Chicago

Introduction
Getting There
Getting Around
People
Neighborhoods
History
Government
Public Safety
Economy
Environment
Shoppping
Education
Health Care
Media
Sports
Parks and Recreation
Performing Arts
Libraries and Museums
Tourism
Holidays and Festivals
Famous Citizens
For Further Study

Chicago, Illinois, United States of America, North America

Founded: 1830; Incorporated: 1837
Location: Northeast Illinois, Lake Michigan coast, United States, North America
Motto: "I will" in Latin
Flag: Two blue stripes representing Lake Michigan and the Chicago River, and four six-pointed red stars representing events in Chicago history, all on a white field.
Flower: Violet (state flower)
Time Zone: 6 am Central Standard Time (CST) = noon Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
Ethnic Composition: White 56.9%; Black 39.1%
Elevation: 181 m (595 ft)
Latitude and Longitude: 41°88'N, 87°65'W
Coastline: 40 km (25 mi)
Climate: Continental climate; cold winters, with heavy snowfall from cold fronts off Lake Michigan, and hot summers
Annual Mean Temperature: 9.5°C (49.2°F); January-4.3°C (24.3°F); July 23.7°C (74.7°F)
Seasonal Average Snowfall: 102 cm (40 in)
Average Annual Precipitation (total of rainfall and melted snow): 86 cm (34 in).
Government: Mayor-council
Weights and Measures: Standard U.S.
Monetary Units: Standard U.S.
Telephone Area Codes: 312, 630, 708, 773, 847
Postal Codes: 60601-64

1. Introduction

Long the United States's second-largest city (now its third-largest), Chicago is the only Midwestern metropolis to rank with the great cities of the nation's east and west coasts. Its nickname, "the Windy City," though thought by many to refer to a climate influenced by the city's location on the southwest shore of Lake Michigan, actually has its origin in the civic pride that has inspired its citizens to boastfulness for generations. The "City of Big Shoulders" and "Hog Butcher to the World"—in the words of poet Carl Sandburg, one of its most famous sons—Chicago has undergone important changes in the latter half of the twentieth century, most notably its population shrinkage in the face of growing suburbanization. Nevertheless, the legendary city of skyscrapers—still home to the world's tallest building—remains a vital commercial, intellectual, and cultural center.

2. Getting There

Chicago, the seat of Cook County, is located in northeastern Illinois, on the southeastern shore of Lake Michigan and at the junction of the lake and the Chicago River.

Highways

Chicago is accessible by several interstate highways. The city is approached from the northwest by I-94, which merges with the John F. Kennedy Expressway and the Dan Ryan Express-way, traversing the city north-south before turning into the Calumet Expressway heading south out of (or into) the city. To the west, I-294 rings much of the Greater Chicago area, turning into the Tri-State Tollway further south and intersecting I-290, which runs east-west, becoming the Dwight D. Eisenhower Expressway into the heart of the city. I-55 leads to Chicago from the southwest, turning into the Adlai E. Stevenson Expressway.

Bus and Railroad Service

Chicago is an Amtrak hub, servicing travelers from the renovated Union Station. The Greyhound station, on West Harrison Street, is slightly to the southwest of downtown.

Airports

More than 66 million passengers a year arrive at and depart from O'Hare International Airport, on more than 880,000 flights annually. Located 27 kilometers (17 miles) outside downtown Chicago, O'Hare is said to be the busiest airport in the world. As a hub for both American and United Airlines, it offers nonstop service to most major destinations in the United States, and many foreign cities as well. Also servicing the Windy City is Midway Airport.

Chicago Population Profile

City Proper

Population: 2,732,000
Area: 591 sq km (228 sq mi)
Ethnic composition: 56.9% white, 39.1% black, 3.7% Asian/Pacific Islander
Nicknames: The Windy City, The Second City, The City of Broad Shoulders

Metropolitan Area

Population: 6,945,000
Area: 13,118 sq km (5,065 sq mi)
World population rank ¹: 29
Percentage of national population ²: 2.5%
Average yearly growth rate: 0.3%
Ethnic composition: 76% white; 19.5% black; and 4.3% Asian/Pacific Islander

1. The Chicago metropolitan area's rank among the world's urban areas.
2. The percent of the total US population living in the Chicago metropolitan area.

Shipping

Its central location and Great Lakes coastline have always made Chicago an important shipping center, especially since the 1959 opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. Some 750 motor freight carriers ship over 45 million metric tons (50 million tons) of ground freight to and from the city every year; another 36 million metric tons (40 million tons) are handled by rail. More than one million metric tons (1.1 million tons) per year are shipped through Chicago's airports.

3. Getting Around

Downtown Chicago is laid out in a grid pattern, with State Street (north-south) and Madison (east-west) as the main points of reference. Lake Shore Drive borders the Lake Michigan shoreline, and Grant Park extends along much of the coast. The Chicago River, running east-west, divides the North Side from the central Loop section, and the north and south branches of the river run northwest to south, further demarcating parts of the city.

Bus and Commuter Rail Service

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) runs the city's bus and rail service, offering access to both Chicago and its suburbs. The CTA operates over 1,000 rapid transit, or El, cars over five rail lines whose routes are designated by different colors. The CTA also operates numerous bus routes, with most buses running at intervals of every five to 20 minutes daily and many running at night.

Sightseeing

Several walking tours of downtown Chicago landmarks are available, including a taped, self-guided tour put together by the Chicago Office of Tourism. The Friends of the Chicago River offers walking tours along the river and boat cruises along the shoreline as well. Sightseeing tours of the downtown area are also offered on both regular and double-decker buses and open-air trolleys. In addition, a variety of tours and cruises on Lake Michigan are available.

4. People

Chicago is the third most populous city in the United States, surpassed only by New York and Los Angeles. In 1990, the population of Chicago was 2,784,000, with the following racial composition: 56.9 percent white, 39.1 percent black, 3.7 percent Asian/Pacific Islander, 0.3 percent American Indian. Hispanics (an ethnic rather than a racial designation) accounted for 19.6 percent of the population. The 1994 population estimate for Chicago was 2,732,000. The population of Chicago's Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area was estimated at 7,773,896 as of 1997. The region's racial composition was listed by the U.S. Census Bureau in 1996 as 76 percent white; 19.5 percent black; and 4.3 percent Asian/Pacific Islander.

5. Neighborhoods

The heart of Chicago is the rectangular downtown section known as the Loop, extending southward from the Chicago River and east from its south branch, and encircled by the elevated train route with the same name. Although most of the retailers have departed from legendary State Street, the Loop is still a bustling commercial center filled with corporate and government offices. Its La Salle Street has been called "the Wall Street of the Midwest."

The South Side, the area south of the Loop, has seen considerable redevelopment. Today it is home to a number of communities, including Hyde Park, Morgan Park, and Beverly. The area to the west of the Loop has traditionally been an industrial district, although many of its businesses have relocated in recent times. It is also home to an Italian community and the site of the historic Hull House, where Nobel Prize winner Jane Addams ministered to the needs of the city's working-class poor at the turn of the century. The West Side Medical Center, with seven hospitals and two medical schools, is the largest medical complex in the world.

Chicago's North Side, to the north and northwest of the Chicago River, is a mostly residential area. The part nearest to the Loop has undergone a renaissance since the 1980s, as artists and other city trendsetters set up lofts in a former industrial and warehouse district that has drawn comparisons to New York's SoHo neighborhood. Today known as River North, it has become an increasingly upscale locale of galleries, studios, and clubs. Another successfully redeveloped area north of the Loop is North Michigan Avenue, also known as the Magnificent Mile, home to pricey retailers, hotels, and restaurants.

A less heartening part of Chicago's North Side is the Cabrini-Green public housing project to the northwest of the River North district. Further to the north of the city, beginning with the Mid-North Side to the west of shore-front Lincoln Park, are upscale residential neighborhoods, including Edgebrook and Sauganash. To the southeast is an industrial area traversed by the Chicago skyway. To the southwest are Bridgeport and Chinatown.

Chicago is the center of an eight-county metropolitan area extending about 65 kilometers (40 or so miles) from the city, to the north, west, and south. Its suburbs include such wealthy communities as Oak Park, Evanston, Skokie, and Lake Forest. Some nearby towns in Indiana, including Gary and Hammond, have also become de facto suburbs of Chicago.

6. History

The first Europeans to arrive at the site of present-day Chicago were French explorer Louis Joliet and Father Jacques Marquette in 1673. Over a century later, in 1783, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable became the first permanent resident of European descent in the area when he established a fur-trading post there. Early in its history, the settlement endured the massacre of 53 Americans when 500 Potawatomi warriors stormed Fort Dearborn, which had been built to protect the settlers, during the War of 1812. (The fort was rebuilt by 1816.) The first major spur to the growth of the town was the building of the Illinois & Michigan Canal linking the Great Lakes with the Mississippi River basin. Planned in 1830, the canal wasn't completed until 1848, although a speculative land boom was already underway in the 1830s, and the population surged upward. The city was incorporated and held its first mayoral election in 1837.

By 1848, when the canal was completed, the first railroad arrived in the city, and Chicago became the rail hub of the growing nation and a marketing center for farm produce and livestock, as well as the center of the meatpacking industry and home to the country's first financial exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade. By mid-century, the arrival of Irish, German, and Scandinavian immigrants was providing a labor force to spur the growth in industry, and the Irish established one of the city's first ethnic communities in Bridgeport. The city's population grew from 4,470 in 1840 to 28,000 in 1850, and then to 110,000 by the following decade. By 1890 it passed the one-million mark to become the nation's second-largest metropolis after New York.

In 1860 Chicago hosted the Republican Convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency, and the city played a vital role in the Civil War by serving as the primary supplier of beef to the Union soldiers. In the postwar era, Chicago became the country's major lumber market as well as its grain-handling capital, as well as a manufacturing center for farm machinery. While the city's upper classes enjoyed unprecedented wealth, its thousands of working-class residents suffered the overcrowded and unsanitary conditions common to the urban poor of the industrial age. Jane Addams's Hull House became famous for its efforts to improve conditions for immigrant tenement dwellers on the city's West Side. Eventually sanitary conditions became so lethal that the course of the Chicago River was reversed at the turn of the century to keep its sewage-and industrial waste-laden waters from further polluting Lake Michigan and to end recurring outbreaks of waterborne infectious diseases.

Although the Great Fire of October 8, 1871, devastated the city, killing between 250 and 300 people and destroying more than 17,000 buildings, Chicago's economic base—its stockyards, freight yards, and industrial area—were spared, enabling the city to rebuild rapidly. Much of the city was restored within a year, and Chicago continued to grow. In 1893, in the face of a nationwide economic depression, the city hosted the World's Columbian Exposition, which attracted some 21 million visitors. The 1890s was also the decade when Chicago became famous as the home of a new form of architecture that was to transform America's urban landscape—the skyscraper. During this period, the city's wealth also financed the creation of major cultural institutions such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Art Institute.

By the late nineteenth century, Chicago was already notorious for its political corruption, and reform efforts were implemented by the 1890s. However, the city reputation as the vice capital of the nation was renewed with the rise of mobsters Al Capone, John Dillinger, and their cohorts in the 1920s and 1930s. Chicagoans suffered keenly from the Great Depression but, like other areas of the country, recovered during World War II (1939–1945), becoming one of the nation's top centers for defense-related production, as well as the site of its first controlled nuclear reaction, overseen by Enrico Fermi at the University of Chicago in 1942.

A major development of the post-war era has been the suburbanization of the city, whose population, which accounted for roughly two-thirds of the metropolitan area in 1950, shrank to only one-third by 1990, and Los Angeles replaced Chicago as the nation's second most populous city. Chicago's racial balance has also changed during this period, with blacks becoming the major ethnic group in an increasingly segregated city, and suburban sprawl has replaced formerly populated areas in the heart of the city with teeming expressways.

The first postwar decades were the Daley era (1955–1976), when Mayor Richard J. Daley oversaw a period of robust expansion and modernization that included the construction of O'Hare International Airport and the world's tallest building, the Sears Tower. However, it was also during the Daley years that the disturbances at the 1968 Democratic convention etched themselves indelibly on the consciousness of the nation. Since then Chicago has had a woman mayor (Jane Byrne, 1979–1983) and its first black mayor (Harold Washington, 1983–1987), as well as its first female black senator (Carol Moseley-Braun, 1992–). The Daley name regained its prominence in city politics in the 1990s with the election of Richard M. Daley to the post of mayor.

7. Government

Chicago's municipal government operates under a 1971 charter, providing for a mayor-council form of government. The city's mayor and the 50 alderman who make up the council are all elected for four-year terms.

8. Public Safety

The Chicago Police Department is the second-largest municipal police force in the United States. In 1997 the department employed 13,466 sworn officers, 2,060 civilian employees, as well as 1,000 crossing guards. In 1995, violent crimes reported to police (per 100,000 population) included 30 murders, 1,094 robberies, and 1,426 aggravated assaults. Property crimes totaled 7,198 and included 1,463 burglaries, 4,418 cases of larceny/theft, and 1,316 motor vehicle thefts.

9. Economy

Chicago has long been one of the country's major manufacturing and distribution centers. Important manufacturing industries include steel, telecommunications equipment, automobile accessories, agricultural equipment, scientific instruments, diesel engines, consumer electronics, paint, and food products. The city's central location, inland port, and rail accessibility made it a major market for Midwest farmers by the nineteenth century, and it remains a significant transport center today. Retailing is another dominant sector in the economy of Chicago, which is home to thousands of wholesalers and retailers, including such retail giants as Sears, Marshall Field, and Montgomery Ward.

Home to the Midwest Stock Exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade (the nation's oldest financial exchange), and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago is one of the top financial centers in the United States. Its LaSalle Street is considered the Wall Street of the Midwest. The city is also a publishing powerhouse, ranked second only to New York, and a leader in industrial research and biotechnology. Chicago's largest employers include Jewel Food Stores, Motorola, Advocate Health Care, Ameritech, and First Chicago Corporation.

10. Environment

Two bodies of water have been central to the history and development of the city of Chicago—the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, the third largest of the Great Lakes and the only one completely within the United States. The southwestern shore borders an urban area that includes not only Chicago, but also Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Gary, Indiana. The concentration of industrialization has led to growing pollution problems.

The Chicago River formerly flowed into Lake Michigan, but its course was reversed, because of pollution, in 1900. In the waning years of the twentieth century, significant efforts were made to clean up the river, which had suffered from the effects of unhampered industrialization since the nineteenth century. The Chicago River became a repository of refuse from the slaughterhouse industry and other forms of industrial pollution. By 1999, over 50 species of fish—including salmon, carp, and perch—returned to the river's waters, and the Friends of the Chicago River began to lead walking tours along the riverfront.

Encircling the city along its northern, western and southern boundaries, the Cook County Forest Preserves cover 66,746 acres, providing woodlands, open spaces, and recreational facilities. About five percent of the preserves belong to the Illinois Nature Preserve system, which protects the natural habitats of endangered species and other animals.

11. Shopping

Although many of the major retailers have left Chicago's central Loop district, the city still offers abundant and varied shopping outlets. Today its premier shopping area is the "Magnificent Mile" on North Michigan Avenue, stretching north of the Chicago River to Oak Street. Its multi-story shopping complexes boast such top-notch department stores as Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman-Marcus, Lord & Taylor, and Marshall Field's, as well as upscale retailers including Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, Cartier, Brooks Brothers, and Gucci. Further north is the Armitage-Halsted-Webster shopping area. In contrast to the exclusive shops found in these shopping districts, Chicago is also the home of the world's largest wholesale store, Merchandise Mart on North Orleans Street. The waterfront North Pier Mall offers a shopping complex in a renovated warehouse. Another interesting shopping district is the Andersonville area on the North Side, whose specialty stores include a feminist bookstore (Women and Children First), an apothecary shop stocked with fragrances and other personal-care products, a store featuring American-made crafts, a Swedish bakery, and a canine deli bakery (Fido's Food Fair).

12. Education

As of 1995, 84 percent of Chicago metropolitan area residents had completed high school; 31 percent of males and 26 percent of females had completed a bachelor's degree.

The Chicago Public Schools District, the state's largest, operated 567 schools in the fall of 1996 when it enrolled 408,201 students. Close to 90 percent were minority students, mostly black (54 percent) and Hispanic (32 percent). The system employed 23,433 teachers, with a pupil/teacher ratio of 20 to one; support staff totaled 27,827. The school district has won national attention for its Stephen Decatur Classical School, an elementary school for gifted students, and also operates the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, which is located on a farm within the city boundaries. Chicago also has over 200 parochial schools and more than 100 secular private schools.

The University of Chicago, founded in 1891 and endowed by John D. Rockefeller, has a national reputation for excellence, in both the sciences and the humanities. Its research facilities include the Enrico Fermi Institute and the Argonne National Laboratory. The University of Illinois at Chicago offers bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and professional degrees to some 25,000 students. Chicago is also home to three Catholic universities: DePaul, Loyola, and Saint Xavier. The city has a variety of other institutions of higher learning, including Chicago City-Wide Colleges, Roosevelt University, the Illinois Institute of Technology, the Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine, Vandercook College of Music, and the prestigious Art Institute of Chicago.

13. Health Care

Chicago—the site of prime-time television's most famous medical drama of the 1990s, ER— is also a top health-care center in real life. The city has a total of more than 60 hospitals. Its University of Chicago Hospitals are renowned both for their treatment and research facilities. Among these facilities are Wyler Children's Hospital, Chicago Lying-in Hospital, and Bernard Mitchell Hospital. In 1998 the hospital system logged 23,470 admissions and 428,396 outpatient visits and employed 1,593 people. Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center is affiliated with Rush Medical College and Rush School Nursing. The Chicago area's major public health facility is Cook County Hospital. Other hospitals include Chicago Memorial Hospital, Edgewater Hospital, Grant Hospital, Holy Cross Hospital, John F. Kennedy Medical Center, Roseland Community Hospital, South Chicago Community hospital, and Weiss Memorial Hospital.

14. Media

Chicago has two major daily newspapers, both published in the morning—the Chicago Tribune (daily circulation 584,097, Sundays 1,019,458) and the Chicago Sun-Times (daily circulation 332,047, Sundays 411,334). The Chicago Daily Defender is a well-known daily newspaper serving the black community, and there are many more newspapers published for the city's various racial and ethnic populations. Crain's Chicago Business is produced by the Crain media chain; The Reader is an alternative weekly that circulates primarily on the North Side, and Streetwise is published for the benefit of Chicago's homeless. Chicago Monthly magazine contains feature articles and dining and entertainment information, and the bimonthly Chicago Life also covers the metropolitan area.

In addition to local publications, Chicago—as one of the country's major publishing centers—is the source of hundreds of nationally distributed newspapers and magazines, including Ebony, American Libraries, and Jet, as well as a number of scholarly journals published at the University of Chicago.

All the major television networks have affiliated stations in Chicago, which has a total of about 20 commercial, public television, and cable stations, as well as some 60 am and FM radio stations. A major regional broadcast center, Chicago is also home to the Oprah Winfrey show and to Winfrey's production company, Harpo Productions.

15. Sports

Chicago's long history as an avid sports town had its nadir in baseball's infamous "Black Sox" scandal of 1919, when members of the White Sox baseball team were bribed to lose the World Series championship, and its crowning glory in the 1990s, when superstar Michael Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to six National Basketball Association (NBA) championships in eight years under the stewardship of coach Phil Jackson. Chicago is also home to two major-league baseball teams—the National League's Chicago Cubs, who play at Wrigley Field, and the American League's White Sox, whose home games take place at Comiskey Park. The Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) play at Soldier Field, and Chicago is also home to the Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Horse racing takes place at Arlington International Racecourse, Balmoral Park Racetrack, Hawthorne Downs Racetrack, Maywood Park Racetrack, and other venues, and auto racing can be seen at the Santa Fe Speedway.

16. Parks and Recreation

Chicago has 2,954 hectares (7,300 acres) of parkland. Its largest and best-known park is Grant Park, extending along Lake Michigan at the city's eastern edge, and encompassing within its boundaries Soldier Field, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Field Museum of Natural History. The second-largest park is the 242-hectare (598-acre) lakefront Burnham Park. Of Chicago's inland parks, the largest is Washington Park. Lincoln Park, on the North Side, extends from Lake Michigan to Clark Street.

In addition to parks located within city limits, Chicagoans also enjoy the Cook County Forest Preserves that ring the city, offering open space, as well as 13 golf courses and driving ranges, swimming pools, bicycle paths, picnic areas, and over 30 fishing lakes and ponds.

The Shedd Aquarium's 170,000-square-foot Oceanarium is the world's largest indoor marine mammal exhibit. One of the last free zoos in the United States, the privately managed Lincoln Park Zoo houses over 1,000 animals and receives support from the Chicago Park District.

Chicago has over 24 kilometers (15 miles) of swimming beaches and 29 kilometers (18 miles) of lakefront bicycle paths. Other popular participant sports include canoeing, fishing, golf, tennis, cross-country skiing, ice skating, and toboganning.

17. Performing Arts

Chicago is renowned for its theater tradition. Stage performances draw around three million attendees annually. Among the two best-known theatrical organizations in the city are the Goodman Theater, its oldest resident troupe; Steppenwolf Theater Company, associated with playwright David Mamet; and the famed improvisational group Second City, training ground for many talented comic performers who have since gone on to achieve nationwide success in film and television. Other theater groups include the Court Theatre, the Pegasus Players, Victory Gardens, and Wisdom Bridge. Touring performances of Broadway productions can be seen at the Schubert Theatre.

The Chicago Symphony, one of the best in the nation, performs from fall through spring at Orchestra Hall on Michigan Avenue and at the Ravinia Festival on the North Shore in the summer months. Chicago has two opera companies, Lyric Opera of Chicago, which performs operas in their original languages with supertitles displayed above the stage, and Chicago Opera Theater, which performs in English. Chicago's resident ballet troupe is Ballet Chicago, founded in 1988. Hubbard Street Dance Chicago stages contemporary dance performances.

Known as "the Blues Capital of the World," Chicago has been a prime venue for blues clubs and performers since the 1930s, and this tradition is vibrantly renewed every spring at the lakefront Chicago Blues Festival, which draws crowds of as many as 400,000 during its three days.

18. Libraries and Museums

Founded in 1872, the Chicago Public Library serves over two-and-a-half million people, with an annual circulation of 8,305,158. Its book holdings total nearly six-and-a-half million volumes while its non-book holdings comprise some four-and-a-half million items. The library operates the central Harold Washington Library Center, 77 neighborhood branches, and two regional libraries. Special collections include the Chicago Theater Collection, the Chicago Blues Archives, an early American newspaper collection, and many others. Besides its public library, Chicago is also home to a number of university and government libraries, as well as private libraries run by historical and cultural societies, private corporations, medical facilities, and other groups. The main library of the University of Chicago, serving some 10,000 students and over 1,000 faculty members, maintains a collection of over six million books, more than 20,000 compact disks, and other materials. The university's libraries house special collections in modern poetry, anatomical illustration, English Bibles, and numerous other areas. The university's Newberry Library also houses a well-known research collection.

The Art Institute of Chicago is one of the country's premier art museums. It houses more than 300,000 artworks, cared for by ten curatorial departments. It has one of the world's great collections of Impressionist art, as well as outstanding collections of twentieth-century art and Japanese woodblock prints. Its print and drawing collections is also one of the nation's finest. With a collection of over 16 million items, the Field Museum of Natural History ranks as one of the world's great natural history museums. Chicago has over 40 other museums of all kinds, including the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Contemporary Photography; Chicago Academy of Sciences, featuring lively inter-active exhibits; the hands-on Chicago Children's Museum; the Chicago Historical Society museum; the International Museum of Surgical Sciences; the May Weber Museum of Cultural Arts, which displays folk art from many countries; the Museum of Broadcast Communications; and the Museum of Science and Industry. Among the city's many museums dedicated to the heritage of specific racial and ethnic groups are the Du Sable Museum of African American History, the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, the Spertus Museum of Judaica, the Swedish American Museum Center, and the Ukrainian National Museum.

19. Tourism

Chicago is a popular tourist destination for both domestic and overseas visitors. In 1995 approximately two-and-a-half million foreign travelers visited the city, ranking it ninth nationally in this category. In August 1999, the city expected to attract $192.7 million in convention business.

20. Holidays and Festivals

January
Chicago Boat, Sports, and RV Show

February
Chicago Auto Show
Chinese New Year Parade
Navy Pier County Fair
Winter Break
3 on 3 Basketball Tournament
Azalea and Camellia Show

March
Chicago Flower and Garden Show
Maple Syrup Festival
St. Patrick's Day Celebration & Fireworks
South Side Irish St. Patrick's Day Parade

April
Chicago Latino Festival

May
Wright Plus House Walk
Printer's Row Book Fair

June
Chicago Blues Festival
Chicago Country Music Festival
Chicago Gospel Festival
57th Street Air Fair
Boulevard-Lakefront Bicycle Tour
Andersonville Midsommarfest

Mid-June to mid-August
Grant Park Music Festival

Late June-early July
Taste of Chicago

July
Fiesta de Hemingway
Venetian Night
Lakefront fireworks (July 3)
Chicago to Mackinac Island Boat Race
World's Largest Block Party
Newberry Library Book Fair

August
Chicago Air & Water Show
Latin Music Festival
Chicago Triathlon

Late August-September
Chicago Jazz Festival

October
Berghoff Oktoberfest
Chicago International Film Festival
LaSalle Banks Chicago Marathon

November
Ski Snowmobile & Winter Sports Show
Magnificent Mile Lights Festival

December
Chicago Park District Winter Festival Flower Show

21. Famous Citizens

Famous citizens who were born in Chicago include:

Mayor Richard J. Daley (1902–1976).

Hillary Rodham Clinton (b. 1947), First Lady of the United States.

Jesse Jackson (b. 1941), African-American civil rights leader.

Walter Elias (Walt) Disney (1901–1966), animator and filmmaker.

Jack Benny (1894–1974), comedian.

Saul Bellow, Nobel Prize-winning author.

John Dos Passos (1896–1970), author.

Jane Addams (1860–1935), founder of Hull House.

Benny Goodman (1909–1986), clarinetist.

David Mamet (b. 1947), playwright.

Michael Jordan (b. 1963), basketball superstar.

22. For Further Study

Websites

Chicago City Net. [Online] Available http://www.city.net/countries/united_states/illinois/chicago. (accessed October 11, 1999).

Chicago City Page. [Online] Available http://www.chicago.thelinks.com (accessed October 11, 1999).

Chicago Home Page. [Online] Available http://www.city-life.com/chicago. (accessed October 11, 1999).

City Insights Chicago. [Online] Available http://www.cityinsights.com/chicago.htm. (accessed October 11, 1999).

Government Offices

Chicago City Hall
121 N. La Salle St.
Chicago, IL 60602
(312) 744-0000

Chicago Office of Tourism
78 E. Washington St.
Chicago, IL 60602
(312) 744-2359

Mayor's Office
121 N. La Salle St. Rm. 507
Chicago, IL 60602
(312) 744-3300

Tourist and Convention Bureaus

Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau
2301 S. Lake Shore Dr.
Chicago, IL 60616
(312) 567-8500

Publications

Chicago Magazine
500 N. Dearborn Ave. Suite 1200
Chicago, IL 60610

Chicago Sun-Times
401 N. Wabash Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611

Chicago Tribune
435 N. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611

Crain's Chicago Business
740 N. Rush St.
Chicago, IL 60611

Books

Abrams, Isabel S. The Nature of Chicago: A Comprehensive Guide to Natural Sites In and Around the City. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 1997.

Addams, Jane. Twenty Years at Hull-House. New York: Macmillan, 1910.

Bellow, Saul. Humboldt's Gift. New York: Viking, 1975. [Fiction]

Crimi, Carolyn. Kidding Around Chicago: What to Do, Where to Go, and How to Have Fun in Chicago. Santa Fe, N.M.: John Muir Publications, 1998

Dale, Alzina Stone. Mystery Reader's Walking Guide, Chicago. Lincolnwood, Ill.: Passport Books, 1995.

Farber, David. Chicago '68. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988.

Figliulo, Susan. Romantic Days and Nights in Chicago: Romantic Diversions in and Around the City. 2nd ed. Old Saybrook, Conn.: Globe Pequot Press, 1999.

Granger, Bill, and Lori Granger. Fighting Jane: Mayor Jane Byrne and the Chicago Machine. New York: Dial Press, 1980.

Hayner, Don, and Tom McNamee. Metro Chicago Almanac. Chicago: Chicago Sun-Times, 1991.

Hayner, Don, and Tom McNamee. Streetwise Chicago, A History of Chicago Street Names. Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1988.

Liebling, A. J. Chicago: The Second City. Drawings by Steinberg. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1952.

Miller, Ross. American Apocolypse: The Great Fire and the Myth of Chicago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.

Rowe, Mike. Chicago Blues: The City and the Music. New York: Da Capo Press, 1975.

Royko, Mike. Boss: Richard J. Daley and His Era. Chicago: Dutton, 1971.

Saliga, Pauline A., ed. The Sky's the Limit: A Century of Chicago Skyscrapers. New York: Rizzoli, 1990.

Sandburg, Carl. Chicago Poems. New York: Holt, 1916.

Terkel, Studs. Division Street: America. New York: Pantheon, 1967.

Uhl, Michael. Frommer's Memorable Walks in Chicago. New York: Macmillan USA, 1998.

Videorecordings

Chicago: One Magnificent City. San Ramon, CA: International Video Network, 1991.