Changes

Jump to navigation Jump to search
239 bytes added ,  17:25, May 28, 2009
add geography
Line 1: Line 1:  
[[Image:Chicago Science Museum.jpg|thumb|Museum of Science and Industry.]]
 
[[Image:Chicago Science Museum.jpg|thumb|Museum of Science and Industry.]]
−
'''Chicago''' is a city located in [[Illinois]] on the western shore of [[Lake Michigan]]. It is the third-largest city in the [[United States]], with 2.8 million residents. <ref>http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/17/1714000.html</ref>. The Chicago metropolitan area, which extends from southern [[Wisconsin]] to northeastern [[Indiana]], contains 9.3 million people. <ref>http://www.census.gov/population/estimates/metro_general/2006/CSA-EST2006-alldata.csv</ref>
+
'''Chicago''' is a city located in the northeastern corner of [[Illinois]] at the southwestern tip of [[Lake Michigan]]. It is the third-largest city in the [[United States]], with 2.8 million residents, after New York and Los Angeles.<ref>http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/17/1714000.html</ref>. The Chicago metropolitan area, which extends from southern [[Wisconsin]] to northeastern [[Indiana]], contains 9.3 million people. <ref>http://www.census.gov/population/estimates/metro_general/2006/CSA-EST2006-alldata.csv</ref> It is the dominant city of the Midwest for transportation, trade, finance and high culture, and only reluctantly gave up the "second city" title to [[Los Angeles]] in the 1970s.
    
The current mayor of Chicago is [[Richard M. Daley]] (b. 1942), who was elected in 1989. His father, [[Richard J. Daley]] (1902-1976), was mayor from 1955-1976, and controlled the powerful Cook County Democratic organization, called "the machine." <ref>http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/Chicago7/Daley2.html</ref>
 
The current mayor of Chicago is [[Richard M. Daley]] (b. 1942), who was elected in 1989. His father, [[Richard J. Daley]] (1902-1976), was mayor from 1955-1976, and controlled the powerful Cook County Democratic organization, called "the machine." <ref>http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/Chicago7/Daley2.html</ref>
Line 14: Line 14:  
==Geography==  
 
==Geography==  
 
===Loop===
 
===Loop===
−
The "Loop" was named in 1901 when the new elevated rail liine (the "L") looped around the main downtown business section.  It remains a world class locus for banking, finance, law, business and high culture.  It has numerous colleges and universities and a large upscale population in condominiums.   
+
The "Loop" was named in 1901 when the new elevated rail line (the "L") looped around the main downtown business section.  It remains a world class locus for banking, finance, law, business and high culture.  It has numerous colleges and universities and a large upscale population in condominiums.   
 
===Neighborhoods===
 
===Neighborhoods===
 
Chicagoans define themselves by neighborhood (or for Catholics, by their parish).  
 
Chicagoans define themselves by neighborhood (or for Catholics, by their parish).  
Line 25: Line 25:  
===Environment and planning===
 
===Environment and planning===
 
Danish immigrant Jens Jensen arrived in 1886 and soon became a highly successful and celebrated landscape designer. Jensen's work was characterized by a democratic approach to landscaping, informed by his interest in social justice and conservationism and his rejection of antidemocratic formalism. Among Jensen's creations were four Chicago city parks, most famously Columbus Park. His work also included garden design for some of the region's most influential people, including the Ford and Rosenwald families.  
 
Danish immigrant Jens Jensen arrived in 1886 and soon became a highly successful and celebrated landscape designer. Jensen's work was characterized by a democratic approach to landscaping, informed by his interest in social justice and conservationism and his rejection of antidemocratic formalism. Among Jensen's creations were four Chicago city parks, most famously Columbus Park. His work also included garden design for some of the region's most influential people, including the Ford and Rosenwald families.  
−
The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal was first proposed in 1885 by civil engineer Lyman Edgar Cooley, who envisioned a deep waterway that would dillute and divert the city's sewage by funneling water from Lake Michigan into a canal, which would drain into the Mississippi River via the Illinois River. Beyond presenting a solution for Chicago's sewage problem, Cooley's proposal appealed to the economic need to link the Midwest with America's central waterways to compete with East Coast shipping and railroad industries. Strong regional support for the project led the Illinois legislature to circumvent the federal government and complete the canal with state funding. The opening in January 1900 met with controversy and a lawsuit against Chicago's appropriation of water from Lake Michigan. By the 1920s the lawsuit was divided between the states of the Mississippi River Valley, who supported the development of deep waterways linking the Great Lakes with the Mississippi, and the Great Lakes states, who feared sinking water levels might harm shipping in the lakes. In 1929 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in support of Chicago's use of the canal to promote commerce, but ordered the city to discontinue its use for sewage disposal.<ref>Lorien Foote, "Bring the Sea to Us: the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and the Industrialization of the Midwest, 1885-1929." ''Journal of Illinois History'' 1999 2(1): 39-56. Issn: 1522-0532  </ref>
+
The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal was first proposed in 1885 by civil engineer Lyman Edgar Cooley, who envisioned a deep waterway that would dilute and divert the city's sewage by funneling water from Lake Michigan into a canal, which would drain into the Mississippi River via the Illinois River. Beyond presenting a solution for Chicago's sewage problem, Cooley's proposal appealed to the economic need to link the Midwest with America's central waterways to compete with East Coast shipping and railroad industries. Strong regional support for the project led the Illinois legislature to circumvent the federal government and complete the canal with state funding. The opening in January 1900 met with controversy and a lawsuit against Chicago's appropriation of water from Lake Michigan. By the 1920s the lawsuit was divided between the states of the Mississippi River Valley, who supported the development of deep waterways linking the Great Lakes with the Mississippi, and the Great Lakes states, who feared sinking water levels might harm shipping in the lakes. In 1929 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in support of Chicago's use of the canal to promote commerce, but ordered the city to discontinue its use for sewage disposal.<ref>Lorien Foote, "Bring the Sea to Us: the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and the Industrialization of the Midwest, 1885-1929." ''Journal of Illinois History'' 1999 2(1): 39-56. Issn: 1522-0532  </ref>
      Line 35: Line 35:  
Chicago's locational advantage is the link between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River system. Its first permanent resident, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, a Frenchman West Indian and African descent, and operated an fur-trading 1780-1800. The U.S. government erected Fort Dearborn in 1803 three years later. In the War of 1812 it was captured by Indians and the residents massacred. After 1830 the rich farmlands of Northern Illinois attracted Yankee settlers. Yankee real estate operators crated a city overnight in the 1830s. Hundreds of wagons a day of farm produce arrived, so the entrepreneurs built grain elevators and docks to load ships bound for points east.  By the 1850s the railroads made Chicago a major hub with over 30 lines. The main lines from the East ended in Chicago, and those oriented to the West began in Chicago, so the city became the nation's trans-shipment and warehousing center by 1860. Factories were created, most famously the harvester factory opened in 1847 by [[Cyrus Hall McCormick]]. The Wisconsin forests supported the mill-work and lumber business; the Illinois hinterland provided the wheat, as well as hogs and cattle that were slaughtered, preserved in salt and shipped east; by 1870 refrigerated cars allowed fresh meat to ship.  
 
Chicago's locational advantage is the link between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River system. Its first permanent resident, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, a Frenchman West Indian and African descent, and operated an fur-trading 1780-1800. The U.S. government erected Fort Dearborn in 1803 three years later. In the War of 1812 it was captured by Indians and the residents massacred. After 1830 the rich farmlands of Northern Illinois attracted Yankee settlers. Yankee real estate operators crated a city overnight in the 1830s. Hundreds of wagons a day of farm produce arrived, so the entrepreneurs built grain elevators and docks to load ships bound for points east.  By the 1850s the railroads made Chicago a major hub with over 30 lines. The main lines from the East ended in Chicago, and those oriented to the West began in Chicago, so the city became the nation's trans-shipment and warehousing center by 1860. Factories were created, most famously the harvester factory opened in 1847 by [[Cyrus Hall McCormick]]. The Wisconsin forests supported the mill-work and lumber business; the Illinois hinterland provided the wheat, as well as hogs and cattle that were slaughtered, preserved in salt and shipped east; by 1870 refrigerated cars allowed fresh meat to ship.  
   −
As the city grew large numbers of Irish Catholics and Germans arrived. Their saloons became the focus of attacks by the Know-Nothing Party, which was anti-immigration and anti-liquor, and called for the purification of politics by reducing the power of the saloonkeepers. In 1855, the new party elected Levi Boone mayor and he banned Sunday sales of liquor and beer, angering the Germans who frequented beer gardens, and Irish who frequented saloons.  Law enforcement resulted in the Lager Beer Riot of April 1855, which erupted outside a courthouse where eight Germans were being tried for liquor ordinance violations. After the Civil War, saloons became community centers only for local ethnic men, as reformers saw them as places that incited riotous behavior and moral decay.
+
As the city grew large numbers of Irish Catholics and Germans arrived. Their saloons became the focus of attacks by the Know-Nothing Party, which was anti-immigration and anti-liquor, and called for the purification of politics by reducing the power of the saloon-keepers. In 1855, the new party elected Levi Boone mayor and he banned Sunday sales of liquor and beer, angering the Germans who frequented beer gardens, and Irish who frequented saloons.  Law enforcement resulted in the Lager Beer Riot of April 1855, which erupted outside a courthouse where eight Germans were being tried for liquor ordinance violations. After the Civil War, saloons became community centers only for local ethnic men, as reformers saw them as places that incited riotous behavior and moral decay.
    
====Newspapers====
 
====Newspapers====
17,394

edits

Navigation menu