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Chicago - Illinois - History |
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In 1673 the French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet passed through what is now the site of Chicago. They found a low, swampy area that Native Americans, mainly Sauk, Mesquakie, and Potawatomi, called "Checagou," referring to the wild onion that once grew in marshlands along Lake Michigan. About a century later, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, a Haitian trader of African and French descent, established the first permanent dwelling near the mouth of the Chicago River. In 1803 the U.S. Army built Fort Dearborn along the river to protect the strategic waterway linkage. At the beginning of the War of 1812 (1812-1815), nearly all the soldiers and settlers there were killed in battles with pro-British Native Americans, and the fort was destroyed. It was rebuilt in 1816, but settlement remained sparse until the Native Americans were removed in 1832.
From October 8 to 10, 1871, a great fire killed 250 people, left 90,000 homeless, and destroyed about 10 sq km (about 4 sq mi) of central Chicago (nearly one-third of the total area). However, the city was quickly rebuilt and continued its rapid growth. During the second half of the 19th century, the city's large industrial worker population campaigned actively for an eight-hour work day, better working conditions, and better wages. Workers clashed with police on several occasions, including the Haymarket Square Riot of May 4, 1886. Two civilians and seven policemen were killed, and approximately 150 people wounded. In nearby Pullman on June 27, 1894, workers of the Pullman Company, manufacturer of railroad sleeping cars, struck in response to unfair wage practices and the living and working conditions of the company town. The American Railway Union responded with a support strike. Workers and their families were attacked by railroad deputies, federal troops, and city police. At least 30 people were killed and 100 wounded before the strike was broken on July 17. By 1890, due largely to its annexation of numerous suburbs, Chicago's population had surpassed 1 million, and three years later the city hosted the World's Columbian Exposition, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the European arrival in America. Alternate periods of corruption and reform characterized the city's political history for many years. In the summer of 1919, approximately 25 race riots erupted throughout the United States, the worst occurring in Chicago on July 27. When a black youth swimming in Lake Michigan drifted into an area reserved for whites, he was stoned and drowned. Police refused to arrest a white man whom black observers considered responsible, and angry crowds gathered on the beach. Violence erupted and continued throughout the city for 13 days, resulting in 38 dead, 537 injured, and 1000 black families left homeless. The shocked national reaction helped launch efforts toward racial equality through volunteer organizations and reform legislation. During
the Prohibition era (1919-1933) Chicago became notorious for its
bootleggers and gangsters. The city's physical expansion in the 20th
century was largely guided by the Burnham Plan of Chicago (1909), a design
for the city's future inspired by the world's Columbian Exposition.
Population continued to grow until it reached a peak of more than 3.6
million in 1950. Since World War II ended in 1945, Chicago has experienced
an increase in its black and Hispanic populations, which have moved into
former white residential areas as whites moved to the rapidly growing
suburbs. Since the early 1950s, numerous projects, such as extensive slum
clearance and rehabilitation and the construction of a network of
expressways, have been undertaken to alleviate urban decay and ensure the
future of the central area. |
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By
1837, helped by harbor improvements and the start of construction of the
Illinois and Michigan Canal, Chicago's population had reached 4000, and
the community was incorporated as a city. Growth was very rapid, bolstered
soon by the completion of the canal in 1848 and the coming of the
railroads in the early 1850s. The consolidated Union Stock Yards opened in
1865 to handle the cattle, hogs, and sheep shipped by rail to Chicago for
slaughter and packing. Attracted by economic opportunities, immigrants
from Ireland, Germany, and Scandinavia settled in Chicago. The city was
first predominantly a port and trading center for raw materials from the
Midwest and finished goods from the East, but it soon developed as a major
national railroad junction and an important manufacturing center. Waves of
immigrants from Europe included Poles, Jews, Serbians, Russians, Czechs,
Lithuanians, Italians, and Greeks. Chicago became a checkerboard of
different ethnic communities. Social reformers Jane Addams and Ellen Gates
Starr founded Hull House (1889) to address immigrants' needs and to lobby
for reform. The generally low-paying jobs and substandard living
conditions of immigrants were exposed in the 1906 novel The Jungle by
Upton Sinclair. The years of World War I (1914-1918) marked the beginning
of the great migration north of Southern blacks seeking better
opportunities.
