).

Transit Authority
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) handles public transportation in the City of Chicago and a few adjacent suburbs. The CTA operates public buses, a rapid transit system, and an elevated train known as the "Chicago L" or "El" to Chicagoans, as well as rapid transit service to Midway and O'Hare Airports. The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) provides service in forty surrounding suburbs and partially into the city.

Going on a trip? Why not browse some of the luggage at eBags.com ^{(external source)}

Metra operates commuter rail service in Chicago and its suburbs. The Metra Electric Line shares the railway with the South Shore Line's NICTD Northwest Indiana Commuter Rail Service, which accesses Gary/Chicago Airport. Pace operates a primarily-suburban bus service that also offers some routes into Chicago.

Airports
Chicago is served by Midway Airport on the south side and O'Hare International Airport, one of the world's busiest airports, on the far northwest. 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). Both O'Hare and Midway are owned and operated by the City of Chicago. The State of Illinois has debated opening a new airport near Peotone. Gary/Chicago International Airport, located in nearby Gary, Indiana, serves as the third Chicagoland airport. However, as of mid-2006, the airport does not support any scheduled passengers service.

Your vacation. A time to lose yourself. And sometimes your luggage, too. Need Travel Insurance? Why not try Travel Guard ^{(external source)}