establishment
While Louis XIV reigned in France, plans were made to investigate the American continent that had been visited by French, English and Spanish explorers and settlers. In 1673, Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette set off to lead an expedition from northeast corner of Lake Michigan into the center of the unknown continent (Chicago City of the Century 1999). They were among the first two visitors on the land of Chicago. In 1696, the Jesuits established ‘The Mission of the Guardian Angel’ at Chicago, but their existence was short and left no visible traces. It is believed that they chose this location for Mission because of solid ground, easy access to the lake, the river, and the portage, great numbers of passing Indians and Indian villages nearby (Winstanley Briggs 2004).
The first non-Indian to settle within Chicago's future boundaries was a Santo Domingan of mixed African and European ancestry, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, who arrived around 1780. In 1803, the U.S. Army built Fort Dearborn on the south bank of the Chicago River. It was destroyed in an Indian raid in 1812 but rebuilt four years later. In 1830 platted lots for the future city were sold to help finance the Illinois and Michigan Canal. The 1832 Black Hawk War ended the last Native American resistance in the area. Chicago was incorporated as a town in 1833 and as a city in 1837, when its population reached 4,000 (A&E Television Networks 2014).
The first non-Indian to settle within Chicago's future boundaries was a Santo Domingan of mixed African and European ancestry, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, who arrived around 1780. In 1803, the U.S. Army built Fort Dearborn on the south bank of the Chicago River. It was destroyed in an Indian raid in 1812 but rebuilt four years later. In 1830 platted lots for the future city were sold to help finance the Illinois and Michigan Canal. The 1832 Black Hawk War ended the last Native American resistance in the area. Chicago was incorporated as a town in 1833 and as a city in 1837, when its population reached 4,000 (A&E Television Networks 2014).
Evolution (till 1980)
Few years after being incorporated as a city, 1848 proved to be an important year wherein new initiatives started taking place in the city of Chicago. In that very year, telegraph and railroad reached city which played a major role in expansion of trading and business activities (A&E Television Networks 2014). The city's first public market was constructed and stalls were rented to local butchers, grocers, and produce dealers. To assure that the dealers of perishables goods would be able to find customers, the city council prohibited the sale of retail proportions of meat, eggs, poultry, and vegetables anywhere else in the city during market hours. The public market also provided customers a central place to purchase food and socialize (Gilmore 2004). First City Hall was built on State Street in 1848. The construction of Illinois and Michigan Canal got completed allowing steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River (Chicago Public Library n.d.).
Two innovations - grain elevators and the Board of Trade's wheat grading standards—quickly transformed the way crops were sold. By 1854 the city became the world's largest grain port and had more than 30,000 residents, many of them were European immigrants (A&E Television Networks 2014). In the late 1850s, the streets on most of the South Side and parts of the North and West Sides were raised by an average of between four and five feet, though in some places by as much as eight feet. This was done in two stages, in 1855–56 and 1857–58, for the purposes of facilitating drainage and accommodating the city's sewerage system (Robin Einhorn 2004).
On October 8, 1871, ‘Great Chicago Fire’ broke out which destroyed one-third of Chicago and left more than 100,000 homeless. Fire was fueled by drought, high winds and wooden buildings. The factories and railroads were largely spared, and the city was rebuilt with astonishing speed (A&E Television Networks 2014). In 1880, George Pullman, an industrialist built his headquarters and a town for his employees on 4,000 acres of land south of Chicago. The town of Pullman was to be a model of social organization and profitability. Pullman’s vision was shattered in 1894 following violent strikes by his employees and the railroad unions (Chicago Tribute n.d.).
Two innovations - grain elevators and the Board of Trade's wheat grading standards—quickly transformed the way crops were sold. By 1854 the city became the world's largest grain port and had more than 30,000 residents, many of them were European immigrants (A&E Television Networks 2014). In the late 1850s, the streets on most of the South Side and parts of the North and West Sides were raised by an average of between four and five feet, though in some places by as much as eight feet. This was done in two stages, in 1855–56 and 1857–58, for the purposes of facilitating drainage and accommodating the city's sewerage system (Robin Einhorn 2004).
On October 8, 1871, ‘Great Chicago Fire’ broke out which destroyed one-third of Chicago and left more than 100,000 homeless. Fire was fueled by drought, high winds and wooden buildings. The factories and railroads were largely spared, and the city was rebuilt with astonishing speed (A&E Television Networks 2014). In 1880, George Pullman, an industrialist built his headquarters and a town for his employees on 4,000 acres of land south of Chicago. The town of Pullman was to be a model of social organization and profitability. Pullman’s vision was shattered in 1894 following violent strikes by his employees and the railroad unions (Chicago Tribute n.d.).
With the advent of steel construction technology and elevator systems, Chicago gave the world its first skyscraper, the 10-storey ‘Home Insurance Building’ in the year 1885. In later years architects Louis Sullivan, Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius all added to the city’s growing skyline. In 1893 Chicago hosted the World's Columbian Exposition, which drew over 20 million visitors on former marshland at the present location of Jackson Park (A&E Television Networks 2014). Frederick Law Olmsted, the famous American landscape architect made his notable contribution to this Exposition by designing a park the Midway Plaisance, on the South Side of the city of Chicago. Daniel Burnham crafted the first visionary urban plan for a city ‘The 1909 Chicago plan’. It was nicknamed 'Paris on the Prairie' and included wide boulevards and parks (A View on Cities n.d.).
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With the increasing prices of land lots accompanied with the population; it was difficult for Chicago to grow horizontally. To address this issue, the city of Chicago like many other metropolitan cities started growing vertically. Therefore, increasing the number of floors and accommodating as much as appropriate population it can.
The World War I period and the 1920s also saw a major expansion in industry. The availability of jobs attracted blacks from the Southern United States. Between 1910 and 1930, the black population of Chicago dramatically increased from 44,103 to 233,903 (The Regents of the University of Michigan 2007).
The World War I period and the 1920s also saw a major expansion in industry. The availability of jobs attracted blacks from the Southern United States. Between 1910 and 1930, the black population of Chicago dramatically increased from 44,103 to 233,903 (The Regents of the University of Michigan 2007).
Evolution (1980 to till date)
Chicago always had an image of growing city from the time it came into an existence. Currently, it is the third largest city in the United States having population of about 2,714,856 as of 2012 census (Division 2013). It entered the chart of top ten largest cities of the United States population wise in 1860 at eighth position with the population count of about 112,172. Over the decades its population increased and then in 1890 for the first time it became the second largest city in the United States with the population size of 1,099,850 people and continued to do so till 1950s. After 1950s, the city started losing its population. In 1990 census, it dropped it ranking to third position and Los Angeles became the second largest city in the United States. In 1980 census, the population size for the city of Chicago was 3,005,072, whereas in 1990 census it lost its population to 2,783,726 (Census 1998). The 2000 census shows that the city gained population during 1990s but it again lost in 2000s (U. S. Bureau 2000). After 1980, there has been a rise and fall in its population for three consecutive decades. The city didn't had a steady growth pattern post 1980 to 2010. The reasons behind this decline would have been the increasing crime rate, unsafe neighborhoods and unemployment.
In 1983, Harold Washington became a mayor of the City of Chicago. He was the first African-American to be a Mayor of Chicago. It is said that he the man who brought the big changes in the city in short period of his mayoral tenure. His mayoral election campaign is referred as an activist effort, wherein more than 100,000 new African American voters registration was documented. His actions inspired the voters who had previously felt excluded from the electoral process. This might had been also one the reason for the change in the racial composition of Chicago (McSweene 2010). The city which had 91.7% of white and 8.2% of black American population in 1940 (U. S. Bureau, Illinois - Race and Hispanic Origin for Selected Large Cities and Other Places: Earliest Census to 1990 2005) got changed to 45.0% of white and 32.9% of black American (U. S. Bureau, State & County Quick Facts Chicago (city), Illinois 2014).
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On another hand, like every developing metropolitan city, Chicago was making every single effort to develop a good network of transportation system. In 1984, Chicago Transit Authority extended the Logan Square – Jefferson Park transit line to O’Hare Airport which is now known as the Blue Line. Furthermore, an entirely new rapid transit line named Orange line which connected Midwest Airport to downtown (Loop) was opened in 1993 (Karr n.d.). By doing so Chicago was trying to achieve an efficient inter-modal transportation system in the city.
In July 1995, City of Chicago experienced a dangerous hot air mass of about 120 degree Fahrenheit for around three consecutive days which is referred as ‘Heat Wave of 1995’. During the week of high humidity weather 739 Chicagoan died and thousands were hospitalized for heat related problems. The people who died where mainly those people who were old, alone, and didn't’t had air conditioners in their houses. The heat wave deaths were concentrated in the predominantly African American community areas on the South and West Sides of Chicago, the places that also have high mortality rates and low life expectancy during normal times. The extreme weather helped to make visible some of the new dangers related to aging, isolation, and concentrated poverty in Chicago (Klinenberg 2004).
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Post 1980, Chicago just didn't experienced increased crime rate and unemployment, changes in political structure and evolution of transportation system; but also witnessed the changes in its cityscape’s architecture, streetscape, parks, monuments and public art. These elements of city helped Chicago to build its global image. Many famous architects, artists and sculptors contributed their work to the city and made it as one of the best places. The Millennium Park, one the prominent project of contemporary world which sets an example that a non-functional industrial wasteland can be brought to life and put into an appropriate use for public. In 1997, Mayor Richard M. Daley conceived a vision of transforming an industrial wasteland into new public space for residents of Chicago. This industrial wasteland was controlled by Illinois Central Railroad from 1850s until 1997. Daniel Burnham’s Grant Park from ‘Plan for Chicago 1909’ is also situated around this wasteland due to railroad’s rigid control rules at that time. A world renowned architect Frank Gehry with various artists, architects, planners, landscape architects and designers crafted this 24.5 acres of park. The Millennium Park was opened for public in 2004. It marked an unprecedented public-private partnership, and has become a thoroughly modern achievement for Chicago (Chicago n.d.). It is considered as the city's most important project since the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893.