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| Chicago Apartment Locator Services : Chicago Apartments |  | Contents | |
| Chicago, Illinois |
| History |
| The area now known as Chicago was primarily inhabited by Potawatomis
In the 1770s the first non-native settler, Jean Baptiste Point
du Sable, a Haitian of African descent, settled on the banks
of the Chicago River. In 1795, the Chicago area was ceded by
the Native Americans in the Treaty of Greenville to the United
States for use as a military post. In 1803, Fort Dearborn was
built. It was destroyed in the Fort Dearborn Massacreduring
the War of 1812, but was rebuilt in 1816 and remained in use
until 1837. |
| On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago was incorporated with
a population of 350. On March 4, 1837, Chicago was granted a
city charter by the state. |
| The opening of the Illinois and Michigan Canal in 1848 allowed
shipping from the Great Lakes through Chicago to the Mississippi
River and so to the Gulf of Mexico. The first rail line to Chicago,
the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad, was also completed
in 1848. Chicago would go on to become the transportation hub
of the United States with its road, rail, and water (and later
air) connections. Chicago also became home to nationwide retailers
such as Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck and Company that
offered catalog shopping using these connections. |
| In 1855 the level of the city was raised four to seven feet,
with individual buildings jacked up and fill brought in to raise
streets above the swamp. |
| The 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago nominated
home-state candidate Abraham Lincoln. |
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| Location in the state of Illinois |
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| In 1871, most of the city burned in the Great Chicago Fire.
In the following years, Chicago rebuilt itself and its architecture
became influential throughout the world. The first skyscraper
was constructed in 1885 using novel steel-skeleton construction.
Chicago's resurgence onto the world scene was capped by the
World Columbian Exposition (1893 Chicago World's Fair). |
| The 1880s and 1890s were a time when many Chicagoans made
their fortune, but the ordinary person's lot was fairly grim,
with poor housing, disease and long hours the norm. Two noted
events of this period were the Haymarket Riot, which started
in a way that is still under debate and the Pullman Strike of
1894, started when railcar magnate George Pullman turned workers
out of their company housing when they were no longer needed.
Today, Chicago remains a town of still-strong unions as a result
of a tradition of labor militancy. |
| The Chicago River's direction of flow was reversed
in 1900 to prevent sewage from running into Lake Michigan, the
city's water source. Instead, the River flowed into the Chicago
Sanitary and Ship Canal, and eventually into the Mississippi
River. |
| 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. |
| Chicago River's direction of flow was reversed
in 1900 to prevent sewage from running into Lake Michigan, the
city's water source. Instead, the River flowed into the Chicago
Sanitary and Ship Canal, and eventually into the Mississippi
River. |
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| Aerial view of Chicago showing downtown and the north
side of the city. All the famous skyscrapers are in the
downtown area. |
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