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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS The Windy City KCOTSRETTUH © SHUTTERSTOCK S© S© by Phyllis McIntosh 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— his is how American poet Carl Sandburg famously described Chicago, the city that best captures the can-do spirit of the American Midwest. Known throughout the years for its industrial might, iron-fisted politicians, notorious criminals, and fieryT political protests, the City of the Big Shoulders has emerged in the twenty-first century as a world-class metropolis. Now the third largest city in the United States, it is recognized for its financial district, spectacular skyline, renowned architecture, and internationally-acclaimed parks, museums, and cultural institutions. — Once famous mainly for stockyards and steel mills, Chicago now boasts more top-rated five- star restaurants than any other city in the United States and has been voted by various publica- tions as one of the “Top 10 U.S. Destinations,” one of the “Best Walking Cities” in the United States, and one of the “Ten Best Places to Live.” The Early Days— thrived as hostilities with Native Americans came to an end and construction began on the The name Chicago comes from a Native Illinois and Michigan Canal that would pro- American term, Checagou, believed to refer vide a shipping link between the Great Lakes to a wild onion that grew abundantly along and the Mississippi River. Within a few years, the swampy shores of Lake Michigan. The the population swelled to 4,000, and in 1837 first Europeans to explore the area were a Chicago was incorporated as a city. French-Canadian missionary, Father Jacques — One of the most important years in the Marquette, and a cartographer, Louis Jol- young city’s history, 1848, brought Chicago’s liet, who journeyed up the Mississippi and first telegraph connection, the opening of its tributaries in 1673. But it was not until a the first rail link, completion of the 100-mile century later that Jean Baptiste du Sable, a fur Illinois and Michigan Canal, and the found- trader of French-African descent, established ing of the Chicago Board of Trade to regulate a permanent settlement that would eventually the growing grain trade. With the founding of become the city of Chicago. — the Union Stockyards in 1865, Chicago soon In 1833, the tiny settlement, with a became the center of the U.S. meatpacking population of 350 hearty souls and covering industry. By the turn of the twentieth cen- just three-eighths of a square mile, was incor- tury, the 100 companies within the stockyards Antique map of Chicago in porated as the Town of Chicago. The town 1870. employed 30,000 workers. — The booming economy also attracted entrepreneurs such as Marshall Field, whose dry goods establishment would become a landmark department story bearing his name; the founders of retail giants Sears, Roebuck and Company and Montgomery Ward, who pioneered mail-order catalogs; and Cyrus McCormick, inventor and manufacturer of grain harvesting machines. — Because of its position as a central railway hub and proximity to iron ore deposits in the Great Lakes region, Chicago in the latter part of the nineteenth century became one of the world’s leading steel producers and would remain so for decades. Chicago was booming. Not yet 70 years old, it was by 1900 the fifth largest city in the world, with more than a million residents. — Prior to the turn of the century, life was not always pleasant for Chicagoans, who were often mired in mud and besieged by disease. Because the city was built on a flat swampy plain, spring muds were so deep that horses’ legs became stuck in the streets. Sewers dumped waste into the Chicago River, which emptied into Lake Michigan, source of the city’s drinking water, leading to devastating cholera and typhoid epidemics. The problem © SHUTTERSTOCK was solved in 1900, when the newly com- pleted Sanitary and Ship Canal permanently reversed the flow of the Chicago River and 42 2008 N UMBER 4 | E NGLISH T EACHING F ORUM © SHUTTERSTOCK Today's Museum of Science sent the city’s waste south to the Illinois River ica. Considered one of the most influential and Industry is the only instead of into Lake Michigan. The new canal world fairs ever held, the exposition attracted building that remains from the World Columbian Exposition doubled as the main shipping route, replacing 27.5 million visitors over a six-month period, held in Chicago in 1893. the old Illinois and Michigan Canal. — many of them transported from downtown by the city’s first elevated train. The Exposi- New City Forged by Fire tion site featured gleaming white exhibition — halls, known as the White City, designed by The single cataclysmic event that shaped leading architects of the day, beautifully land- the future of the city was the Great Chicago scaped grounds, and outdoor sculptures fash- Fire of 1871, which started in the barn of ioned by such prominent artists as Augustus an Irish immigrant family named O’Leary. Saint-Gaudens and Daniel Chester French. According to legend, the conflagration started Amusements and concessions were clustered when Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lan- along a mile-long avenue called the Midway tern. The real cause of the fire remains a Plaisance. (To this day, the entertainment strip mystery, but its toll is all too well known. of every state and country fair in the United Fueled by strong winds and the city’s abun- States is called a “midway.”) Dominating the dant wooden structures, it raged for three days Midway Plaisance was the world’s first Ferris and consumed much of the city. At least 300 wheel, a gigantic structure 250 feet high with people died, and 100,000 people—a third of 36 cars capable of holding 60 people each. the city’s population—lost their homes. — (Much more modest versions are still popular Amid the devastation and despair, Chi- fixtures at virtually every fair and amusement cagoans saw an opportunity to redesign and park in the United States, including Chicago’s expand their city. Prominent architects drawn Navy Pier.)— to the city in the aftermath of the fire pioneered new steel-frame construction that led Prohibition, Politics, and to the invention of the skyscraper. The first Protests — such structure, the 10-story Home Insurance Building, was erected in 1885. Today Chicago Much of Chicago’s history has been domi- is home to some of the tallest buildings in the nated by colorful characters, both famous and world. — infamous. One of the most turbulent times Eager to show off its new look, Chicago was the era of Prohibition that began in 1919 staged the 1893 World Columbian Exposition when Congress passed and the states rati- to celebrate (albeit a year late) the 400th anni- fied the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. versary of the landing of Columbus in Amer- Constitution, outlawing the manufacture and E NGLISH T EACHING F ORUM | N UMBER 4 2008 43 sale of alcoholic beverages. With the in return for political support. The most Chicago is located at the national prohibition on alcohol, gangs skilled of Chicago’s machine politicians southwestern tip of Lake Michigan, the fifth largest lake of “bootleggers”—named for the habit was mayor Richard J. Daley, who served in the world. of concealing flasks of alcohol in the six terms from 1955 until 1976, when legs of boots—soon began producing he died in office. Daley is especially and distributing beer and liquor. Fierce remembered for his hard-line response competition led to bloody confrontations to Vietnam War protesters at the 1968 with police and between rival gangs, and Democratic Party convention, which led Chicago, where bootlegging was domi- to a police riot in the streets outside the nated by a notorious gangster named convention hall and scuffles on the con- Al Capone, became synonymous with vention floor. 1920s crime and violence. (Bootlegging subsided after Prohibition was repealed in The Windy City 1933 by the Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution.) The “hot air” of politicians and pro- The 1930s ushered in the era of testers might account in part for Chicago’s “machine” politics, when mayors and reputation as the Windy City. More likely other city officials maintained their power the nickname was inspired by the persis- by doling out patronage jobs and favors tent winds blowing off Lake Michigan and funneling down city streets. But, in truth, Chicago is not appreciably windier than any other American city. Chicago’s climate, like its history and economy, is defined by its location at the southwestern tip of Lake Michigan, the fifth largest lake in the world and the only one of the five Great Lakes located wholly within the boundaries of the United States. The lake helps moderate Chicago’s weather, making it somewhat cooler in Chicago is the third largest summer and warmer in winter. Summer city in the United States and is among the 25 largest urban high temperatures average in the mid-80s areas in the world. (Fahrenheit), though the thermometer 44 2008 N UMBER 4 | E NGLISH T EACHING F ORUM can easily top 100 degrees. Winters are cold With one of the tallest skylines in the and snowy with average highs in the 30s. The world, downtown Chicago is considered a lowest recorded temperature was 27 degrees showcase of architectural achievements. The below zero in January 1985. — building boom following the Great Fire of Encompassing 234 square miles, the city 1871 and construction of the 1893 World sits on a flat plan that was once the bed of Exposition attracted some of the nation’s lead- an ancient glacial lake.

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