A SHORT HISTORY OF CHICAGO
By Tim Lambert
THE FOUNDATION OF CHICAGO
The history of Chicago begins in the year 1673. In that year two Frenchmen, Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet arrived in the area. (The name Chicago is derived from a Native American word of uncertain meaning, checaugou). However the French did not settle the area. The first non-indigenous person to make his home in the area was an African American from the Caribbean called Jean Baptiste Point du Sable who built a house there in 1779. Then in 1803 the American government built a fort called Fort Dearborn. The fort was destroyed during the war of 1812 but it was rebuilt in 1816.
19TH CENTURY CHICAGO
The Erie Canal opened in 1825 opening the area to trade and commerce. As a result, in the early 1830s a little town grew up. Chicago was incorporated as a town in 1833 although it only had a population of a few hundred. However Chicago mushroomed and by 1837 it had a population of 4,000. In that year Chicago was made a city.
Chicago continued to boom during the 1840s and by 1850 it had a population of 50,000. Meanwhile the Chicago Tribune was founded. Chicago became the transport hub of the USA. the Illinois and Michigan Canal opened in 1848 and by 1860 15 railroad companies had a terminus in Chicago. The city became famous for meat packing and in 1865 the Union Stock Yards opened.
However Chicago was devastated by a fire in 1871. The Chicago fire began on the evening of 8 October in a barn. According to legend it was caused by a cow knocking over a lamp. At any rate the fire spread through Downtown Chicago where houses were made of wood and it burned until 10 October. About 100,000 people, about one third of the population were made homeless and about 300 people were killed. Fortunately industry in Chicago survived. Chicago was soon rebuilt and continued to grow rapidly. By 1880 the population of Chicago reached 500,000.
However in 1886 came the Haymarket Massacre. In May 1886 there was a strike in Chicago in support of an 8-hour day. On the evening of 4 May a rally was held in Haymarket Square. The police ordered the demonstrators to leave and somebody threw a pipe bomb into their ranks. The police responded by firing into the crowd. Afterwards anarchists were rounded up and eventually 4 were hanged.
In the last years of the 19th century Chicago continued to grow at an astonishing rate. Meanwhile the World's first skyscraper, the Home Insurance Building was erected in 1884. Other famous buildings of late 19th century Chicago are the Rookery, built in 1888 (its lobby was redesigned by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1905) and the Fine Arts Building, built in 1885. The World's Columbian Exhibition was held in Chicago in 1893. It was held in Jackson Park.
20th CENTURY CHICAGO
In 1903 Chicago suffered a disaster when a fire broke out in the Iroquois Theater and nearly 600 people died. The Iroquois Theater was demolished in 1925 and it was replaced by the Oriental Theater.
One of the most infamous events in the history of Chicago was the St Valentines Day Massacre of 1929. Alphonse Capone (1899-1947) came to Chicago in 1919. He was a pitiless murderer. In 1929 Al Capone planned to eliminate his enemy George 'Bugs' Moran. At 10.30 am on the 14 February 1929 a car was sent to a garage on North Side. The car was the type used by detectives and it had police insignia painted on it. Inside were two men dressed as policemen. Also two men in civilian clothes posing as plain clothes detectives. The car stopped outside the garage and the two men posing as detectives got out. At that moment Bugs Moran and his two bodyguards approached. Seeing the two fake policemen they assumed it was a raid and walked away. Thus Bugs Moran survived the massacre.
However there were seven men inside the garage and fake policemen made them line up against a wall and face it. The two men in civilian clothes entered with machine guns and sprayed them with bullets. The fake policemen then produced shotguns and finished off any man who showed signs of life. The murderers then left.
The first witness to the scene was a man named C L MCAllister who lived nearby. When the police arrived they found one man, Frank Gusenberg was still alive. He was taken to hospital but he refused to say anything and he died shortly afterwards. Al Capone was convicted to tax evasion in 1931 and sent to prison.
Meanwhile in 1927 Chicago Municipal Airport opened. (it is now called Midway Airport). John G Shedd Aquarium opened in 1930. Alder Planetarium also opened in 1930. Then in 1933 Chicago hosted the Century of Progress World Fair. Chicago Museum of Science and Industry opened in that year. Then in 1942 Enrico Fermi carried out the first controlled nuclear reaction at Chicago University.
In 1955 Democrat Richard J Daley became mayor of Chicago. He remained mayor until 1976. In 1979 Jane Byrne became the first female mayor of Chicago and in 1983 and in 1983 Harold Washington became the first African-American mayor. However in 1990 Chicago ceased to be the second largest city in the USA.
Meanwhile in 1973 Willis Tower opened. Navy Pier opened in 1995.
21ST CENTURY CHICAGO
Millennium Park opened in 2004 and Spertus Museum opened in 2007. Trump International Hotel and Tower was built in 2009.