Chicago Timeline

1. Chicago Origins

1. 1. 1. French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet pass by (1673)
      2. French explorer Claude Allouez arrived to try to convert local tribes to Christianity (1677)
      3. French explorer René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle passes by (1682)
      4. British victory in the French and Indian War changes area’s control (1763) and the Parliament of Great Britain approves the Quebec Act organizing the Great Lakes area as part of the Province of Quebec (1774)
      5. United States declares independence (1776) and  the Treaty of Paris ends the American Revolution and officially recognizing the United States as an independent nation (1783)
      6. French Haitian Jean Baptiste Point du Sable establishes Chicago’s first non-native permanent settlement (1780)
      7. Northwest Ordinance approved under Articles of Confederation created the Northwest Territory (1787)
      8. U.S. Constitution ratified (1788)

2. First Star: Fort Dearborn (1803)

1. 1. 1. U.S. Army builds Fort Dearborn (1803)*
      2. Congress passes the Indian Removal Act (1830) – about 800 Potawatomi men removed from Chicago (population about 350 non-natives) to west of the Mississippi River (1835) and then the remaining 450 Potawatomi left Chicago (1837)
      3. Chicago incorporated as a city (1837) (one year after New Buffalo, Michigan) and Grant Park (Lake Park: 1844)
      4. Illinois and Michigan Canal opens, Chicago Board of Trade opens, and Galena and Chicago Union Railroad starts (1848)
      5. Northwestern University is founded as Chicago’s first institution of higher education (now #6 in nation) (1851)
      6. Raising of Chicago – buildings and sidewalks were physically raised on jackscrews (1850s-1860s)
      7. Abraham Lincoln nominated for U.S. President at the Wigwam in Chicago (1860); Union Stock Yard established as the meatpacking district (1865); Ulysses S. Grant nominated for U.S. President at Crosby’s Opera House in Chicago (1868)
      8. Transcontinental railroad finished; Riverside, first planned suburb in the U.S., drafted by Frederick Law Olmstead; Chicago Water Tower built (1869)

3. Second Star: Great Chicago Fire (1871) – Second City

1. 1. 1. Great Chicago Fire (1871)* (New Buffalo, Michigan)
      2. Montgomery Ward in business (1872) and Pullman National Historical Park (1880)
      3. Chicago becomes the second largest city in the United States (1890)
      4. University of Chicago founded by John D. Rockefeller (#11 in nation) (1890)
      5. Chicago “L” (1892) and Early Chicago Skyscrapers (World Heritage Tentative List) (1884-1900-ish) – First Chicago School
      6. Haymarket riot (1886)
      7. Sears, Roebuck and Company started (1888)
      8. Hull House founded by Jane Addams (1889)

4. Third Star: World’s Columbian Exposition (1893) – The City Beautiful

1. 1. 1. World’s Columbian Exposition (Chicago World’s Fair – The White City) (1893)* – Jackson Park and Midway Plaisance (Niles, Michigan Central Railroad Depot) – City Beautiful movement
      2. Art Institute of Chicago (current building: 1893)
      3. Iroquois Theater Fire led to widespread fire safety reforms (1903)
      4. Theodore Roosevelt nominated for U.S. President at the Chicago Coliseum (1904)
      5. Burnham’s Plan of Chicago presented (1909) – “Paris on the Prairie”
      6. Montgomery Ward wins court battle to keep lakefront free and clear of buildings (1909)
      7. Frank Lloyd Wright Architecture (World Heritage Site) – Robie House (1910)
      8. Chicago Lakefront – Navy Pier (1916) – Chicago Architecture Boat Tour

5. Early Roaring Twenties

1. 1. 1. Great Migration – approximately six million Black people moved from the American South to the North (1910s-1970s)
      2. Chicago race riot (1919)
      3. Al Capone moves to Chicago from Brooklyn (1919 – approximate year)
      4. Prohibition begins (1920)
      5. Field Museum (current building: 1921)
      6. More meat processed in Chicago than in any other place in the world (1924)
      7. Chicago Union Station completed (1925)
      8. Chicago becomes known as the “City of Neighborhoods” (1920s)

6. Route 66 Established

1. 1. 1. Historic Route 66 (1926) begins and Berghoff Restaurant (1898)
      2. Buckingham Fountain (1927) & Abraham Lincoln: The Head of State (1908)
      3. St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1929)
      4. Merchandise Mart was built for Marshall Field & Co. (1930) (today: ART on THE MART)
      5. Al Capone sentenced to prison (1931)
      6. Franklin D. Roosevelt nominated for U.S. President at the Chicago Stadium (1932)
      7. Prohibition repealed (1933)
      8. John Dillinger shot by the FBI in an alley next to the Biograph Theater (1934)

7. Fourth Star: Century of Progress Exposition (1933) – Renaissance

1. 1. 1. Century of Progress Exposition (1933)* (Indiana Dunes National Park)
      2. Enrico Fermi produces the first self-sustained nuclear reaction in his lab under Stagg Field on the University of Chicago campus (1942)
      3. Chicago Black Renaissance: jazz – Louis Armstrong, blues – Muddy Waters, and gospel, Richard Wright, Chicago Defender,  and Archibald Motley’s art (1930s-1940s)
      4. Emmitt Till, 14 years old, is lynched and brutally murdered in Mississippi (1955)
      5. Anti-Vietnam War protests at the Democratic National Convention at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago (1968)
      6. Chicago Skyline (Second Chicago School) – Standard Oil Building (Aon Center) completed (1973)
      7. Sears Tower completed (1974) – it’s the tallest building in the world up to 1998
      8. Taste of Chicago (1980-present)
         • Al’s Italian Beef Sandwich (1938)
         • Deep-Dish Pizza (1943)
         • Portillo’s Chicago-Style Hot Dog (1963)

8. Modern Chicago

1. 1. 1. Silicon Prairie established in Chicago (1994)
      2. Green roof policy began with the installation of a green roof on Chicago City Hall (2000)
      3. Millennium Park – Cloud Gate “The Bean” (2004)
      4. Barack Obama Election Night victory speech at Grant Park (2008)
      5. Aqua Tower – tallest building in the world designed by a woman architect (2009)
      6. Thompson Center is being redeveloped into Googleplex Chicago (2022)
      7. Chicago designated hub for quantum technologies by President Joe Biden (2023)
      8. Kamala Harris nominated for U.S. President at the United Center in Chicago (2024)