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170-484: Several of Chicago's most important historical figures have lived on the street. This is especially true of the period of recovery from the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 when many of the most important families in the city moved to the street. Residents of the street have influenced the evolution of the city and have played prominent national and international roles. They have influenced the political history ,

340-525: A city on par with New York and became the birthplace of modern architecture in the United States. Chicago became the center of the nation's advertising industry after New York City. Albert Lasker , known as the "father of modern advertising", made Chicago his base from 1898 to 1942. As head of the Lord and Thomas agency , Lasker devised a copywriting technique that appealed directly to the psychology of

510-465: A committee of the city's architects under the direction of Daniel Burnham . It was called the "White City" for the appearance of its buildings. The Exposition drew 27.5 million visitors; is considered among the most influential world's fairs in history; and affected art, architecture, and design throughout the nation. The classical architectural style contributed to a revival of Beaux Arts architecture that borrowed from historical styles, but Chicago

680-451: A founder of International Harvester , built what has been described as the centerpiece of the historic district. As a home to many of Chicago's leading families, Prairie Avenue became the base of many important political movements. Woman's suffrage had activists, such as Illinois Women Suffrage Association President Jane Jones, on Prairie Avenue. Illinois Central Railroad Co. v. State of Illinois , 146 U.S. 387 (1892), pitted

850-616: A lawsuit against Chicago's appropriation of water from Lake Michigan. By the 1920s the lawsuit was divided between the states of the Mississippi River Valley, who supported the development of deep waterways linking the Great Lakes with the Mississippi, and the Great Lakes states, which feared sinking water levels might harm shipping in the lakes. In 1929 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in support of Chicago's use of

1020-455: A leader in modern architecture and set the model nationwide for achieving vertical city densities. Developers and citizens began immediate reconstruction on the existing Jeffersonian grid. The building boom that followed saved the city's status as the transportation and trade hub of the Midwest. Massive reconstruction using the newest materials and methods catapulted Chicago into its status as

1190-401: A massive sewer system. In the first phase, sewage pipes were laid across the city above ground and used gravity to move the waste. The city was built in a low-lying area subject to flooding. In 1856, the city council decided that the entire city should be elevated four to five feet by using a newly available jacking-up process. In one instance, the five-story Brigg's Hotel, weighing 22,000 tons,

1360-499: A month for luxurious operations in Chicago. Reform elements never accepted the segregated vice districts and wanted them all destroyed, but in large cities, the political machine was powerful enough to keep the reformers at bay. Finally, around 1900 to 1910, the reformers grew politically strong enough to shut down the system of vice segregation, and the survivors went underground. Chicago's manufacturing and retail sectors, fostered by

1530-531: A natural resource." The southwest bridgehouse of the DuSable Bridge (Michigan Avenue) serves as a museum on the river, its history, its challenges, and its renaissance. The McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum is a 5-floor, 1,613-square-foot (149.9 m ) museum that opened on June 10, 2006; it is named for Robert R. McCormick , formerly owner of the Chicago Tribune and president of

1700-824: A number of sites in the Chicago River system. Discharge from the North Branch is measured at Grand Avenue; between 2004 and 2010 this averaged 582 cubic feet (16.5 m ) per second. During the winter months as much as 75% of the flow in the North Branch is due to the discharge of treated sewage from the North Side Water Reclamation Plant into the North Shore Channel. Flow on the main stem is measured at Columbus Drive; between 2000 and 2006 this averaged 136 cubic feet (3.9 m ) per second. The name Chicago derives from

1870-642: A parking garage. The conflict, which was not settled before wreckers had knocked a hole in a corner of the building and which included protests and a petition to the Illinois Supreme Court , was described on the front page of The New York Times . Preservationists, including the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois and the National Trust for Historic Preservation , eventually dropped their appeals once

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2040-466: A result of the Great Famine . Later in the century, the railroads, stockyards, and other heavy industry of the late 19th century attracted a variety of skilled workers from Europe, especially Germans , English , Swedes , Norwegians , and Dutch . A small African-American community formed, led by activist leaders like John Jones and Mary Richardson Jones , who established Chicago as a stop on

2210-449: A robbery at a factory showed the city's criminal justice system was deficient. The CCC initially served as a watchdog of the justice system. After its suggestion that the city's justice system begin collecting criminal records was rejected, the CCC assumed a more active role in fighting crime. The commission's role expanded further after Frank J. Loesch became president in 1928. Loesch recognized

2380-707: A short canoe portage (the Chicago Portage ) connecting the Great Lakes with the Mississippi River system attracted the attention of many French explorers, notably Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette in 1673. The Jesuit Relations indicate that by this time, the Iroquois tribes of New York had driven the Algonquian tribes entirely out of Lower Michigan and as far as this portage, during

2550-487: A strong preference for masonry construction. The Danish immigrant Jens Jensen arrived in 1886 and soon became a successful and celebrated landscape designer. Jensen's work was characterized by a democratic approach to landscaping, which was informed by his interest in social justice and conservation, and a rejection of antidemocratic formalism. Among Jensen's creations were four Chicago city parks, most famously Columbus Park . His work also included garden design for some of

2720-449: A trading post near Wolf Point on the Chicago River in around 1778. In 1823 a government expedition used the name Gary River (phonetic spelling of Guillory ) to refer to the north branch of the Chicago River. Jean Baptiste Point du Sable is widely regarded as the first permanent resident of Chicago; he built a farm on the northern bank at the mouth of the river in the 1780s. The earliest known record of Pointe du Sable living in Chicago

2890-538: Is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of 156 miles (251 km) that runs through the city of Chicago , including its center (the Chicago Loop ). Though not especially long, the river is notable because it is one of the reasons for Chicago's geographic importance: the related Chicago Portage is a link between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River Basin , and ultimately

3060-841: Is best known for his work in the Pullman District of the Pullman community area. Adjacent to the Kimball House and across from the Glessner House is the Coleman-Ames mansion at 1811 South Prairie. These two houses were formerly owned by R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company and now jointly serve as the national headquarters for the United States Soccer Federation (USSF), which leased them from 1991 until 1998 when it purchased them from

3230-579: Is commemorated in Indian Boundary Park .) Fort Dearborn was rebuilt in 1818 and used until 1837. In 1829, the Illinois legislature appointed commissioners to locate a canal and lay out the surrounding town. The commissioners employed James Thompson to survey and plat the town of Chicago, which at the time had a population of less than 100. Historians regard the August 4, 1830, filing of

3400-674: Is crossed by the Dan Ryan Expressway ; these immovable bridges have a clearance of 60 feet (18 m) requiring large ships that pass underneath to have folding masts. At Ashland Avenue the river widens to form the U.S. Turning Basin, the west bank of which was the starting point of the Illinois and Michigan Canal . Prior to 1983, this was where the US Coast Guard Rules of the Road, Great Lakes ended & Rules of

3570-540: Is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Marshall Field lived at 1905 South Prairie and purchased 1919 South Prairie for Marshall Field, Jr. It is believed that Solon Spencer Beman had contributed to the design of what is now known as the Marshall Field, Jr. Mansion. Then, Field hired Daniel Burnham to design extensions and additions to the property after purchasing it 1890. In 2007,

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3740-750: Is purported to be the city's oldest standing house. In addition to the Clarke House and the Glessner House, nine other houses from the late-19th century remain in the historic district portion of Prairie Avenue. Both the Glessner House and the Clarke House are on the National Historic Register and now serve as museums. Most of the Prairie Avenue families worshiped at the Chicago Landmark Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago , which

3910-679: Is sent down the Chicago River, while the rest is used for drinking water. In late 2005, the Chicago-based Alliance for the Great Lakes proposed re-separating the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins to address such ecological concerns as the spread of invasive species . In 1915, the SS Eastland , an excursion steam-liner preparing to leave the dock on the south gangway between the Clark Street Bridge and La Salle Street Bridge, rolled over, killing 844 of

4080-579: Is the diary of Hugh Heward, who made a journey through Illinois in the spring of 1790. Antoine Ouilmette claimed to have arrived in Chicago shortly after this in July 1790. In 1795, in a then minor part of the Treaty of Greenville , an Indian confederation granted treaty rights to the United States, to a parcel of land at the mouth of the "Chicago River". This was followed by the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis and Treaty of Chicago , which ceded additional land in

4250-454: The 1833 Treaty of Chicago and were forced to move west of the Mississippi River by 1838. On July 12, 1834, the Illinois from Sackets Harbor, New York , was the first commercial schooner to enter the harbor, a sign of the Great Lakes trade that would benefit both Chicago and New York state. Chicago was granted a city charter by the State of Illinois on March 4, 1837; it was part of

4420-522: The Burnham Plan as early as 1909. Before reversal, the South Branch generally arose with joining forks in the marshy area called Mud Lake to flow to where it met the North Branch at Wolf Point forming the main branch. Since reversal, the source of the South Branch of the Chicago River is the confluence of the North Branch and main stem at Wolf Point. From here the river flows south passing

4590-661: The Chicago Board of Trade . By 1857, Chicago was the largest city in what was then called the Northwest. In 20 years, Chicago grew from 4,000 people to over 90,000. Chicago surpassed St. Louis and Cincinnati as the major city in the West and gained political notice as the home of Stephen Douglas , the 1860 presidential nominee of the Northern Democrats. The 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago nominated

4760-573: The Chicago Cubs rally and parade for their 2016 World Series Championship celebrations, the river was dyed Cubs blue. Friends of the Chicago River executive director Margaret Frisbie told the Chicago Sun-Times , "We do not want to set a precedent where, every time we want to celebrate, we dye the river a different color and potentially hurt the aquatic life that lives in it. While it may seem festive, it's actually potentially harming

4930-534: The Chicago River in 1788 to 1790 . He left Chicago in 1800. In 1968, Point du Sable was honored at Pioneer Court as the city's founder and featured as a symbol. In 1795, following the Northwest Indian War , some Native Americans ceded the area of Chicago to the United States for a military post in the Treaty of Greenville . The US built Fort Dearborn in 1803 on the Chicago River. It

5100-693: The Commission on Chicago Landmarks announced the rehabilitation of the Marshall Field Jr. Mansion, which had been vacant for 40 years and which was renovated as six private residences, won a Preservation Award. Today, Prairie Avenue has buildings indexed in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey in the Near South Side , Douglas , Grand Boulevard , Washington Park and Chatham community areas . Among

5270-681: The Forest Glen community area with Norwood Park and Jefferson Park . This stretch of the river meanders in a south-easterly direction, passing through golf courses and forest preserves until it reaches Foster Avenue , where it passes through residential neighborhoods on the north side of the Albany Park community area. In River Park the river meets the North Shore Channel , a canal with water pumped from Lake Michigan (at Wilmette ), built between 1907 and 1910 to increase

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5440-478: The Gold Coast and more commonly the suburban North Shore . The Chicago Tribune highlighted 1898 Prairie Avenue as a place that was undesirable to those for whom it was affordable, and unaffordable to those for whom it was desirable. Light industry and vacant lots overtook Prairie Avenue during the second half of the 20th century. The elegant mansions were mostly torn down or fell into extreme disrepair. By

5610-809: The Grand Village of the Illinois , seeking French protection from the Iroquois . In 1696, French Jesuits led by Jean-François Buisson de Saint-Cosme built the Mission of the Guardian Angel to Christianize the local Wea and Miami people. Shortly thereafter, Augustin le Gardeur de Courtemanche visited the settlement on behalf of the French government, seeking peace between the Miami and Iroquois. Miami chief Chichikatalo accompanied de Courtemanche to Montreal . The Algonquian tribes began to retake

5780-643: The Great Chicago Fire by saving property records. At one point in the 1880s, sixteen of the 60 members of the Commercial Club of Chicago lived on Prairie Avenue. George Armour headed the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, which became the Art Institute of Chicago . 1801 South Prairie resident, William Wallace Kimball , employed about 1500 people around the start of the 20th century in his organ and piano manufacturing company. John Glessner,

5950-599: The Gulf of Mexico . The river is also noteworthy for its natural and human-engineered history. In 1887, the Illinois General Assembly decided to reverse the flow of the Chicago River through civil engineering by taking water from Lake Michigan and discharging it into the Mississippi River watershed, partly in response to concerns created by an extreme weather event in 1885 that threatened

6120-542: The Illinois River and the Mississippi Valley across the Chicago Portage . This canal was the farthest west, and the last, of a series of United States' government land grant canals. It provided the only water route from New York City to New Orleans through the country's interior and Chicago. During the last ice age, the area that became Chicago was covered by Lake Chicago , which drained south into

6290-600: The North Avenue Bridge , the North Branch divides, the original course of the river makes a curve along the west side of Goose Island , whilst the North Branch Canal cuts off the bend, forming the island. The North Branch Canal—or Ogden's Canal—was completed in 1857, and was originally 50 feet (15 m) wide and 10 feet (3.0 m) deep allowing craft navigating the river to avoid the bend. The 1902 Cherry Avenue Bridge , just south of North Avenue,

6460-681: The Roosevelt Road side of Grant Park . One Museum Park is the tallest building on Chicago's South Side and among the tallest buildings in Chicago . It surpassed 340 on the Park as the tallest all-residential building in Chicago, and it is second to the Trump World Tower in the United States. History of Chicago Chicago has played a central role in American economic , cultural and political history . Since

6630-655: The Sanitary District of Chicago , then headed by William Boldenweck, completely reversed the flow of the main stem and South Branch of the river using a series of canal locks , increasing the river's flow from Lake Michigan and causing it to empty into the newly completed Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal . In 1999, this system was named a "Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium" by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Before this time,

6800-567: The St. Charles Air Line Bridge . Between Polk and 18th Streets the river originally made a meander to the east; between 1927 and 1929 the river was straightened and moved 1 ⁄ 4 mile (0.40 km) west at this point to make room for a railroad terminal. The river turns to the southwest at Ping Tom Memorial Park where it passes under the Chicago Landmark Canal Street railroad bridge . The river turns westward where it

6970-471: The Underground Railroad . In 1840, Chicago was the 92nd city in the United States by population. Its population grew so rapidly that 20 years later, it was the ninth city. In the pivotal year of 1848, Chicago saw the completion of the Illinois and Michigan Canal , its first steam locomotives, the introduction of steam-powered grain elevators, the arrival of the telegraph, and the founding of

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7140-460: The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign created a three-dimensional, hydrodynamic simulation of the Chicago River, which suggested that density currents are the cause of an observed bi-directional wintertime flow in the river. At the surface, the river flows east to west, away from Lake Michigan, as expected. But deep below, near the riverbed, water seasonally travels west to east, toward

7310-410: The architecture , the culture , the economy , as well as the law and government of Chicago . The street has over time been influenced by the demographics of Chicago . The importance of the street declined, but it still has landmark buildings and is the backbone of a historic district. Preservation battles regarding various properties on the street have been notable with one having been chronicled on

7480-658: The forest preserve district of Cook County, Illinois has designated a section of the East Fork and North Branch from Willow Road in Northfield to Dempster Street in Morton Grove the Ralph Frese River Trail . The North Branch continues southwards through Niles , entering the city of Chicago near the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue and Devon Avenue , from where it serves as the boundary of

7650-609: The 100th anniversary of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago ; between May and October the fountain sends an arc of water over the river for ten minutes every hour. On the north bank of the river, near the Chicago Landmark Michigan Avenue Bridge, is Pioneer Court , which marks the site of the homestead of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable who is recognized as the founder of Chicago. On

7820-454: The 17th century French rendering of shikaakwa or chicagou , the Native American name for ramps ( Allium tricoccum ), a type of edible wild leek , which grew abundantly near the river. The river, and its region, were named after the plant. Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette , though probably not the first Europeans to visit the area, are the first recorded to have visited the Chicago River in 1673, when they wrote of their discovery of

7990-440: The 1800-block including the National Historic landmark designated John J. Glessner House designed in 1886 by architect Henry H. Richardson for Glessner; these provide a sense of the street's former character. Glessner House, which was the subject of a notable preservation battle in the 1960s, is considered to be Richardson's finest urban residence. This district includes the Henry B. Clarke House , which although twice relocated

8160-409: The 1850s Chicago has been one of the dominant metropolises in the Midwestern United States , and has been the largest city in the Midwest since the 1880 census . The area's recorded history begins with the arrival of French explorers, missionaries and fur traders in the late 17th century and their interaction with the local Potawatomi Native Americans. Jean Baptiste Point du Sable , a black freeman,

8330-600: The 1850s, hundreds of saloons had offered gambling opportunities, including off-track betting on the horses. The historian Mark Holler argues that organized crime provided upward mobility to ambitious ethnics. The high-income, high-visibility vice lords, and racketeers built their careers and profits in ghetto neighborhoods and often branched into local politics to protect their domains. For example, in 1868 to 1888, Michael C. McDonald, "The Gambler King of Clark Street," kept numerous Democratic machine politicians in his city on expense account to protect his gambling empire and to keep

8500-400: The 1850s, railroad related industries prospered near the lumber district along the South Branch of the Chicago River . Thus, the business district began to supplant the elegant residences along Michigan and Wabash Avenues south of Jackson Boulevard. Shortly after the Civil War , the city's wealthy residents settled on Prairie Avenue due to its proximity to the Loop less than a mile away and

8670-411: The 1970s, most of the residential buildings had been replaced by factories and parking lots. Starting in the late 1990s, the downtown housing market flourished in Chicago and the resulting boom that has transformed many neighborhoods revived Prairie Avenue, causing most of the factories to be demolished or converted to loft condominiums. The factories have been replaced by condominium projects and most of

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8840-452: The American criminal justice system, with Chicago taking the lead. The city became notorious worldwide for its rate of murders in the early 20th century, yet the courts failed to convict the killers. More than three-fourths of cases were not closed. Even when the police made arrests in cases where killers' identities were known, jurors typically exonerated or acquitted them. A blend of gender-, race-, and class-based notions of justice trumped

9010-402: The Chicago Architectural Foundation. The Kimball house, which has been the product of a $ 1 million renovation in the 1990s by the USSF was featured in Richard Gere 's Primal Fear as well as several television shows. Al Capone and his family lived in the two-story red brick duplex at 7244 South Prairie Avenue from 1923, which is shortly after he moved to Chicago, until 1931, when he

9180-443: The Chicago River has 38 movable bridges spanning it, down from a peak of 52 bridges. These bridges are of several different types, including trunnion bascule , Scherzer rolling lift , swing bridges , and vertical-lift bridges . The Chicago River has been highly affected by industrial and residential development with attendant changes to the quality of the water and riverbanks. Several species of freshwater fish are known to inhabit

9350-423: The Chicago River is dyed green in observance of St. Patrick's Day . The actual event occurs on the Saturday on or before March 17. The tradition of dyeing the river green arose by accident in 1961 when plumbers used fluorescein dye to trace sources of illegal pollution discharges. The dyeing of the river is still sponsored by the local plumbers union. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) disallowed

9520-442: The Chicago River remains a very popular target for freshwater recreational fishing. In 2006, the Chicago Park District started the annual "Mayor Daley's Chicago River Fishing Festival", which has increased in popularity with each year. Between 2013 and 2016, the Chicago Park District opened four boat houses, two on the south branch and two on the north, for river recreation. As part of a more than fifty-year-old Chicago tradition,

9690-456: The Chicago River was known by many local residents of Chicago as "the stinking river" because of the massive amounts of sewage and pollution that poured into the river from Chicago's booming industrial economy. Through the 1980s, the river was quite dirty and often filled with garbage ; however, during the 1990s, it underwent extensive cleaning as part of an effort at beautification by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley . In 2005, researchers at

9860-497: The Chicago Sanitary District. The Robert R. McCormick Foundation was the major donor that helped meet the $ 950,000 cost to open the museum. It is run by the Friends of the Chicago River, a non-profit environmental organization. Visitors are also allowed to access the bridge's gear room; during the spring and fall bridge lifting visitors can see the bridge gears in operation as the leaves are raised and lowered. Due to its small size and tight access stairway only 79 people are allowed inside

10030-404: The Chicago area. In 1803, Fort Dearborn was constructed on the bank opposite what had been Point du Sable's settlement, on the site of the present-day Michigan Avenue Bridge . Lieutenant James Strode Swearingen, who led the troops from Detroit to Chicago to establish the fort, described the river as being about 30 yards (27 m) wide and upwards of 18 feet (5.5 m) deep at the place where

10200-450: The Democratic party machine kept both the city and suburbs under control, especially under mayor Richard J. Daley , who was chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party . Deindustrialization after 1970 closed the stockyards and most of the steel mills and factories, but the city retained its role as a financial and transportation hub . Increasingly it emphasized its service roles in medicine, higher education, and tourism . The city formed

10370-438: The Germans, often murdered in response to economic conditions but not over desperation about the future. Like the Italians, the killers tended to be young, but family honor was not usually at stake. Instead, black men murdered to regain control of wives and lovers who resisted their patriarchal "rights". Progressive reformers in the business community created the Chicago Crime Commission (CCC) in 1919 after an investigation into

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10540-444: The Illinois River. Beyond presenting a solution for Chicago's sewage problem, Cooley's proposal appealed to the economic need to link the Midwest with America's central waterways to compete with East Coast shipping and railroad industries. Strong regional support for the project led the Illinois legislature to circumvent the federal government and complete the canal with state funding. The opening in January 1900 met with controversy and

10710-489: The Illinois Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and convened local and state societies to unite under a national organization ( American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ) that could combine its political strength and lobby Congress. The Illinois Institute of Technology was a successor entity of the Armour Institute of Technology, which was an outgrowth of the generosity of Philip and Joseph Armour . Historic preservation in Chicago has saved some of

10880-458: The Irish and ethnic groups who had been longer in the city began to move to outer areas and the suburbs. After World War II, the city built public housing for working-class families to upgrade residential quality. The high-rise design of such public housing proved a problem when industrial jobs left the city and poor families became concentrated in the facilities. After 1950, public housing high rises anchored poor black neighborhoods south and west of

11050-487: The Lake Street, Randolph Street, Washington Street, Madison Street, Monroe Street, Adams Street, Jackson Boulevard, Van Buren Street, Ida B. Wells Drive, and Harrison Street bridges before leaving the downtown Loop community area. Notable buildings that line this stretch of the river include the Boeing Company World Headquarters, the Civic Opera House , the Chicago Mercantile Exchange , Union Station and Willis Tower . The river continues southwards past railroad yards and

11220-464: The Loop . "Old stock" Americans who relocated to Chicago after 1900 preferred the outlying areas and suburbs, with their commutes eased by train lines, making Oak Park and Evanston enclaves of the upper middle class. In the 1910s, high-rise luxury apartments were constructed along the lakefront north of the Loop, continuing into the 21st century. They attracted wealthy residents but few families with children, as wealthier families moved to suburbs for

11390-424: The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority committed to incorporating the original facade of the building into the exterior of the parking garage at an additional cost of $ 2.5 million to the project. The Harriet F. Rees House at 2110 South Prairie was spared demolition in 2014 and moved one block north to 2017 South Prairie. A book on the history of the street, entitled Chicago's Historic Prairie Avenue ,

11560-480: The Mississippi Valley. As the ice and water retreated, a short 12-to-14-foot (3.7 to 4.3 m) ridge was exposed about a mile inland, which generally separated the Great Lakes' watershed from the Mississippi Valley, except in times of heavy precipitation or when winter ice flows prevented drainage. By the time Europeans arrived, the Chicago River flowed sluggishly into Lake Michigan from Chicago's flat plain. As Chicago grew, this allowed sewage and other pollution into

11730-412: The Municipal Flag of Chicago by two horizontal blue stripes. Its three branches serve as the inspiration for the Municipal Device , a three-branched, Y-shaped symbol that is found on many buildings and other structures throughout Chicago. When it followed its natural course, the North and South Branches of the Chicago River converged at Wolf Point to form the main stem, which jogged southward from

11900-541: The Near South Side. In 2003, the area redevelopment was well underway. Deindustrialization and urbanization had pushed out manufacturing . As a result, factories were generally demolished, or converted to loft apartment buildings. Some neglected mansions survive as restored or renovated properties in the historic district. Today, Prairie Avenue is undergoing a redevelopment that includes One Museum Park (1215 South Prairie Avenue) and One Museum Park West (1201 South Prairie Avenue). These Prairie Avenue addresses border

12070-436: The North Branch is lined with a mixture of residential developments, retail parks, and industry until it reaches the industrial area known as the Clybourn Corridor. Here it passes beneath the Cortland Street Drawbridge , which was the first 'Chicago-style' fixed-trunnion bascule bridge built in the United States, and is designated as an ASCE Civil Engineering Landmark and a Chicago Landmark . At North Avenue , south of

12240-494: The North Branch of the Chicago River the Guarie River, or Gary's River, after a trader who may have settled the west bank of the river a short distance north of Wolf Point, at what is now Fulton Street. The source of the North Branch is in the northern suburbs of Chicago where its three principal tributaries converge. The Skokie River —or East Fork—rises from a flat plain, historically a wetland, near Park City, Illinois to

12410-627: The North and Middle forks merge at the Watersmeet Woods forest preserve west of Wilmette . From there the North Branch flows south towards Morton Grove . The third tributary, the West Fork, rises near Mettawa and flows south through Lincolnshire, Bannockburn , Deerfield , and Northbrook , meeting the North Branch at Morton Grove. In recognition of the work of Ralph Frese in promoting canoeing on and conservation of Chicago-area rivers,

12580-475: The Road, Western Rivers began. Since 1983, there is just a single Inland Navigational Rules passed by Congressional Act in 1980 (Public Law 96-591). At the basin the river is joined by a tributary, the South Fork of the river, which is commonly given the nickname Bubbly Creek . A bridge used to span the South Fork at this point that was too low for boats to pass meaning that their cargo needed to be unloaded at

12750-668: The Village of Plainfield . The roads enabled hundreds of wagons per day of farm produce to arrive and so the entrepreneurs built grain elevators and docks to load ships bound for points east through the Great Lakes. Produce was shipped through the Erie Canal and down the Hudson River to New York City; the growth of the Midwest farms expanded New York City as a port. In 1837 , Chicago held its first mayoral election and elected William B. Ogden as its inaugural mayor . In 1848,

12920-458: The area. A writer in 1718 noted at the Was had a village in Chicago, but had recently fled due to concerns about approaching Ojibwes and Pottawatomis . The Iroquois and Meskwaki probably drove out all Miami from the Chicago area by the end of the 1720s. The Pottawatomi assumed control of the area, but probably did not have any major settlements in Chicago. French and allied use of the Chicago portage

13090-477: The bridge, and the neighborhood at its east end became known as Bridgeport . The river continues to the south west, entering the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal at Damen Avenue. The original West Fork of the South Branch, which before 1935 led towards Mud Lake and the Chicago Portage , has been filled in; a triangular intrusion into the north bank at Damen Avenue marks the place where it diverged from

13260-600: The canal to promote commerce, but ordered the city to discontinue its use for sewage disposal. New construction boomed in the 1920s, with notable landmarks such as the Merchandise Mart and art deco Chicago Board of Trade Building completed in 1930. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , the Great Depression and diversion of resources into World War II led to the suspension for years of new construction. The Century of Progress International Exposition

13430-454: The city became the first Black residential area, as it had the oldest, less expensive housing. Although restricted by segregation and competing ethnic groups such as the Irish, gradually continued black migration caused this community to expand, as well as the black neighborhoods on the near West Side. These were de facto segregated areas (few blacks were tolerated in ethnic white neighborhoods);

13600-399: The city grew exponentially, becoming the nation's rail center and the dominant Midwestern center for manufacturing, commerce, finance, higher education , religion , broadcasting , sports , jazz , and high culture . The city was a magnet for European immigrants—at first Germans, Irish and Scandinavians, then from the 1890s to 1914, Jews, Czechs, Poles and Italians. They were all absorbed in

13770-647: The city's architectural heritage. The efforts of the Chicago Architecture Foundation and the Landmarks and Preservation Council of Illinois have been at the forefront of these efforts. The Commission on Chicago Landmarks (now part of the city's Department of Planning and Development) has designated the Prairie Avenue Historic District as a city landmark. A few of the mansions of the heyday still remain in

13940-409: The city's black children found themselves in the juvenile court system. The 1899 Juvenile Court Act , supported by Progressive reformers, created a class of dependants for orphans and other children lacking "proper parental care or guardianship" but the court's designations of "delinquency" and "dependency" were racialized so black children were far more likely to be labeled as delinquents. During

14110-459: The city's center. Many of Chicago's elite families settled along Prairie Avenue. By the 1870s and 1880s, Prairie Avenue was the location of elaborate houses between 16th Street and 22nd Street (now Cermak Road ). In 1886, the urban elite, including George Pullman , Marshall Field , Philip Armour and John B. Sherman all owned family homes in this area that created an opulent Prairie Avenue streetscape reminiscent of European city streets; as such, it

14280-599: The city's powerful ward-based political machines. Many joined militant labor unions , and Chicago became notorious for its violent strikes, but respected for its high wages. Large numbers of African Americans migrated from the South starting in the World War I era as part of the Great Migration . Mexicans started arriving after 1910, and Puerto Ricans after 1945. The Cook County suburbs grew rapidly after 1945, but

14450-481: The city's water supply. In 1889, the state created the Chicago Sanitary District (now the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District ) to replace the Illinois and Michigan Canal with the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal , a much larger waterway, because the former had become inadequate to serve the city's increasing sewage and commercial navigation needs. Completed by 1900, the project reversed

14620-403: The city—became polluted from the rapidly growing industries in and around Chicago; a new way of procuring clean water was needed. In 1885 the civil engineer Lyman Edgar Cooley proposed the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal . He envisioned a deep waterway that would dilute and divert the city's sewage by funneling water from Lake Michigan into a canal, which would drain into the Mississippi River via

14790-412: The clean-water source for the city, contributing to several public health problems, like typhoid fever . Starting in 1848, much of the Chicago River's flow was also diverted across the Chicago Portage into the Illinois and Michigan Canal . In 1871, the old canal was deepened in an attempt to completely reverse the river's flow but the reversal of the river only lasted one season. Finally, in 1900,

14960-479: The consumer. Women, who seldom smoked cigarettes, were told that if they smoked Lucky Strikes, they could stay slender. Lasker's use of radio, particularly with his campaigns for Palmolive soap, Pepsodent toothpaste, Kotex products, and Lucky Strike cigarettes, not only revolutionized the advertising industry but also significantly changed popular culture. In Chicago, like other rapidly growing industrial centers with large immigrant working-class neighborhoods, gambling

15130-584: The controlling works at Lake Michigan; passing beneath the Outer Drive , Columbus Drive , Michigan Avenue , Wabash Avenue , State Street , Dearborn Street , Clark Street , La Salle Street , Wells Street , and Franklin Street bridges en route to its confluence with the North Branch at Wolf Point. At McClurg Court it passes the Centennial Fountain , which was built in 1989 to celebrate

15300-475: The course of the canal. From there, the water flows down the canal through the southwest side of Chicago and southwestern suburbs and, in time, into the Des Plaines River between Crest Hill on the west and Lockport on the east, just north of the border between Crest Hill and Joliet, Illinois , eventually reaching the Gulf of Mexico . The United States Geological Survey monitors water flow at

15470-416: The damage of the storm event. The same report noted that the low Great Lakes levels were drought-induced, caused by a very hot, dry summer and a lack of a solid snowpack in the winter of 2012. At the time of the report, December 2012, Lake Michigan-Huron was 28 inches below its long-term average which is near the record lows of 1964. Historic lake levels for Lake Michigan reported from 1918 to 1998 show that

15640-433: The early 20th century as black southern families migrated out of the south, but while cities like Chicago empathized with the condition of impoverished white children, black children were mostly excluded from the private and religious institutions that provided homes for such children. Those that did take in black dependent children were overcrowded and underfunded because of institutional racism . Between 1899 and 1945 many of

15810-457: The eastern states. Relatively few new arrivals came from Chicago's rural hinterland. The exponential growth put increasing pollution on the environment, as hazards to public health impacted everyone. Most of the city burned in the 1871 Great Chicago Fire . The damage from the fire was immense since 300 people died, 18,000 buildings were destroyed, and nearly 100,000 of the city's 300,000 residents were left homeless. Several key factors exacerbated

15980-782: The election of April 23, 1875, the voters of Chicago chose to operate under the Illinois Cities and Villages Act of 1872 . Chicago still operates under this act, in lieu of a charter. The Cities and Villages Act has been revised several times since, and may be found in Chapter 65 of the Illinois Compiled Statutes. Late-19th-century big city newspapers such as the Chicago Daily News - founded in 1875 by Melville Stone - ushered in an era of news reporting that was, unlike earlier periods, in tune with

16150-480: The elite residents began to move north. By 1911, warehouses and factories cramped the Prairie Avenue District. Large industry overtook the district by 1950. Early 21st century deindustrialisation, urban congestion, and historic preservation have brought the return of trendy buildings, and restored as well as renovated structures. Simultaneously new infill housing is resuscitating the district. Now,

16320-611: The expansion of railroads throughout the upper Midwest and East, grew rapidly and came to dominate the Midwest and greatly influence the nation's economy. The Chicago Union Stock Yards dominated the packing trade. Chicago became the world's largest rail hub, and one of its busiest ports by shipping traffic on the Great Lakes . Commodity resources, such as lumber, iron and coal, were brought to Chicago and Ohio for processing, with products shipped both East and West to support new growth. Lake Michigan —the primary source of fresh water for

16490-504: The fact that traveling there did not involve crossing the Chicago River . In 1870, Daniel Thompson erected the first large upper-Prairie Avenue home. Marshall Field followed in 1871 with a Richard Morris Hunt design. Prairie Avenue was the most posh Chicago address by the time of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Many of South Michigan Avenue's elegant villas were destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The post-fire South Side of Chicago grew rapidly as all economic classes left

16660-424: The flow of the North Branch and help flush it into the South Branch and from there to the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal . From the confluence with the North Shore Channel south to Belmont Avenue the North Branch flows through mostly residential neighborhoods in a man-made channel that was dug to straighten and deepen the river, helping it to carry the additional flow from the North Shore Channel. South of Belmont

16830-413: The flow of the main stem and South Branch and altered the flow of the North Branch by using a series of canal locks and pumping stations, increasing the flow from Lake Michigan into the river, causing the river to empty into the new canal instead. In 1999, the system was named a "Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium" by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The river is represented on

17000-535: The fort was intended to be built; the riverbanks were 8 feet (2.4 m) high on the south side and 6 feet (1.8 m) on the north. Between 1816 and 1828 soldiers from Fort Dearborn cut channels through the sandbar at the mouth of the river to allow yawls to bring supplies to the fort. These channels rapidly clogged with sand requiring a new one to be cut. On March 2, 1833, $ 25,000 was appropriated by Congress for harbor works, and work began in June of that year under

17170-490: The fort. The modern city was incorporated in 1837 by Northern businessmen and grew rapidly from real estate speculation and the realization that it had a commanding position in the emerging inland transportation network, based on lake traffic and railroads, controlling access from the Great Lakes into the Mississippi River basin. Despite a fire in 1871 that destroyed the Central Business District ,

17340-630: The front page of The New York Times . In the early 21st century, parts of the street were redeveloped to host townhouses and condominiums. In the late 20th century and early 21st century the street was extended north to accommodate new high-rise condominiums, such as One Museum Park , along Roosevelt Road . The redevelopment extended the street so that it has prominent buildings bordering Grant Park with Prairie Avenue addresses. Prairie Avenue once served as an Indian trail linking Fort Dearborn to Fort Wayne in Indiana and thus derived its name from

17510-514: The geographically vital Chicago Portage . Marquette returned in 1674, camped a few days near the mouth of the river, then moved on to the Chicago River– Des Plaines River portage , where he stayed through the winter of 1674–75. The Fox Wars effectively closed the Chicago area to Europeans in the first part of the 18th century. The first non-native to re-settle in the area may have been a trader named Guillory, who might have had

17680-423: The goo-goo reformers at bay. In large cities, illegal businesses like gambling and prostitution were typically contained in the geographically-segregated red light districts. The businessowners made regularly-scheduled payments to police and politicians, which they treated as licensing expenses. The informal rates became standardized. For example, in Chicago, they ranged from $ 20 a month for a cheap brothel to $ 1000

17850-607: The historic northern section of the street is part of the Chicago Landmark Prairie Avenue District that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places . It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 15, 1972 and declared a Chicago Landmark on December 27, 1979. The historic district includes the 1800 and 1900-blocks of South Prairie, the 1800 block of South Indiana and 211 through 217 East Cullerton. In

18020-484: The home-state candidate Abraham Lincoln . The city's government and voluntary societies gave generous support to soldiers during the American Civil War . Many of the newcomers were Irish Catholic and German immigrants. Their neighborhood saloons, a center of male social life, were attacked in the mid-1850s by the local Know-Nothing Party , which drew its strength from evangelical Protestants. The new party

18190-501: The labor shortages. The Immigration Act of 1924 restricted populations from southern and eastern Europe, apart from refugees after World War II. The heavy annual turnover of ethnic populations ended, and the groups stabilized, each favoring specific neighborhoods. While whites from rural areas arrived and generally settled in the suburban parts of the city, large numbers of blacks from the South arrived as well. The near South Side of

18360-555: The lake and river for longer periods of time, limiting navigation. A reversal flow of the Chicago River into Lake Michigan would have a negative impact on navigation and on the quality of Lake Michigan water, which is the source of drinking water. Chicago's raw sewage in the river is normally carried upstream toward the Mississippi River which flows south towards the Gulf of Mexico. On January 9, 2013, Chicago meteorologists announced 320 days without at least one inch of snowfall. Water levels in

18530-595: The lake started to level off with the river and sewage was visible at the cusp of the locks, just a few hundred feet from Lake Michigan. David St. Pierre, executive director of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago warned the low lake levels were nearing a point of real concern. However, the District maintains that it is not possible for the river to reverse due to low lake level alone. Measurements taken by

18700-499: The lake. All outflows from the Great Lakes Basin are regulated by the joint U.S.-Canadian Great Lakes Commission , and the outflow through the Chicago River is set under a U.S. Supreme Court decision (1967, modified 1980 and 1997). The city of Chicago is allowed to remove 3,200 cubic feet per second (91 m /s) of water from the Great Lakes system; about half of this, 1 billion US gallons per day (44 m /s),

18870-508: The larger Cook County . By 1840 the boom town had a population of over 4,000. After 1830, the rich farmlands of northern Illinois attracted Yankee settlers. Yankee real estate operators created a city overnight in the 1830s. To open the surrounding farmlands to trade, the Cook County commissioners built roads south and west. The latter crossed the "dismal Nine-mile Swamp," the Des Plaines River , and went southwest to Walker's Grove, now

19040-518: The later Beaver Wars . René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle , who traversed the Kankakee and Illinois Rivers south of Chicago in the winter of 1681–82, identified the Des Plaines River as the western boundary of the Miami. In 1683, La Salle built Fort St. Louis on the Illinois River. Almost two thousand Miami, including Weas and Piankeshaws , left the Chicago area to gather at

19210-549: The latter becoming the city's most popular paper by the 1880s. The city's boasting lobbyists and politicians earned Chicago the nickname " Windy City " in the New York press. The city adopted the nickname as its own. Polarized attitudes of labor and business in Chicago prompted a strike by workers' lobbying for an eight-hour work day , later named the Haymarket affair . A peaceful demonstration on May 4, 1886, at Haymarket near

19380-500: The leading architects of the day, such as Richard Morris Hunt , Henry Hobson Richardson and Daniel Burnham designed mansions on the street. At the time of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition , guidebooks described the street as "the most expensive street west of Fifth Avenue ". However, after Bertha Palmer , society wife of Potter Palmer , built the Palmer Mansion that anchored the Gold Coast along Lake Shore Drive ,

19550-535: The life of a murderer and hoodlum. The house retains the security bars on the basement windows and the brick garage out back, which the Capone built for his bullet-proof Cadillac limousine . In 2000, the Howard Van Doren Shaw -designed 1907 Georgian Revival Platt Luggage Building at 2301 South Prairie was the subject of preservation debates when McCormick Place attempted to tear it down to build

19720-583: The lost territory in the ensuing decades, and in 1701, the Iroquois formally abandoned their claim to their "hunting grounds" as far as the portage to England in the Nanfan Treaty , which was finally ratified in 1726. This was largely a political maneuver of little practicality, as the English then had no presence in the region whatsoever, the French and their Algonquian allies being the dominant force in

19890-449: The low levels observed in 1964 were the lowest since 1918. In 2012 Lake Michigan-Huron's seasonal rise was about 4 inches where it usually is about 12 inches. Normally the Chicago River water level is two feet lower than the lake and therefore does not flow into the lake. If the lake level falls too low threatening to reverse the river flow, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago would be forced to close locks between

20060-411: The mid-1880s. The last mansion, a three-story Georgian Revival residence with 21 rooms, was built in the district at 2126 Prairie Avenue in 1905. However, as the start of the 20th century came, industry's pervasive reach, increased railroad soot, and an encroaching vice district, caused the area to become less desirable, and the social elite vacated the region for quieter neighborhoods such as Kenwood ,

20230-406: The more than 2500 passengers. The roll of the heavy steamer happened very quickly and many of the passengers were trapped under water by the hull, moving objects such as pianos and tables, the crush of bodies, or their heavy clothes. Frantic if disordered rescue attempts ensued and early versions of what may be regarded as trauma teams formed to address the shocking scene. The site on the south bank at

20400-449: The motives for the murder of family members, and study of the patterns of domestic homicide among different ethnic groups reveals basic cultural differences. German male immigrants tended to murder over declining status and the failure to achieve economic prosperity. Italian men killed family members to save a gender-based ideal of respectability that entailed patriarchal control over women and family reputation. African American men, like

20570-749: The museum at any one time. In October 2019, Chicago Tribune cultural arts writer Steve Johnson profiled the museum, calling its gear room where the DuSable Bridge mechanics can be viewed "a little chamber of heaven for infrastructure nerds". The US Army Corps of Engineers have monitored the development of harbors and channels for navigation on the Great Lakes since the early 1800s. They began monitoring hydrological conditions and lake levels in 1918. A December 26, 2012 report revealed that Chicago District navigation infrastructure did receive significant impacts from Hurricane Sandy with some areas experiencing severe shoaling. Chicago Shoreline Project mitigated

20740-433: The nation's second-largest city and one of the largest cities in the world. Between 1870 and 1900, Chicago grew from a city of 299,000 to nearly 1.7 million and was the fastest-growing city in world history. Chicago's flourishing economy attracted huge numbers of new immigrants from Eastern and Central Europe, especially Jews, Poles, and Italians, along with many smaller groups. Many businesspeople and professionals arrived from

20910-511: The need to eliminate the glamor that Chicago's media typically attributed to criminals. Determined to expose the violence of the crime world, Loesch drafted a list of "public enemies"; among them was Al Capone , whom he made a scapegoat for widespread social problems. After the passage of Prohibition , the 1920s brought international notoriety to Chicago. Bootleggers and smugglers bringing in liquor from Canada formed powerful gangs. They competed with each other for lucrative profits, and to evade

21080-587: The opening of the Illinois and Michigan Canal allowed shipping from the Great Lakes through Chicago to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico . The first rail line to Chicago, the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad , was completed the same year. Chicago would go on to become the transportation hub of the United States, with its road, rail, water, and later air connections. Chicago also became home to national retailers offering catalog shopping such as Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck and Company , which used

21250-554: The particulars of community life in specific cities. Vigorous competition between older and newer-style city papers soon broke out, centered on civic activism and sensationalist reporting of urban political issues and the numerous problems associated with rapid urban growth. Competition was especially fierce between the Chicago Times (Democratic), the Chicago Tribune (Republican), and the Daily News (independent), with

21420-501: The plant Allium tricoccum , as well as the animal skunk . 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 wild garlic, called "chicagoua", grew abundantly in the area. According to his diary of late September 1687: when we arrived at the said place called Chicagou which, according to what we were able to learn of it, has taken this name because of

21590-453: The plat as the official recognition of a location known as Chicago. Yankee entrepreneurs saw the potential of Chicago as a transportation hub in the 1830s and engaged in land speculation to obtain the choicest lots. On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago was incorporated with a population of 350. The Chippewa , Odawa and Potawatomi ceded land in Illinois , Wisconsin and Michigan in

21760-488: The police, to bring liquor to speakeasies and private clients. The most notorious was Al Capone . From 1890 to 1914, migrations swelled, attracting to the city of mostly unskilled Catholic and Jewish immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, including Italians, Greeks, Czechs, Poles, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Hungarians, and Slovaks. World War I cut off immigration from Europe, which brought hundreds of thousands of southern blacks and whites into Northern cities to fill in

21930-549: The political base for leaders such as Stephen A. Douglas in the 1850s, Adlai Stevenson in the 1950s, and Barack Obama in recent years. At its first appearance in records by explorers, the Chicago area was inhabited by a number of Algonquian peoples , including the Mascouten and Miami . The name "Chicago" is generally believed to derive from a French rendering of the Miami–Illinois language word šikaakwa , referring to

22100-536: The practice "gives the impression that it is lifeless and artificial", adding "Friends doesn't think that the river should be treated as a decoration for an annual holiday, but treasured and cared for as the wonderful natural and recreational resource it deserves to be". In 2009 First Lady Michelle Obama , a Chicago native, inspired by the river tradition, requested that the water in the White House fountains be dyed green to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. For

22270-412: The present course of the river to avoid a baymouth bar , entering Lake Michigan at about the level of present-day Madison Street . Today, the main stem of the Chicago River flows west from Lake Michigan to Wolf Point, where it converges with the North Branch to flow into the South Branch, where the river's course goes south and west to empty in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal . Early settlers named

22440-508: The properties listed is a simple two-flat used by Al Capone in the 1920s at 7244 South Prairie in Greater Grand Crossing. Other current prominent addresses are the Kimball House at 1801 South Prairie (Near South Side), 2801, 3564, 3566, and 3600 South Prairie (Douglas), and 4919 South Prairie (Grand Boulevard). The William Wallace Kimball House , which is a three-story turreted chateau , was designed by Solon Beman , who

22610-524: The public welfare of the city against the railroad industry and was the foundation for the public trust doctrine which facilitated the city's reclamation of much of the lakefront. Prairie Avenue residents bolstered other efforts to fight against the railroads. The concentration of wealth also made Prairie Avenue the target of complaints about taxation inequities. Many of these leading families also took part in philanthropy . John Shorthall, founder of Chicago Title & Trust and Prairie Avenue resident, created

22780-560: The quantity of garlic which grows in the forests in this region. The tribe was part of the Miami Confederacy , which included the Illini and Kickapoo . In 1671, Potawatomi guides first took the French trader Nicolas Perrot to the Miami villages near the site of present-day Chicago. Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix would write in 1721 that the Miami had a settlement in what is now Chicago around 1670. Chicago's location at

22950-401: The region's most influential millionaires. The World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 was constructed on former wetlands at the present location of Jackson Park along Lake Michigan in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The land was reclaimed according to a design by the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted . The temporary pavilions, which followed a classical theme, were designed by

23120-486: The remaining mansions have been renovated. During the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s, upper Prairie Avenue residents were central to cultural and social fabric of the city. The economy was supported by the thousands of jobs created by the Pullman Car Company and Armour and Company . Chicago's richest man, Marshall Field, changed the buying habits of the city. John Shorthall saved the property from total chaos after

23290-402: The river due to PCB and mercury contamination, including a "do not eat" advisory for carp more than 12 inches long. There are concerns that silver carp and bighead carp , now invasive species in the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers , may reach the Great Lakes through the Chicago River. A program on the north channel next to Goose Island seeks to increase wildlife habitat through

23460-665: The river or when the level of the lake is more than 2 feet below the Chicago City Datum. Acoustic velocity meters at the Columbus Drive Bridge and the T. J. O'Brien lock on the Calumet River monitor the diversion of water from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River basin, which is limited to an average of 3,200 cubic feet (91 m ) per second per year over the 40-year period from 1980 to 2020. The main stem flows 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west from

23630-579: The river passes Marina City , the Reid, Murdoch & Co. Building , and Merchandise Mart , and 333 Wacker Drive . Since the early 2000s, the south shore of the main stem has been developed as the Chicago Riverwalk . It provides a linear, lushly landscaped park intended to offer a peaceful escape from the busy Loop and a tourist attraction. Different sections are named Market, Civic, Arcade, and Confluence. The plans reflect ideas first proposed by

23800-579: The river through sluice gates at the Chicago River Controlling Works with a small additional flow provided for the passage of boats between the river and Lake Michigan through the Chicago Harbor Lock . The surface level of the river is maintained at 0.5 to 2 feet (0.15 to 0.61 m) below the Chicago City Datum (579.48 feet [176.63 m] above mean sea level) except for when there is excessive storm run-off into

23970-538: The river, including largemouth and smallmouth bass , rock bass , crappie , bluegill , catfish , and carp . The river also has a large population of crayfish . The South Fork of the Main (South) Branch, which was the primary sewer for the Union Stock Yards and the meat packing industry , was once so polluted that it became known as Bubbly Creek . Illinois has issued advisories regarding eating fish from

24140-458: The rule of law, producing low homicide conviction rates during a period of soaring violence. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, rates of domestic murder tripled in Chicago. According to historian Jeffrey S. Adler, domestic homicide was often a manifestation of strains in gender relations induced by urban and industrial change. At the core of such family murders were male attempts to preserve masculine authority. Yet, there were nuances in

24310-405: The sandbar was 200 feet (61 m) wide and 3 to 7 feet (0.91 to 2.13 m) deep, flanked by piers 200 feet (61 m) long on the south wall and 700 feet (210 m) long to the north. Allen's work continued, and by October 1837 the still unfinished piers had been extended to 1,850 and 1,200 feet (560 and 370 m) respectively. In 1848, the Illinois and Michigan canal linked the river to

24480-542: The schools. There were problems in the public school system; mostly Catholic students attended schools in the large parochial system, which was of middling quality. There were a few private schools. The Latin School , Francis Parker and later The Bateman School , all centrally located served those who could afford to pay. Chicago River 41°53′11″N 87°38′15″W  /  41.88639°N 87.63750°W  / 41.88639; -87.63750 The Chicago River

24650-529: The shipping of fresh meat to cities in the East. The prairie bog nature of the area provided a fertile ground for disease-carrying insects. In springtime, Chicago was so muddy from the high water that horses could scarcely move. Comical signs proclaiming "Fastest route to China" or "No Bottom Here" were placed to warn people of the mud. Travelers reported Chicago was the filthiest city in America. The city created

24820-673: The south bank of the river is the site of Fort Dearborn , an army fort, first established in 1803. Notable buildings surrounding this area include the NBC Tower , the Tribune Tower , and the Wrigley Building . The river turns slightly to the south west between Michigan Avenue and State Street, passing the Trump International Hotel and Tower , 35 East Wacker , and 330 North Wabash . Turning west again

24990-640: The southeast end of the La Salle Street Bridge is now the location of a memorial first dedicated in 1989. On April 13, 1992, a flood occurred when a pile driven into the riverbed caused stress fractures in the wall of a long-abandoned tunnel of the Chicago Tunnel Company near the Kinzie Street railroad bridge . Most of the 60-mile (97 km) network of underground freight railway, which encompasses much of downtown,

25160-425: The spread of the fire. Most of Chicago's buildings and sidewalks were then constructed of wood. Also, the lack of attention to proper waste disposal practices, which was sometimes deliberate to favor certain industries, left an abundance of flammable pollutants in the Chicago River along which the fire spread from the south to the north. The fire led to the incorporation of stringent fire-safety codes, which included

25330-432: The supervision of Major George Bender, the commandant at Fort Dearborn. In January 1834 James Allen took over the supervision of this work and, aided by a February storm that breached the sandbar, on July 12, 1834, the harbor works had progressed enough to allow a 100-short-ton (91 t) schooner, the Illinois to sail up the river to Wolf Point and dock at the wharf of Newberry & Dole. The initial entrance through

25500-412: The time. By 1877 the eleven-block area of Prairie Avenue as well as Calumet Avenue housed elite residences. By 1886 the finest mansions in the city, each equipped with its own carriage house, stood on Prairie Avenue. In the 1880s and 1890s, mansions for George Pullman , Marshall Field , John J. Glessner and Philip Armour anchored a neighborhood of over fifty mansions known as "Millionaire's Row". Many of

25670-412: The transportation lines to ship all over the nation. By the 1850s, the construction of railroads made Chicago a major hub and over 30 lines entered the city. The main lines from the East ended in Chicago, and those oriented to the West began in Chicago and so by 1860, the city had become the nation's trans-shipment and warehousing center. Factories were created, most famously the harvester factory that

25840-534: The use of floating plant islands. The program is managed by the non-profit conservation group Urban Rivers with assistance from the Shedd Aquarium . As with some other bodies of water in the United States, the river has seen several successful efforts to improve water quality since the passage of the Clean Water Act of 1972 and related state and local efforts. Despite the pollution concerns,

26010-411: The use of fluorescein for this purpose, since it was shown to be harmful to the river. The parade committee switched to a mix involving forty pounds of powdered vegetable dye. Though the committee closely guards the exact formula, they insist that it has been tested and verified safe for the environment. The environmental organization Friends of the Chicago River disapproves of dyeing the river, saying

26180-595: The vast midwestern prairie land between the two endpoints. In 1812, the Battle of Fort Dearborn occurred in the area that is now the northern section of the street, in what is known as the Near South Side community area . Casualties of the battle, such as William Wells and George Ronan , were struck down here. Over time, the district has evolved from an upscale neighborhood to a factory district and back to an upscale neighborhood. Zoning in 1853 anticipated residential development, although only one grand villa existed at

26350-781: The west of the city of Waukegan . It then flows southward, paralleling the shore of Lake Michigan, through wetlands, the Greenbelt Forest Preserve and a number of golf courses towards Highland Park, Illinois . South of Highland Park the river passes the Chicago Botanic Gardens and through an area of former marshlands known as the Skokie Lagoons . From the west, the Middle Fork arises near Rondout, Illinois and flows southwards through Lake Forest and Highland Park. The two tributaries of

26520-466: The west side was interrupted by a bomb thrown at police; seven police officers were killed. Widespread violence broke out. A group of anarchists were tried for inciting the riot and convicted. Several were hanged and others were pardoned. The episode was a watershed moment in the labor movement , and its history was commemorated in the annual May Day celebrations. By 1900, Progressive Era political and legal reformers initiated far-ranging changes in

26690-420: Was a major issue. The city's elite upper-class had private clubs and closely-supervised horse racing tracks. The middle-class reformers like Jane Addams focused on the workers, who discovered freedom and independence in gambling that were a world apart from their closely-supervised factory jobs and gambled to validate risk-taking aspect of masculinity, betting heavily on dice, card games, policy, and cock fights. By

26860-422: Was also developing the original skyscraper and organic forms based in new technologies. The fair featured the first and until recently the largest Ferris wheel ever built. The soft, swampy ground near the lake proved unstable ground for tall masonry buildings. That was an early constraint, but builders developed the innovative use of steel framing for support and invented the skyscraper in Chicago, which became

27030-952: Was anti-immigration and anti-liquor and called for the purification of politics by reducing the power of the saloonkeepers. In 1855, the Know-Nothings elected Levi Boone mayor, who banned Sunday sales of liquor and beer. His aggressive law enforcement sparked the Lager Beer Riot of April 1855, which erupted outside a courthouse in which eight Germans were being tried for liquor ordinance violations. After 1865, saloons became community centers only for local ethnic men, as reformers saw them as places that incited riotous behavior and moral decay. Salons were also sources of musical entertainment. Francis O'Neill , an Irish immigrant who later became police chief, published compendiums of Irish music that were largely collected from other newcomers playing in saloons. By 1870, Chicago had grown to become

27200-473: Was constructed to carry the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway onto Goose Island. It is a rare example of an asymmetric bob-tail swing bridge and was designated a Chicago Landmark in 2007. From Goose Island the North Branch continues to flow south east to Wolf Point where it joins the main stem. Since the late 19th century, the source of the main stem of the Chicago River is Lake Michigan. Water enters

27370-524: Was destroyed by Indian forces during the War of 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn , and many of the inhabitants were killed or taken prisoner. The fort had been ordered to evacuate. During the evacuation soldiers and civilians were overtaken near what is today Prairie Avenue . After the end of the war, the Potawatomi ceded the land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis . (Today, this treaty

27540-441: Was eventually flooded, along with the lower levels of buildings it once serviced and attached underground shops and pedestrian ways. The first bridge across the Chicago River was constructed over the North Branch near the present day Kinzie Street in 1832. A second bridge, over the South Branch near Randolph Street, was added in 1833. The first moveable bridge was constructed across the main stem at Dearborn Street in 1834. Today,

27710-512: Was lifted while it continued to operate. Observing that such a thing could never have happened in Europe, the British historian Paul Johnson cites the astounding feat as a dramatic example of American determination and ingenuity based on the conviction that anything material is possible. Although originally settled by Yankees in the 1830s, the city in the 1840s had many Irish Catholics come as

27880-455: Was mostly abandoned during the 1720s because of continual Native American raids during the Fox Wars . There was also a Michigamea chief named Chicago who may have lived in the region. In the 1680s, the Illinois River was called the Chicago River. The first settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable , a Frenchman of European and African descent, who built a farm at the mouth of

28050-412: Was opened in 1847 by Cyrus Hall McCormick . It was a processing center for natural resource commodities extracted in the West. The Wisconsin forests supported the millwork and lumber business; the Illinois hinterland provided the wheat. Hundreds of thousands of hogs and cattle were shipped to Chicago for slaughter, preserved in salt, and transported to eastern markets. By 1870, refrigerated cars allowed

28220-660: Was published on June 2, 2008, as part of Arcadia Publishing Co.'s Images of America series. William H. Tyre is the author. In 2006, the Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance , a non-profit organization, was formed to provide representation for thousands of South Loop residents, including the Prairie District, Central Station and Museum Park, Motor Row, the South Michigan Ave Corridor, as well as other areas of

28390-417: Was sent off to prison for income tax fraud . The Capone family kept the home until his mother's death in 1952. In 1988, the privately owned house was nominated for the National Register of Historic Places by historians as the home of one of Chicago's most famous citizens. The nomination was withdrawn after local politicians and members of Italian-American groups sharply argued that it would appear to validate

28560-425: Was the first permanent non-indigenous settler in the area, having a house at the mouth of the Chicago River by at least 1790, though possibly as early as 1784. The small settlement was defended by Fort Dearborn after its completion in 1804, but was abandoned as part of the War of 1812 in expectation of an attack by the Potawatomi , who caught up with the retreating soldiers and civilians not two miles south of

28730-420: Was the name of the World's Fair held on the Near South Side lakefront from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation over the century since Chicago's founding. More than 40 million people visited the fair, which symbolized for many hope for Chicago and the nation, then in the midst of the Great Depression . The demographics of the city were changing in

28900-432: Was widely regarded as the city's most fashionable neighborhood. Businesses, such as the Pullman Company , Armour & Company and D.H. Burnham & Company , with ties to Prairie Avenue had national and international reach and impact. Additional grand homes (including many Queen Anne style architecture in the United States and Richardsonian Romanesque ) were located on Prairie between 26th and 30th Streets starting in

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