90-478: Cermak Road , also known as 22nd Street , is a 19-mile, major east–west street on Chicago 's near south and west sides and the city's western suburbs. In Chicago's street numbering system, Cermak is 2200 south, or twenty-two blocks south of the baseline of Madison Street . Normally, one mile comprises eight Chicago blocks, but the arterial streets Roosevelt Road , formerly named Twelfth Street and at 1200 South, and Cermak Road (Twenty-Second Street) were platted before
180-403: A Democrat, was elected in 1955, in the era of machine politics . In 1956, the city conducted its last major expansion when it annexed the land under O'Hare airport, including a small portion of DuPage County. By the 1960s, white residents in several neighborhoods left the city for the suburban areas – in many American cities, a process known as white flight – as Blacks continued to move beyond
270-653: A digital repository made available by Chicago Collections archives, libraries and other cultural institutions in the city. In September 2022, the Chicago Plan Commission approved a plan to renovate a vacant Armour Square warehouse building into 47 solar-powered apartments. The Chicago Housing Authority operates a 392-unit residential building for seniors age 62 and up in Armour Square on Wentworth Avenue. In 1900, Charles Comiskey moved his St. Paul Saints to Chicago, where they became
360-494: A final resting place for deceased outdoor show workers called the Showman's Rest. A connected crematorium, columbarium and mausoleum occupy a narrow strip on the west side of Des Plaines Avenue. Just west of the mortuary, Forest Preserve District of Cook County (FPDCC) picnic groves lie on both sides of the road. The Des Plaines River flows southward beneath a concrete bridge. The First Avenue cutoff allows westerly traffic to avoid
450-495: A heart attack soon after. Washington was succeeded by 6th ward alderperson Eugene Sawyer , who was elected by the Chicago City Council and served until a special election. Richard M. Daley , son of Richard J. Daley, was elected in 1989. His accomplishments included improvements to parks and creating incentives for sustainable development , as well as closing Meigs Field in the middle of the night and destroying
540-826: A large Czech population during the first half of the 20th century. Chet Gunderson of Rocket Pro Wrestling is the Mayor of Cermak Road. A trip from east to west along Cermak Road traces a historical timeline of the Chicago area, from Yankee industrialists' masonry mansions in the Prairie District on the lakeshore, to mammoth printing presses and manufactories banking the Chicago River and Sanitary Canal, past immigrants' crowded brick housing, schools and churches, along boulevards of temporary middle class success and massive plants that produced twentieth century equipment for
630-610: A model for the new field of social work . During the 1870s and 1880s, Chicago attained national stature as the leader in the movement to improve public health. City laws and later, state laws that upgraded standards for the medical profession and fought urban epidemics of cholera , smallpox , and yellow fever were both passed and enforced. These laws became templates for public health reform in other cities and states. The city established many large, well-landscaped municipal parks , which also included public sanitation facilities. The chief advocate for improving public health in Chicago
720-479: A new grade with the use of jackscrews for raising buildings. While elevating Chicago, and at first improving the city's health, the untreated sewage and industrial waste now flowed into the Chicago River , and subsequently into Lake Michigan , polluting the city's primary freshwater source. The city responded by tunneling two miles (3.2 km) out into Lake Michigan to newly built water cribs . In 1900,
810-662: A non-profit entity, the Chicago Community Development Corporation. Cermak Road, a newer axis of Chinatown , obliquely crosses the west-southwest angular artery Archer Avenue , dips to pass through a long chute underneath a viaduct beneath the Midway Airport Orange Line and another rail line just east of Canal Street and enters into a Chicago landmark area designated the Cermak Bridge District, part of
900-571: A pair of southward offset bends between Kostner and Kilbourn Avenues, placing the tracks only a half block north of Cermak. The Pink Line, formerly the Douglas branch of the Blue Line, heads west from there to its last stop, the 54th/Cermak terminal in Cicero, Illinois. From the railroad to the southeast corner of Cermak and Cicero Avenue (Illinois Route 50) was the site, from 1905 until 1983, of
990-548: A parallel parking lane, wide sidewalk and abutting storefront buildings on either side. At the southwest corner of Oak Park Avenue (6800 West) is the restored American State Bank building, built in 1925 and now home to the Big Hurt Brewhouse restaurant. At the southeast corner of Harlem Avenue (Illinois Route 43), is the Cermak Plaza, an early shopping center which opened in 1956. The noted Spindle sculpture ,
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#17327901964751080-496: A public school at 55 W. Cermak, was subsequently built on the site. Cermak Road now cuts through the north end of the community area Armour Square , heads west under Metra and CTA's Red Line, meets four exit lanes and two entrance lanes of the Dan Ryan and Adlai Stevenson Expressway Expressways, and then intersects with Chinatown's main commercial strip, Wentworth Avenue. The historic On Leong Merchants Association Building and
1170-697: A railroad viaduct near Trumbull. The Metra Burlington Northern rail line serves as the north boundary of the Little Village neighborhood as it heads southwest to its terminus in Aurora, Illinois. West of the rail line and up to Ogden Avenue, the border between North and South Lawndale is Cermak Road. The street widens in North Lawndale and is banked by more residential structures, mainly brick two and three flats and corner storefronts in multi-unit buildings. Nearly two blocks south at 2348 S. Millard Avenue
1260-515: A tall spike impaling eight cars, decorated the parking lot until its May 2, 2008 dismantlement. West of Harlem Avenue, Cermak Road is the boundary between Forest Park, IL to the north and North Riverside, IL to the south, location of the North Riverside Park Mall . Woodlawn Memorial Park, one of Forest Park's many cemeteries, occupies the road's northern edge up to Des Plaines Avenue. The Showmen's League of America maintains
1350-577: Is Anton Cermak's home at the time of his death, registered as a historic place in 2011. After crossing Ogden Avenue and Pulaski Road and entering the neighborhood nicknamed K-Town , the westbound and eastbound lanes are divided by a grassy parkway median, causing Cermak to resemble a boulevard before meeting Chicago's western city limits at the Belt Railway viaduct at 4600 West. The CTA Pink Line, having descended from an elevated structure over Keeler Avenue to street level at Kildare Avenue, then makes
1440-563: Is an official landmark. On the northwest corner of Calumet Avenue is another landmark, the American Book Company Building built in 1912 at 320–330 E. Cermak. At the southeast corner of Michigan Avenue once sat Prohibition-era mobster Al Capone 's headquarters from 1928 until 1932, the Lexington Hotel, which was built in 1892, vacated in 1980, and demolished in 1995. Michigan Avenue to the north and south
1530-508: Is designated the Motor Row District , which commemorates the earliest days of automobile retail showrooms. At the southeast corner of Wabash Avenue is a restored 1930s fast-food pioneer, White Castle #16. The official landmark is located diagonally opposite to a modern working White Castle. The Chicago Transit Authority Green Line, the "alley el" runs above the alley between Wabash and State, with Roosevelt Road and 35th Street being
1620-626: Is known as the Heart of Chicago. At the northwest corner of Oakley is the public Josiah Pickard Elementary School, named for the Superintendent of Chicago Schools from 1864 to 1877. West of Chicago's longest street, Western Avenue (2400 West), is the Little Village neighborhood. The railroad at 2500 West marks the eastern border of community area South Lawndale. Commercial storefronts with apartments above continue to line both sides of
1710-407: Is known to botanists as Allium tricoccum and known more commonly as "ramps". The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as " Checagou " was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir. Henri Joutel , in his journal of 1688, noted that the eponymous wild "garlic" grew profusely in the area. According to his diary of late September 1687: ... when we arrived at
1800-696: Is located in the Armour Square community area centered on and around Cermak and Wentworth Avenues, and is an example of an American Chinatown , or ethnic-Chinese neighborhood. The Chinatown in the Armour Square community area is not to be confused with the West Argyle Street Historic District , sometimes called "New Chinatown", which is on the North Side of Chicago in and around Argyle Street and hosts Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Thai and other Southeast Asian homes and businesses. The Armour Square community area has supported
1890-554: Is routinely ranked among the world's top six busiest airports by passenger traffic , and the region is also the nation's railroad hub. The Chicago area has one of the highest gross domestic products (GDP) of any urban region in the world, generating $ 689 billion in 2018. Chicago's economy is diverse , with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. Chicago is a major destination for tourism , including visitors to its cultural institutions , and Lake Michigan beaches . Chicago's culture has contributed much to
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#17327901964751980-456: Is the historic Fisk Generating Station from Carpenter to Loomis, and from Cermak south to the Chicago river. At the southwest corner of Throop Street (1300W) stands a red brick structure topped with a radio antennae-equipped gothic tower that formerly housed Commonwealth Edison garages and warehouses, then Warshawsky & Sons JC Whitney automobile parts supplier, and most recently subdivided warehouse spaces and indoor futbol (soccer) fields. On
2070-479: The Black Belt . While home loan discriminatory redlining against blacks continued, the real estate industry practiced what became known as blockbusting , completely changing the racial composition of whole neighborhoods. Structural changes in industry, such as globalization and job outsourcing, caused heavy job losses for lower-skilled workers. At its peak during the 1960s, some 250,000 workers were employed in
2160-656: The Calumet River in the industrial far South Side—flow either entirely or partially through the city. Chicago's history and economy are closely tied to its proximity to Lake Michigan. While the Chicago River historically handled much of the region's waterborne cargo, today's huge lake freighters use the city's Lake Calumet Harbor on the South Side. The lake also provides another positive effect: moderating Chicago's climate, making waterfront neighborhoods slightly warmer in winter and cooler in summer. When Chicago
2250-562: The Chicago School , the development of the City Beautiful movement , and the steel-framed skyscraper . Chicago is an international hub for finance, culture , commerce, industry, education, technology, telecommunications, and transportation . It has the largest and most diverse finance derivatives market in the world, generating 20% of all volume in commodities and financial futures alone. O'Hare International Airport
2340-530: The Democratic Party in the past two presidential elections. In the 2016 presidential election , Armour Square cast 2,892 votes for Hillary Clinton and cast 761 votes for Donald Trump (76.67% to 20.17%). In the 2012 presidential election , Armour Square cast 2,581 votes for Barack Obama and cast 575 votes for Mitt Romney (81.01% to 18.05%). Armour Square is served by the Dan Ryan branch of
2430-599: The Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad. Manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy . The Chicago Board of Trade (established 1848) listed the first-ever standardized "exchange-traded" forward contracts, which were called futures contracts . In
2520-542: The Jefferson Township , which now makes up most of Chicago's Northwest Side . The desire to join the city was driven by municipal services that the city could provide its residents. Chicago's flourishing economy attracted huge numbers of new immigrants from Europe and migrants from the Eastern United States . Of the total population in 1900, more than 77% were either foreign-born or born in
2610-681: The Lower West Side . The road traverses a Scherzer rolling lift type bridge over the south branch of the Chicago River , past old factories, a cement plant and the Carpenter Training Center, and then under the Dan Ryan Expressway (Interstates 90 and 94) to Halsted Street into the Pilsen neighborhood, named for a city in the present-day Czech Republic. A quarter-mile west of Halsted Street (800 West)
2700-511: The Miami , Sauk and Meskwaki peoples in this region. The first known permanent settler in Chicago was trader Jean Baptiste Point du Sable . Du Sable was of African descent, perhaps born in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (Haiti), and established the settlement in the 1780s. He is commonly known as the "Founder of Chicago." In 1795, following the victory of the new United States in
2790-606: The Midwestern United States . With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 census , it is the third-most populous city in the United States after New York City and Los Angeles . As the seat of Cook County , the second-most populous county in the U.S., Chicago is the center of the Chicago metropolitan area , often colloquially called "Chicagoland" and home to 9.6 million residents. Located on
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2880-592: The New Negro Movement , in art, literature, and music. Continuing racial tensions and violence, such as the Chicago race riot of 1919 , also occurred. The ratification of the 18th amendment to the Constitution in 1919 made the production and sale (including exportation) of alcoholic beverages illegal in the United States. This ushered in the beginning of what is known as the gangster era, a time that roughly spans from 1919 until 1933 when Prohibition
2970-836: The Northwest Indian War , an area that was to be part of Chicago was turned over to the U.S. for a military post by native tribes in accordance with the Treaty of Greenville . In 1803, the U.S. Army constructed Fort Dearborn , which was destroyed during the War of 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn by the Potawatomi before being later rebuilt. After the War of 1812, the Ottawa , Ojibwe , and Potawatomi tribes ceded additional land to
3060-469: The University of Chicago , Northwestern University , and the University of Illinois Chicago , among other institutions of learning . Professional sports in Chicago include all major professional leagues , including two Major League Baseball teams. The name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the indigenous Miami–Illinois word shikaakwa for a wild relative of the onion ; it
3150-698: The Washington and Jackson Parks. During World War I and the 1920s there was a major expansion in industry. The availability of jobs attracted African Americans from the Southern United States . Between 1910 and 1930, the African American population of Chicago increased dramatically, from 44,103 to 233,903. This Great Migration had an immense cultural impact, called the Chicago Black Renaissance , part of
3240-494: The 1800s, Chicago became the nation's railroad hub, and by 1910 over 20 railroads operated passenger service out of six different downtown terminals. In 1883, Chicago's railway managers needed a general time convention, so they developed the standardized system of North American time zones . This system for telling time spread throughout the continent. In 1893, Chicago hosted the World's Columbian Exposition on former marshland at
3330-477: The 1850s, Chicago gained national political prominence as the home of Senator Stephen Douglas , the champion of the Kansas–Nebraska Act and the "popular sovereignty" approach to the issue of the spread of slavery. These issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln , to the national stage. Lincoln was nominated in Chicago for U.S. president at the 1860 Republican National Convention , which
3420-705: The 57th mayor of Chicago. Chicago is located in northeastern Illinois on the southwestern shores of freshwater Lake Michigan. It is the principal city in the Chicago Metropolitan Area , situated in both the Midwestern United States and the Great Lakes region . The city rests on a continental divide at the site of the Chicago Portage, connecting the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes watersheds . In addition to it lying beside Lake Michigan, two rivers—the Chicago River in downtown and
3510-500: The Chicago Central & Pacific R.R. diagonal grade crossing and turn right to head north on First Avenue ( Illinois Route 171 ). FPDCC Miller Meadow lies north of the cutoff and extends one mile to Roosevelt Road. Checkerboard Airfield, a U.S Air Mail facility, was located here from 1919 to 1927. Hobbyists can now fly radio controlled models from a designated landing field. The Riverside Golf Club, established in 1893, straddles
3600-455: The Chicago River were devastated; by 1933 over 50% of industrial jobs in the city had been lost, and unemployment rates amongst blacks and Mexicans in the city were over 40%. The Republican political machine in Chicago was utterly destroyed by the economic crisis, and every mayor since 1931 has been a Democrat . From 1928 to 1933, the city witnessed a tax revolt, and the city was unable to meet payroll or provide relief efforts. The fiscal crisis
3690-535: The Mississippi River. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed an area about 4 miles (6.4 km) long and 1-mile (1.6 km) wide, a large section of the city at the time. Much of the city, including railroads and stockyards , survived intact, and from the ruins of the previous wooden structures arose more modern constructions of steel and stone. These set a precedent for worldwide construction. During its rebuilding period, Chicago constructed
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3780-578: The South arrived in the city to work in the steel mills, railroads, and shipping yards. On December 2, 1942, physicist Enrico Fermi conducted the world's first controlled nuclear reaction at the University of Chicago as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project . This led to the creation of the atomic bomb by the United States, which it used in World War II in 1945. Mayor Richard J. Daley ,
3870-624: The United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis . The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the 1833 Treaty of Chicago and sent west of the Mississippi River as part of the federal policy of Indian removal . On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 6,000 people. On June 15, 1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as Receiver of Public Monies. The City of Chicago
3960-787: The United States of foreign parentage. Germans , Irish , Poles , Swedes , and Czechs made up nearly two-thirds of the foreign-born population (by 1900, whites were 98.1% of the city's population). Labor conflicts followed the industrial boom and the rapid expansion of the labor pool, including the Haymarket affair on May 4, 1886, and in 1894 the Pullman Strike . Anarchist and socialist groups played prominent roles in creating very large and highly organized labor actions. Concern for social problems among Chicago's immigrant poor led Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr to found Hull House in 1889. Programs that were developed there became
4050-552: The Western Electric Company's famous Hawthorne Works, which at one time employed 45,000 workers. Notorious criminal Al Capone's 1924 Cicero headquarters were located at the Hawthorne Inn, 4833 W. 22nd Street. Cermak Road expands west of Cicero Avenue and provides parking lanes on either side as it passes the three miles through the towns of Cicero and Berwyn , to Harlem Avenue and then on to suburbs to
4140-419: The busy street. On the corner of Whipple (3030 West) is Our Lady of Tepeyac Catholic Church, which was built in 1919 as St. Casimir Catholic Church, a Polish immigrant parish. At the corner of Cermak Road and Marshall Boulevard is the famous Apollo 2000 Theater. Commonwealth Edison Troy Street Substation sits along the alley to the north and its namesake street. Cermak Road doglegs to the north as it passes under
4230-565: The city include the central business district, called the Loop , and the North, South , and West Sides . The three sides of the city are represented on the Flag of Chicago by three horizontal white stripes. The North Side is the most-densely-populated residential section of the city, and many high-rises are located on this side of the city along the lakefront. The South Side is the largest section of
4320-545: The city was affected by a series of tenant rent strikes , which lead to the formation of the Chicago Tenants Protective association, passage of the Kessenger tenant laws, and of a heat ordinance that legally required flats to be kept above 68 °F during winter months by landlords. Chicago was the first American city to have a homosexual-rights organization. The organization, formed in 1924,
4410-415: The city's first African American woman mayor and its first openly LGBTQ mayor, was elected to succeed Emanuel as mayor in 2019. All three city-wide elective offices were held by women (and women of color) for the first time in Chicago history: in addition to Lightfoot, the city clerk was Anna Valencia and the city treasurer was Melissa Conyears-Ervin . On May 15, 2023, Brandon Johnson assumed office as
4500-424: The city's first female mayor, was elected. She was notable for temporarily moving into the crime-ridden Cabrini-Green housing project and for leading Chicago's school system out of a financial crisis. In 1983, Harold Washington became the first black mayor of Chicago. Washington's first term in office directed attention to poor and previously neglected minority neighborhoods. He was re‑elected in 1987 but died of
4590-538: The city, encompassing roughly 60% of the city's land area. The South Side contains most of the facilities of the Port of Chicago . Armour Square Armour Square is a Chicago neighborhood on the city's South Side , as well as a larger, officially defined community area , which also includes Chinatown and the CHA Wentworth Gardens housing project. Armour Square is bordered by Bridgeport to
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#17327901964754680-527: The convention hall, with anti-war protesters, journalists and bystanders being beaten by police. Major construction projects, including the Sears Tower (now known as the Willis Tower , which in 1974 became the world's tallest building ), University of Illinois at Chicago , McCormick Place , and O'Hare International Airport , were undertaken during Richard J. Daley's tenure. In 1979, Jane Byrne ,
4770-483: The district and forcing a shutdown of electrical power. The area was shut down for three days and some buildings did not reopen for weeks; losses were estimated at $ 1.95 billion. On February 23, 2011, Rahm Emanuel , a former White House Chief of Staff and member of the House of Representatives , won the mayoral election. Emanuel was sworn in as mayor on May 16, 2011, and won re-election in 2015. Lori Lightfoot ,
4860-432: The east. Armour Square has historically been a predominantly white , working-class neighborhood with a particularly significant population of both Italian-Americans and Croatian-Americans . With its location being immediately south of Chinatown, today the neighborhood also has a large Asian population as well. A 2014 survey found that 46.6% of the neighborhood speaks Chinese at home. The 3406 census tract in
4950-446: The eight-blocks-per-mile plan was implemented. Roosevelt Road is one mile south of Madison Avenue and there are twelve blocks within that mile. Cermak Road is two miles south of Madison Avenue and there are ten blocks within the mile between Roosevelt and Cermak Roads. The street was named after Democratic politician Anton Cermak , Mayor of Chicago from 1931 until 1933. Cermak was shot and killed on February 15, 1933, by an assassin who
5040-539: The fair was technological innovation over the century since Chicago's founding. During World War II , the city of Chicago alone produced more steel than the United Kingdom every year from 1939 – 1945, and more than Nazi Germany from 1943 – 1945. The Great Migration, which had been on pause due to the Depression, resumed at an even faster pace in the second wave , as hundreds of thousands of blacks from
5130-531: The home of the Sox until 1990, when it was the oldest park in Major League Baseball . The new Comiskey Park, currently known as Guaranteed Rate Field , opened in 1991 across 35th Street from the old ballpark. Comiskey Park was then demolished in 1991 and converted into a parking lot. A plaque embedded in the asphalt marks the spot where home plate was on the original field. Chicago's Chinatown
5220-451: The lowest points are along the lake shore at 578 ft (176.2 m), while the highest point, at 672 ft (205 m), is the morainal ridge of Blue Island in the city's far south side. Lake Shore Drive runs adjacent to a large portion of Chicago's waterfront. Some of the parks along the waterfront include Lincoln Park , Grant Park , Burnham Park , and Jackson Park . There are 24 public beaches across 26 miles (42 km) of
5310-498: The nation, through commercial districts made up of shops and savings banks that boomed in the 1920s. Further west, a river and forests curtained off the farmland that was eventually developed into asphalt-encircled shopping malls or steel-framed, glass-walled corporate towers. Transportation evolved from waterborne lake and river vessels to steam powered railroads reaching across the continent and electrified urban systems connecting neighborhoods and towns to super highways overlaying all of
5400-623: The nearest stations since the Cermak stop was removed in 1978. In 2011, plans were announced to build a new $ 50 million Cermak Station. Hilliard Towers Apartments , former public housing units designed in the mid 1960s by Bertrand Goldberg , are at State Street . On the opposite side, from State to Federal Streets, the Chicago Housing Authority's Harold L. Ickes Homes ' eleven structures provided subsidized housing from 1955 until 2010. The National Teachers Elementary Academy,
5490-453: The ornamental Chinatown Gate are at the southwest corner. At 212 W. Cermak is a fire station, home of ALS Engine 8, BLS Truck 4, BLS Ambulance 85, and Battalion Chief 2. Archer Courts Apartments, 2242 S. Princeton, is a 147 unit subsidized rental building built in 1951 by the CHA and placed into a TIF in the late 1990s. The affordable rent apartment building was rehabilitated and is still owned by
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#17327901964755580-675: The other side of the street, at May Street, is Dvorak Park. Cermak is an industrial corridor up to the Benito Juarez Community Academy where southwest-northeast Blue Island Avenue diagonally crosses Ashland Avenue (1600 West) and Cermak Road. That stretch was of the street was upgraded using environmentally sustainable methods and materials in 2011. The Loomis Avenue (1400W) bridge connects Pilsen to Bridgeport. The Chicago Transit Authority 's elevated Pink Line turns west at Paulina Avenue (1700 West), and runs parallel two blocks north of Cermak for about five miles to
5670-422: The predecessors. Cermak Road's practical eastern end is Martin Luther King Drive at McCormick Place , a huge exposition center that straddles Lake Shore Drive , in the Near South Side, Chicago community area. King Drive curves west and feeds into Cermak with a lane continuing north into one-way Calumet Avenue. The building at 350 E. Cermak, formerly the Lakeside Press and the headquarters of R.R. Donnelly ,
5760-440: The present location of Jackson Park . The Exposition drew 27.5 million visitors, and is considered the most influential world's fair in history. The University of Chicago , formerly at another location, moved to the same South Side location in 1892. The term "midway" for a fair or carnival referred originally to the Midway Plaisance , a strip of park land that still runs through the University of Chicago campus and connects
5850-428: The problem of sewage contamination was largely resolved when the city completed a major engineering feat. It reversed the flow of the Chicago River so that the water flowed away from Lake Michigan rather than into it. This project began with the construction and improvement of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and was completed with the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal that connects to the Illinois River , which flows into
5940-535: The river and occupies the southeast corner of Cermak and First. The road continues on as Cermak until the border of Westchester, Illinois and Oak Brook, Illinois , at which time it is then called 22nd Street. 22nd Street ends at the junction of Illinois Route 56 (also called Butterfield Road) in Oak Brook. Three Smaller, unconnected portions of 22nd Street continue through Lombard , Glen Ellyn , and Wheaton . The final portion of this road ends at Blanchard Street in Wheaton. The segment bordering College of DuPage
6030-522: The runways. After successfully running for re-election five times, and becoming Chicago's longest-serving mayor, Richard M. Daley declined to run for a seventh term. In 1992, a construction accident near the Kinzie Street Bridge produced a breach connecting the Chicago River to a tunnel below, which was part of an abandoned freight tunnel system extending throughout the downtown Loop district. The tunnels filled with 250 million US gallons (1,000,000 m ) of water, affecting buildings throughout
6120-436: The said place called "Chicagou" which, according to what we were able to learn of it, has taken this name because of the quantity of garlic which grows in the forests in this region. The city has had several nicknames throughout its history, such as the Windy City , Chi-Town, Second City, and City of the Big Shoulders. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by the Potawatomi , an indigenous tribe who had succeeded
6210-426: The shore of Lake Michigan , Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837 near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed . It grew rapidly in the mid-19th century. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed several square miles and left more than 100,000 homeless, but Chicago's population continued to grow. Chicago made noted contributions to urban planning and architecture , such as
6300-462: The sidewalks border the street. This commercial district contains restaurants, laundries, taverns, banks, clothing, and groceries. On the east side of Wolcott is the Cristo Rey Jesuit High School which took over the site from St. Stephen's Church, a Slovene parish founded in 1898. Southward on Hoyne (2100 West) is where the twin steeples of St. Paul Roman Catholic Church rise up from the church founded on 22nd Place by German immigrants in 1876. This area
6390-628: The south of Armour Square is 99% black or African American. Armour Square's most recognizable landmarks are the historic Armour Square Park and nearby Guaranteed Rate Field , which sits at the southeast corner of W.35th and Shields Avenue, on the neighborhood's southernmost end. Guaranteed Rate is home to the Major League Baseball franchise, the Chicago White Sox . There are three Catholic parishes in Armour Square: Santa Lucia, St. Therese Catholic Community at 218 W. Alexander St., and St. Jerome Croatian Catholic Church . Historical images of Armour Square can be found in Explore Chicago Collections,
6480-587: The steel industry in Chicago, but the steel crisis of the 1970s and 1980s reduced this number to just 28,000 in 2015. In 1966, Martin Luther King Jr. and Albert Raby led the Chicago Freedom Movement , which culminated in agreements between Mayor Richard J. Daley and the movement leaders. Two years later, the city hosted the tumultuous 1968 Democratic National Convention , which featured physical confrontations both inside and outside
6570-412: The street layout and building styles do not change. The U.S. Postal Service has a large facility at 6625 West Cermak in the 60402 zip code. At Wesley (6700 West), Riverside Drive angles off to the southwest towards the eponymous suburb designed by Frederick Law Olmsted . The road's width decreases here, at the western end of the grass and tree lined median and diagonal parking spaces, to two traffic lanes,
6660-597: The team now known as the Chicago White Sox . They began play at the South Side Park on 39th Street in Armour Square, and have remained in the neighborhood ever since. No other major professional sports franchise has played in the same neighborhood longer than the White Sox. In 1910, Comiskey Park opened just 4 blocks north of South Side Park on a site that was formerly a junkyard. The Park remained
6750-498: The town of Cicero. At the intersection of Cermak and Paulina once stood the main factory of the Chicago Cottage Organ Company . The largest reed organ factory in the world, it produced thousands of pump organs per year in the decades before and after 1900. West of Ashland Avenue (1600 West), Cermak narrows to a lane in each direction. Parking lanes, sidewalks, and multi-unit storefront buildings abutting
6840-562: The unemployed. In the spring of 1937 Republic Steel Works witnessed the Memorial Day massacre of 1937 in the neighborhood of East Side. In 1933, Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak was fatally wounded in Miami, Florida , during a failed assassination attempt on President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt . In 1933 and 1934, the city celebrated its centennial by hosting the Century of Progress International Exposition World's Fair . The theme of
6930-649: The visual arts, literature , film, theater , comedy (especially improvisational comedy ), food , dance, and music (particularly jazz , blues , soul , hip-hop , gospel , and electronic dance music , including house music ). Chicago is home to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric Opera of Chicago , while the Art Institute of Chicago provides an influential visual arts museum and art school . The Chicago area also hosts
7020-664: The waterfront. Landfill extends into portions of the lake providing space for Navy Pier , Northerly Island , the Museum Campus , and large portions of the McCormick Place Convention Center. Most of the city's high-rise commercial and residential buildings are close to the waterfront. An informal name for the entire Chicago metropolitan area is "Chicagoland", which generally means the city and all its suburbs, though different organizations have slightly different definitions. Major sections of
7110-526: The west, Pilsen to the northwest, Douglas and Grand Boulevard to the east and southeast, and with the Near South Side bordering the area to the north, and Fuller Park bordering its southernmost boundary, along Pershing Road. Armour Square is bounded by 18th Street to the north, Pershing Road to the south, the Union Pacific railroad tracks on the west and the Dan Ryan Expressway to
7200-400: The west. At the northwest corner with Laramie Avenue (5200W) is a Commonwealth Edison Substation building and yard which also houses Chicago Transit Authority electrical equipment. The Olympic Theater, built in 1927, still stands at 6134 W. Cermak Rd. Lombard Avenue (6200 West) is the western boundary. Little differentiates the two municipalities; no landmarks announce the invisible border, and
7290-539: The world's first skyscraper in 1885, using steel-skeleton construction. The city grew significantly in size and population by incorporating many neighboring townships between 1851 and 1920, with the largest annexation happening in 1889, with five townships joining the city, including the Hyde Park Township , which now comprises most of the South Side of Chicago and the far southeast of Chicago, and
7380-431: Was John H. Rauch, M.D. Rauch established a plan for Chicago's park system in 1866. He created Lincoln Park by closing a cemetery filled with shallow graves, and in 1867, in response to an outbreak of cholera he helped establish a new Chicago Board of Health. Ten years later, he became the secretary and then the president of the first Illinois State Board of Health, which carried out most of its activities in Chicago. In
7470-469: Was aiming for President Franklin Roosevelt . Cermak was a Czech immigrant credited with creating a diverse Democratic political coalition that included formerly Republican African Americans. The street was chosen to honor Cermak because it passes through the neighborhoods of Pilsen and Lawndale , both at the time heavily Czech-American . The adjoining suburbs of Cicero and Berwyn were also home to
7560-472: Was called the Society for Human Rights . It produced the first American publication for homosexuals, Friendship and Freedom . Police and political pressure caused the organization to disband. The Great Depression brought unprecedented suffering to Chicago, in no small part due to the city's heavy reliance on heavy industry. Notably, industrial areas on the south side and neighborhoods lining both branches of
7650-462: Was founded in 1837, most of the early building was around the mouth of the Chicago River, as can be seen on a map of the city's original 58 blocks. The overall grade of the city's central, built-up areas is relatively consistent with the natural flatness of its overall natural geography, generally exhibiting only slight differentiation otherwise. The average land elevation is 579 ft (176.5 m) above sea level . While measurements vary somewhat,
7740-578: Was held in a purpose-built auditorium called the Wigwam . He defeated Douglas in the general election, and this set the stage for the American Civil War . To accommodate rapid population growth and demand for better sanitation, the city improved its infrastructure. In February 1856, Chicago's Common Council approved Chesbrough 's plan to build the United States' first comprehensive sewerage system. The project raised much of central Chicago to
7830-533: Was incorporated on Saturday, March 4, 1837, and for several decades was the world's fastest-growing city. As the site of the Chicago Portage , the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicago's first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad , and the Illinois and Michigan Canal opened in 1848. The canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on
7920-435: Was renamed Fawell Boulevard in honor of Harris Fawell . Cermak Road is primarily served by the 21 Cermak between King Drive and North Riverside Park Mall and 322 Cermak/22 Street between 54th/Cermak station and Butterfield Road. The 3 King Drive, 60 Blue Island/26th Owl and 54B South Cicero serve small segments of the road. Chicago Chicago is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in
8010-461: Was repealed. The 1920s saw gangsters , including Al Capone , Dion O'Banion , Bugs Moran and Tony Accardo battle law enforcement and each other on the streets of Chicago during the Prohibition era . Chicago was the location of the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929, when Al Capone sent men to gun down members of a rival gang, North Side, led by Bugs Moran. From 1920 to 1921,
8100-477: Was resolved by 1933, and at the same time, federal relief funding began to flow into Chicago. Chicago was also a hotbed of labor activism, with Unemployed Councils contributing heavily in the early depression to create solidarity for the poor and demand relief; these organizations were created by socialist and communist groups. By 1935 the Workers Alliance of America begun organizing the poor, workers,
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