Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1803 under the command of Captain
John Whistler, grandfather of the
famous painter.
At first the settlement grew slowly,
impeded by continued Native Ameri-
can efforts to drive the new Americans
from the Illinois Territory. During the
War of 1812, inhabitants abandoned
Fort Dearborn, and many were slain
during the evacuation. But before
long, the trappers drifted back; by
1816, the military, too, had returned.
Conflict diminished after that, but
even as a civil engineer plotted the
building lots of the early town as late
as 1830, periodic raids continued,
ceasing only with the defeat of Chief
Black Hawk in 1832. A year later, the
settlement of 300-plus inhabitants was
officially incorporated under the name
Chicago, said to derive from a Native
American word referring to the
powerful odors of the abundant wild
vegetation (most likely onions) in
the marshlands surrounding the river-
banks.
COMMERCE & INDUSTRY
Land speculation began immediately,
as Chicago was carved piecemeal and
sold off to finance the Illinois and
Michigan Canal that would eliminate
the narrow land portage and fulfill the
long-standing vision of connecting the
two great waterways. Thus the domes-
ticated East would be linked to the pio-
neer West, with Chicago at midpoint,
directing the flow of commerce in both
directions. Commercial activity was
quick to follow: Within 2 to 3 years,
local farmers in the outlying areas were
producing a surplus. Chicago grew in
size and wealth, shipping grain and
livestock to the eastern markets and
lumber to the treeless prairies of the
West. Ironically, by the time the Illinois
and Michigan Canal was completed in
1848, the railroad had arrived, and the
water route that gave Chicago its raison
d'être was rapidly becoming obsolete.
Boxcars, not boats, grabbed the title of
1917 The Chicago White Sox win the
World Series. They haven't won one
since!
1919 “Black Sox” bribery scandal per-
petrated by eight Chicago White Sox
players stuns baseball.
1920-33 During Prohibition, Chicago
becomes a “wide-open town”; rival
mobs battle violently throughout the
city for control of distribution and sale
of illegal alcohol.
1924 University of Chicago students
Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb
murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks.
They are defended by famed attorney
Clarence Darrow and are found guilty,
but spared the death penalty, in the
“Trial of the Century.”
1929 On St. Valentine's Day, Al
Capone's gang murders seven mem-
bers of rival George “Bugs” Moran's
crew in a Clark Street garage.
1931 Al Capone finally goes to jail,
not for bootlegging or murder, but for
tax evasion.
1932 Franklin Delano Roosevelt is
nominated for the presidency by the
Democratic National Convention,
held at Chicago Stadium (since
demolished).
1933 Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak,
on a political trip to Miami, is shot and
killed during an attempt on president-
elect FDR's life.
1933-34 Chicago hosts its second
World's Fair, “A Century of Progress.”
The biggest attraction is fan dancer
Sally Rand, who wears only two large
ostrich feathers.
1934 Bank robber and “Public Enemy
Number One” John Dillinger is
gunned down by police outside the
Biograph Theater.
1942 Scientists, led by Enrico Fermi,
create the world's first nuclear chain
reaction under Stagg Field at the Uni-
versity of Chicago.
1945 The Chicago Cubs make their
last appearance in the World Series—
and lose to Detroit.
1953 Chicago native Hugh Hefner
starts publishing Playboy (the original
Playboy Mansion was located in
Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood).
continues
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