Chicago: Timeline, Fun Facts, and Resources
Fun Facts about Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in Illinois. With over 2.8 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous city in the country. Its metropolitan area, commonly named “Chicagoland,” is home to an estimated 9.7 million people spread across the U.S. states of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana. Chicago is primarily located within Cook County, with the exception of a small northwestern portion of the city at O’Hare International Airport that is located within DuPage County. Check out our Fun things to do in Chicago article if you plan on heading to Chicago.
Timeline of Chicago History from 1673-1850
1673: Chicago Was Founded
1795: Treaty of Greenville
1803: Construction of Fort Dearborn Begins
1812: Fort Dearborn is burned down by Native Americans
1818: Illinois became a state
1832: Black Hawk War
1833: Chicago is incorporated as a Town
1833: Chicago’s First Newspaper – The Chicago Weekly Democrat
1836: Three Chicago commissioners wrote that what is now Grant Park should be “Public Ground – A Common to Remain Forever Open, Clear and Free of any Buildings, or other Obstruction Whatever.” Aaron Montgomery Ward later used this statement to keep developers off the 320-acre lake-front property.
1837: Chicago’s First Local Theater Company Established
1837: Incorporated as a City
1837: Chicago’s First Mayor – William Butler Ogden Elected
1847: Chicago Tribune began publishing
1847: The population of Chicago numbered about 20,000 people
1848: Chicago Board of Trade Founded
1848: Chicago Builds First Municipal Structure, Market Building
1848: Galena & Chicago Union Railroad
1848: First City Hall in State Street
1848: Telegraph Reaches Chicago
Timeline of Chicago History from 1850-1900
1850: The population of Chicago approached 30,000
1851: Chicago’s first institution of higher education, Northwestern University, is founded
1855: Lager Beer Riots
1855: Police Department Created
1856: Chicago Historical Society Founded
1857: Academy of Sciences Founded
1860: Lincoln Nominated at Chicago’s First National Convention
1862: Camp Douglas Becomes Confederate Prisoner of War Camp
1865: Chicago’s First Museum – Academy of Sciences Opens
1865: Chicago Union Stock Yards Completed
1867: First Tunnel Under the Lake
1868: Field and Leiter Open Store at Washington and State
1868: Lincoln Park Zoological Gardens Founded
1869: First Traffic Tunnels Under the River
1869: Chicago Water Tower Built
1871: The Great Fire
1872: Chicago Board of Education Established
1872: Montgomery Ward—First Mail-Order House
1873: Chicago Public Library Opened
1877: Telephones Reach Chicago
1877: Railroad Strike
1879: Carter Harrison Elected Mayor
1879: Chicago Art Institute Founded
1886: Haymarket Riot
1889: Auditorium Building Dedicated
1890: The University of Chicago is founded by John D. Rockefeller
1891: Inaugural Concert of Chicago Symphony Orchestra
1892: First Elevated Rapid Transit Line
1893: Chicago Harbor Lighthouse Built
1893: World’s Columbian Exposition
1893: The First Ferris Wheel Debuts in Chicago
1893: Daniel Hale Williams Performs Open Heart Surgery
1893: Mayor Carter Harrison Shot and Killed
1893: Field Museum of Natural History Founded
1896: Chicago Federation of Labor Founded
1897: The Union Loop Elevated is completed
1898: Chicago Butter and Egg Board Founded
Timeline of Chicago History from 1900-1950
1900: Flow of Chicago River Reversed
1901: Chicago Freight Tunnels
1902: The American Automobile Association was founded in Chicago
1902: Train service between New York and Chicago began.
1903: Iroquois Theater Fire
1904: The Ravinia Festival was founded as a high-class amusement park designed to increase ridership for a railroad company. It became a center for summertime opera but folded during the depression in 1931.
1905: Chicago Defender Debuts
1905: The 1st freight delivery tunnel system began underneath Chicago.
1906: White Sox Defeat Cubs in Crosstown World Series
1907: Cubs Win World Series
1908: Garfield Park Conservatory Opens
1908: Oct 14, The Chicago Cubs won the World Series as they defeated the Detroit Tigers in Game 5, 2-0, at Bennett Park
1908: Street Numbering Change
1909: Chicago Plan Published
1909: Illinois Supreme Court Rules to Keep Lakefront “Forever Open , Clear and Free”
1909: Water Crib Fire
1910: Comiskey Park Opens
1910: Union Stock Yards Fire
1911: Dedication of Present City Hall
1914: Wrigley Field Built
1915: Eastland Disaster
1916: Wrigley Field in Chicago opened
1917: The Chicago White Sox won the Baseball World Series
1919: In a Chicago race riot 15 whites and 23 blacks were killed with 500 injured
1919: In baseball’s World Series the Chicago White Sox faced the Cincinnati Reds in a best of 9 games. The White Sox intentionally threw the series to satisfy gamblers in what became known as the Black Sox Scandal. 8 players were banned from baseball for life. In 1963 Eliot Asinof described the events in his book “Eight men Out.” The 1988 baseball film “Eight Men Out” was directed by John Sayles.
1921: Westinghouse Station KYW Broadcasts Chicago’s First Radio Program
1924: Grant Park Stadium which will later be named Soldier Field is Completed
1925: Union Station Completed
1927: Buckingham Fountain Constructed
1927: Chicago’s Midway Airport Opened
1928: Straightening of the Chicago River
1929: St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
1929: Chicago Stadium Opens
1930: Shedd Aquarium Officially Opens
1930: Adler Planetarium Founded, First in Western Hemisphere
1930: Merchandise Mart Opens as World’s Largest Building
1931: Jane Addams Wins Nobel Peace Prize
1932: Chicago Bears Win NFL Championship
1933: Mayor Anton Cermak Shot and Killed
1933: First Baseball All-Star Game
1933: Museum of Science and Industry Opens
1934: Brookfield Zoo Opens
1934: Chicago Blackhawks Win Stanley Cup Championship
1937: Memorial Day Incident at Republic Steel
1938: Blackhawks Win Stanley Cup Championship
1940: Chicago Bears Win NFL Championship
1942: Plutonium First Isolated
1942: First Controlled Atomic Reaction
1943: Chicago Bears Win NFL Championship
1943: Chicago’s First Subway Opened
1946: Chicago Bears Win NFL Championship
1947: Chicago Transit Authority Created
1948: First Issue of Chicago Sun-Times
Timeline of Chicago History from 1950-2000
1954: Lyric Theatre of Chicago lated named the Lyric Opera was Founded
1955: Mayor Richard J. Daley Elected
1955: WTTW’s First Broadcast
1955: First Section of Congress Expressway Opened
1958: Our Lady of the Angels School Fire
1959: International Trade Fair Celebrates Opening of St. Lawrence Seaway—Queen Elizabeth’s Visit
1960: Northwest Expressway Completed
1960: Vice President Nixon was nominated for president at the Republican national convention in Chicago
1961: Blackhawks Win Stanley Cup Championship
1961: The Ebony Museum of Negro History and Art Established
1962: Dan Ryan Expressway Opened
1963: Chicago Bears Win NFL Championship
1963: O’Hare Airport Dedicated
1964: Southwest Expressway Completed
1966: Civic Center Dedicated
1966: Martin Luther King Jr. was stoned during a march in Chicago
1967: A record 23 inches of snow fell in Chicago
1967: McCormick Place Fire
1967: Museum of Contemporary Art Founded
1967: Picasso Statue Dedicated in Civic Center Plaza
1968: Democratic National Convention
1971: Union Stock Yard Closes
1972: Shakman Agreement Signed
1972: Chicago Botanic Gardens opens
1972: Crash of United Airlines Flight 553
1973: Sears Tower Completed—Becomes World’s Tallest Building
1974: Chagall’s Four Seasons Dedicated
1974: Calder’s Flamingo Dedicated
1975: Deep Tunnel Project Begins
1976: Mayor Richard J. Daley Dies at 74
1976: Civic Center Renamed Richard J. Daley Center
1977: Oldenburg’s Bat Column Dedicated
1977: First Running of Chicago Marathon
1978: Chicago Daily News, founded in 1875, published its last issue
1979: Jane Byrne Elected Mayor
1979: State Street Mall Opens
1979: Crash of American Airlines Flight 191
1981: Miro’s Chicago Dedicated
1982: First Major City to Ban Sale of Handguns
1982: Chicago Children’s Museum Founded
1983: Harold Washington Elected Mayor
1984: Rapid Transit Line Extended to O’Hare
1984: DuBuffet’s Monument with Standing Beast Unveiled
1985: State of Illinois Center (later James R. Thompson Center) Opens
1986: Chicago Bears Win NFL Championship
1986: The Chicago Theater Reopens
1986: Lake Shore Drive S-Curve Straightened
1987: Mayor Harold Washington Dies at 65
1989: Mayor Richard M. Daley Elected Mayor
1991: Chicago Bulls Win NBA Championship
1991: New Comiskey Park(U.S. Cellular Field) Opens
1992: Freight Tunnel Flood
1992: Chicago Bulls Win NBA Championship
1993: Chicago Bulls Win NBA Championship
1993: Orange Line Opens to Midway Airport
1994: Chicago Hosts World Cup
1994: The United Center, owned by the NBA Bulls and NHL Blackhawks, was completed for $175 million
1995: Navy Pier was redeveloped and became a popular tourist attraction.
1995: A heat wave was blamed for some 700 deaths this year
1996: National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum Opens
1996: State Street Revitalization
1996-98: Chicago Bulls Win NBA Championship
1998: Steppenwolf Theatre Company Wins National Medal of the Arts
1998: Chicago Fire Wins MLS Cup and U.S. Open Cup
1999: Notebaert Nature Museum Opens
1999: City News Bureau Closes
Timeline of Chicago History from 2000 to Today
2000: Chicago Fire Wins U.S. Open Cup
2000: Field Museum Unveils “Sue”, the Tyrannosaurus rex
2003: Chicago Fire Wins U.S. Open Cup
2003: Meigs Field Closes
2004: Millennium Park Opens
2005: White Sox Sweep World Series
2006: Chicago Fire Wins Open Cup
2006: CTA Pink Line Begins Service
2006: Abakanowicz’s Agora Dedicated
2007: Chicago Wins Right to Represent US in Bid for 2016 Olympics
2008: President-elect Barack Obama gives acceptance speech in Chicago’s Grant Park
2010: Blackhawks Win Stanley Cup Championship
List of Mayors Of Chicago
Ogden, William Butler 1st Mayor
Morris, Buckner Stith 2nd Mayor
Raymond, Benjamin Wright 3rd Mayor
Loyd, Alexander 4th Mayor
Sherman, Francis Cornwall 5th Mayor
Garrett, Augustus 6th Mayor
Sherman, Alson 7th Mayor
Chapin, John Putnam 8th Mayor
Curtiss, James 9th Mayor
Woodworth, James Hutchinson 10th Mayor
Gurnee, Walter S. 11th Mayor
Gray, Charles McNeill 12th Mayor
Milliken, Isaac Lawrence 13th Mayor
Boone, Levi Day 14th Mayor
Dyer, Thomas 15th Mayor
Wentworth, John 16th Mayor
Haines, John Charles 17th Mayor
Rumsey, Julian Sidney 18th Mayor
Rice, John Blake 19th Mayor
Mason, Roswell B. 20th Mayor
Medill, Joseph 21st Mayor
Lester Legrand Bond, Acting Mayor
Colvin, Harvey Doolittle 22nd Mayor
Heath, Monroe 23rd Mayor
Harrison, Carter Henry, Sr. 24th Mayor
Roche, John A. 25th Mayor
Cregier, DeWitt Clinton 26th Mayor
Washburne, Hempstead 27th Mayor
Swift, George Bell 28th Mayor
Hopkins, John Patrick 29th Mayor
Harrison, Carter Henry, Jr. 30th Mayor
Dunne, Edward Fitzsimmons 31st Mayor
Busse, Fred A. 32nd Mayor
Thompson, William Hale 33rd Mayor
Dever, William Emmett 34th Mayor
Cermak, Anton Joseph 35th Mayor
Corr, Frank J. 36th Mayor
Kelly, Edward Joseph 37th Mayor
Kennelly, Martin H. 38th Mayor
Daley, Richard Joseph 39th Mayor
Bilandic, Michael Anthony 40th Mayor
Byrne, Jane Margaret 41st Mayor
Washington, Harold 42nd Mayor
Orr, David Duvall 43rd Mayor
Sawyer, Eugene 44th Mayor
Daley, Richard Michael 45th Mayor
Resources about Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
Choose Chicago The official visitors website for Chicago
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