History of Chicago, Illinois, USA

Journey back in time to Chicago, Illinois, USA

• 1696 - Guardian Angel mission
  Jesuit priest Pierre François Pinet (1660-1704?) establishes the Guardian Angel mission at present Chicago.
  
  www.e-referencedesk.com/ resources/state-history-timeline/ illinois.html
  
  
• 1779 - Trading Post
  Jean Baptiste Point du Sable (1745?-1818) establishes a trading post at present Chicago.
  
  www.e-referencedesk.com/ resources/state-history-timeline/ illinois.html
  
  
• 1796 - The first birth on record in Chicago was of Eulalia Pointe du Sable, daughter of Jean-Baptiste Pointe du Sable and his Potawatomi Indian wife in 1796.
  
  50states.com
  
  
• 1803 - Fort Dearborn
  United States Army establishes Fort Dearborn at present Chicago.
  
  www.e-referencedesk.com/ resources/state-history-timeline/ illinois.html
  
  
• 1833 - August 10 - Chicago incorporates as a village of about 200
  
  historyorb.com
  
  
• 1835 - August 18 - Last Pottawatomie Indians leave Chicago
  
  historyorb.com
  
  
• 1837 - Chicago receives a city charter; William Ogden (1805-1877) becomes the first mayor.
  
  www.e-referencedesk.com/ resources/ state-history-timeline/ illinois.html
  
  
• 1847 - Chicago Tribune
  Joseph Medill (1823-1899) founds the Chicago Tribune.
  
  Inventor Cyrus Hall McCormick (1809-1884) opens a plant in Chicago for manufacturing wheat re...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1848 - Chicago Board of Trade
  The Chicago Board of Trade, located on West Jackson Street in Chicago, is a connection to agriculture that affects the everyday consumer of farm produ...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1854 - Chicago
  Chicago, she-kau'go, the most populous and commercial city of Illinois, and seat of justice of Cook county, is situated on the south-western shore of ...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1856 - April 17 – The Chicago Historical Society Museum is established at 1601 N. Clark Street, Chicago.
  
  wikipedia.org
  April 17, 1856
  
  
• 1856 - Rand McNally
  William Rand opens a small printing shop in Chicago's Loop, forming the precursor of Rand McNally.
  
  www.randmcnally.com/ about/history
  
  
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  Dr. Price's Delicious Flavoring Extract of True Vanilla
  
  Price Flavoring Extract Co.
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•  1866 - November 30 - Work begins on 1st US underwater highway tunnel, Chicago
  
  historyorb.com
  
  
• 1867 - Pullman Palace Car Company
  George M. Pullman (1831-1897) founds the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago, manufacturing railroad sleeping cars.
  
  www.e-referencedesk.com/ resources/state-history-timeline/ illinois.html
  
  
•  1869 - Alcohol from Soap Grease and Garbage
  A company has been formed in Chicago, and will soon be in operation, for distilling alcohol and extracting soap grease from ordinary city garbage. It ...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1872 - Montgomery Ward
  Chicago merchant Aaron Montgomery Ward (1844-1913) establishes the first large-scale mail order business. Ward, a young traveling salesman of dry good...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  King of Malaria
  Chill Tonic
  Made in Chicago, IL
  
  Found at Old Drugstore, St Augustine, Florida
  Advertisement
  
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  Oberne Hosick & Cos
  White Velvet Soap
  Chicago, Ill.
  Advertisement
  
•  1884 - First metal-framed skyscraper - The Home Insurance Building is generally noted as the first tall building to be supported, both inside and outside, by a fireproof metal frame.
  ...The most expensive and probably the most substantial of the structures that can be included in this year's list in the new office section is the te...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1886 - Guns in the Home
  The number of wives recently shot by their husbands for supposed burglars would seem to indicate that revolvers should be kept in the garret instead o...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  May 4, 1886: Haymarket Affair, Chicago, Illinois
  A general strike begins in the United States, which escalates into the Haymarket Riot and eventually wins the eight-hour day for workers.
  The Old Farmer's Almanac www.almanac.com
  May 4, 1886
  
  
•  1887 - George Hancock, at the time a reporter for Chicago Board of Trade, invented the game of softball in 1887.
  The first game was played indoors, inside the Farragut Boat Club in Chicago. Someone found a boxing glove and threw it and someone else hit it with a ...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1890 - December 25 - The Chicago City Board of Education on Tuesday night unanimously voted down the proposition that extracts from the Bible be read daily in Public schools.
  
  The Toronto Daily Mail
  Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  December 25, 1890
  
  
•  1890 - February 24 – Chicago is selected to host the Columbian Exposition
  
  wikipedia.org
  February 24, 1890
  
  
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  Dewitt's D & C Expectorant
  For Coughs Due to Colds
  E. C. Dewitt & Co., Chicago, Illinois
  
  The Way It Was Museum, Virginia City, Nevada
  
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  Foley Cathartic Tablets
  Foley & Co., Chicago, Illinois
  
  The Way It Was Museum, Virginia City, Nevada
  
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  Metaphen in Oil
  Abbott Laboratories
  Chicago, Illinois
  
  The Way It Was Museum, Virginia City, Nevada
  
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  D. H. Lamberson
  Fishing Tackle,
  Pocket Cutlery and Sporting Goods of All Kinds
  73 State St.
  Central Music Hall Block
  Chicago, Ill.
  Advertisement
  
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  Cooked Corned Beef
  The Wilson Packing Co.
  Chicago, Illinois
  
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  Chas. Counselman & Co's Royal Hams
  Chicago, Illinois
  
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•  1891 - April 1 - The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago.
  
  wikipedia.org
  April 1, 1891
  
  
•  1891 - Man Killed While Lowering Flag
  Janitor David Leonard Fatally Injured.
  
  David Leonard, janitor of the county building and a member of the G.A.R., was fatally injured last night whi...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1891 - ROOF COLLAPSED. FIFTY WORKMEN BURIED IN THE DEBRIS. THE ACCIDENT IN CHICAGO.
  FORTUNATELY NO ONE WAS KILLED, THOUGH A NUMBER WERE SERIOUSLY INJURED, AND IT IS FEARED ONE OF THEM MAY DIE - LIST OF THE VICTIMS.
  
  Chicago, July 13...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1892 - University of Chicago opened on October 1, 1892 with an enrollment of 594 and a faculty of 103.
  
  www.ereferencedesk.com/ resources/ state-facts/ illinois.html
  
  
•  1893 - ACCIDENT AT THE FAIR. A RAILWAY SLED AT MIDWAY PLAISANCE JUMPS THE TRACK KILLING ONE MAN AND INJURING FIVE OTHER PEOPLE.
  Special to the Record-Union.
  Chicago, June 14. - One man was killed and five other people badly injured by an accident that occurred on the ice railw...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1893 - July 10 - The cold storage warehouse at the World's Fair was destroyed by fire; may firemen killed and injured.
  
  The World Almanac and Book of Facts, Volume 1894 Press Publishing Company. 1894
  
  
•  1893 - October 30 – The 1893 World's Fair, also known as the World's Columbian Exposition, closes.
  
  wikipedia.org
  October 30, 1893
  
  
• 1893 - May 1 - World's Columbian Exposition
  World's Columbian Exposition is held in Chicago, commemorating the 400th anniversary of European exploratory voyages to the western hemisphere. www.e-...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  (IL) - Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois
  
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  Ticket to 1893 Chicago World's Fair (World's Columbian Exposition)
  
•  1894 - BIG BLAZE AT CHICAGO. Five Buildings at the World's Fair Grounds Destroyed.
  THE FLAMES FANNED BY A FIERCE SOUTHWEST GALE.
  
  Special to the Record-Union.
  CHICAGO, July 5. - The World's Columbian Exposition is a billowy sea of...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1894 - Pullman strike
  The Pullman Strike was a nationwide railroad strike in the United States in the summer of 1894. It pitted the American Railway Union (ARU) against the...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1895 - November 25 - Chicago Times-Herald race: The first American automobile race in history is sponsored by the Chicago Times-Herald. Press coverage first arouses significant American interest in the automobile.
  
  wikipedia.org
  November 25, 1895
  
  
• 1895 - Chicago
  Chicago, she-kah'go, the largest city of Illinois, and second in point of population in the United States, is situated at the mouth of Chicago River, ...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  This Oliver Standard Visible Writer first Patented - 1895 in Chicago
  Douglas County Historical Society Courthouse Museum, Genoa, Nevada
  
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  1897 Sears, Roebuck and Co.
  
  A New Scientific Help to Nature. Combined with the use of the bust cream or food, forms a full, firm, well developed bust. It is designed to build up and fill out shrunken and undeveloped tissues, form a rounded,... Read MORE...
  
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•  1898 - The Largest Search-Light in the world
  was exhibited at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The reflecting lens, 60 inches in diameter, weighs 800 pounds and is mounted in a brass ring whi...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1898 - The Largest Stockyards in the world
  are in Chicago, Illinois. The combined plants represent and investment of over $10,000,000. The yards contain 20 miles of streets, 20 miles of water-t...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Carpets by Mail
  The Russell Carpet Co.
  Chicago, Ill.
  
  The Ladies' Home Journal
  March 1898
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  The Sanitary Still
  The Cuprigraph Co.
  79 North Green Street
  Chicago, Ill.
  
  The Ladies' Home Journal
  July 1898
  Advertisement
  
•  1899 - July 17 - America's first juvenile court is established in Chicago.
  
  wikipedia.org
  July 17, 1899
  
  
•  1900 - May 17 - L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is published in Chicago.
  
  wikipedia.org
  May 17, 1900
  
  
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  (IL) - Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois
  
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  (IL) - Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois
  
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  (IL) - Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois
  
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  (IL) - Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois
  
• 1901 - Chicago - Large in Every Way by Lyman J. Gage
  The plotting of the site of Chicago was characteristic of the practical sentiment that has ever stimulated the city. No less a personage than Washingt...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1903 - December 30 – Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago kills 600
  A safety standard for theaters and public buildings rises from the ashes of the Iroquois Theater (in Chicago), where more than 600 people were killed....Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1904 - EXPLOSION OF TOY PISTOL CAPS IS DEADLY. TWO BOYS AND A MAN KILLED AND PERHAPS THREE OTHER VICTIMS.
  Chicago, March 15. -- Three persons were killed and eight other employes were injured today by the explosion of toy pistol caps in the two-story brick...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1905 - President of the Chicago Cubs filed charges against a fan in the bleachers for catching a fly ball and keeping it.
  In 1905 a Cubs fan named Samuel Scott was arrested in Chicago after catching a foul ball and refusing to hand it over to an usher. Cubs president Jame...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1905 - School for Child Wives
  Chicago is actually discussing the question of establishing a school for child wives, more than a score of wives under compulsory school age (fourteen...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Cook County Jail, Chicago
  Postcard
  
•  1906 - The Baseball World Series won by Chicago White Sox
  
  
  
•  1907 - FIVE KILLED AS HOUSE FALLS. ELEVEN OTHERS INJURED IN AN EARLY MORNING CRASH IN CHICAGO.
  Chicago, Ill., Aug. 16. - Five persons were killed and eleven others were injured, three seriously, early today by the collapse of a two-story frame b...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1907 - The Baseball World Series won by Chicago Cubs
  
  
  
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  University of Chicago, 1907
  Postcard
  
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  New Postoffice Building, 1907
  Postcard
  
•  1908 - The Baseball World Series won by Chicago Cubs
  
  
  
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  Selz Chicago Factory, 1908
  Largest makers of good shoes in the world.
  The greatest good shoe factory in the world: one of the eight Selz factories. It makes Selz "Royal Blue" and "Perfecto" shoes: the shoes that are guaranteed-to-satisfy.
  Postcard
  
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  The Coliseum Wabash Ave., Chicago, Ill. 1908
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  German Building in Jackson Park
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  Grand Boulevard, 1908
  Postcard
  
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  Grant Park and Illinois Central Depot, 1908
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  New Michael Reese Hospital, 1908
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  Normal School, 1909
  Postcard
  
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  Washington Park, Refectory, 1909
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  Hotel Kaiserhof
  Postcard
  
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  Madison St. looking East from Fifth Ave., Chicago, 1910
  Postcard
  
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  Metropolitan "L" Train, Crossing Jack-Knife Bridge, Over Chicago River, Chicago
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  Drexel Blvd., 1911
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  Illinois Central Depot
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  Jack Knife Bridge
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  City and Lake from Majestic Building, Chicago
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  Rush Street Bridge
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  Noon Hour on State Street, 1914
  Postcard
  
•  1916 - April 20 – The Chicago Cubs play their first game at Weeghman Park (modern-day Wrigley Field), defeating the Cincinnati Reds 7–6 in 11 innings.
  
  wikipedia.org
  April 20, 1916
  
  
• 1916
  Chicago, shl-ka'go or shi-kaw'go, a city, port of entry, and capital of Cook CO., Ill., situated near the S. extremity of Lake Michigan, on its W. sho...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1917 - The Baseball World Series won by Chicago White Sox
  
  
  
•  1918 - June 22 – Suspects in the Chicago Restaurant Poisonings are arrested, and more than 100 waiters are taken into custody, for poisoning restaurant customers with a lethal powder called Mickey Finn.
  
  wikipedia.org
  June 22, 1918
  
  
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  YMCA Hotel
  Postcard
  
•  1919 - July 27 - Race Riots
  July 27 – The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 begins when a white man throws stones at a group of four black teens on a raft.
  
  Chicago race riots leave th...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1920 - March 28 - The worst tornado disaster of record occurred in Chicago IL as a tornado killed 28 persons and caused three million dollars damage.
  
  WeatherForYou.com
  March 28, 1920
  
  
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  Cubs Ball Park, Chicago
  Postcard
  
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  A Sunday Afternoon at the Lake Shore, Lincoln Park
  Postcard
  
• 1921 - August 2 - A Chicago jury brings back a not guilty verdict against eight Chicago White Sox players for throwing the 1919 baseball World Series against the Cincinnati Reds.
  The Reds win the series 5 games to 3. The trial is dubbed the “Black Sox Scandal.”
  http://www.independentsentinel.com/
  
  
•  1926 - September 20 – Twelve blue cars full of gangsters open fire at the Hawthorne Inn, Al Capone's Chicago headquarters. Only one of Capone's men is wounded.
  
  wikipedia.org
  September 20, 1926
  
  
•  1926 - TWO CIRCUS TRAPEZE PERFORMERS HURT.
  Chicago, July 26. - (United Press) - Two circus trapeze performers, FRANK CROMWELL and his wife, MAUDE, were in a Chicago hospital today suffering fro...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1926 - Charles Lindbergh
  Aviator Charles Lindbergh (1902-1974) begins daily mail delivery flights between Chicago and St. Louis.
  
  www.e-referencedesk.com/ resources/state-history-timeline/ illinois.html
  
  
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  Train Concourse, Chicago Union Station, 1926
  Postcard
  
•  1927 - CHICAGO FIREMEN IN DEATH TRAP, EXPLOSION IN A CHEMICAL PLANT.
  Chicago, March 11 - (AP) - The ranks of engine companies numbers three and six were depleted late today when an explosion killed one fireman and serio...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1927 - CHICAGO POLICE SEEK BOOZE SELLING GROCER AS OPERATOR OF STILL. TWO FAMILIES WIPED OUT WHEN EXPLOSION WRECKS BUILDING; ALL THOSE KILLED DIED IN THEIR BEDS; FOUR STORES RAZED.
  Chicago, April 16 (UP) - A moonshiner's still is believed by police to be responsible for an explosion Saturday which killed eight persons, all but wi...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1929 - St Valentine's Day Massacre
  Gunmen of Alphonse Capone (1899-1947) murder seven rival Chicago mobsters in the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre."
  
  www.e-referencedesk.com/ resources/state-history-timeline/ illinois.html
  February 14, 1929
  
  
• 1930 - Pinball was invented by In and Outdoor Games Company in Chicago
  
  www.ereferencedesk.com/ resources/ state-facts/ illinois.html
  
  
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  St James Episcopal Church
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  W-G-N Studios, Tribune Square, 1930
  Postcard
  
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  Michigan Ave. Bridge
  Postcard
  
•  1933 - May 27 - The Century of Progress World's Fair opens in Chicago.
  
  wikipedia.org
  May 27, 1933
  
  
• 1933 - Assassinated
  Anton "Tony" Joseph Cermak (May 9, 1873 – March 6, 1933) was an American politician of Czech origin who served as the mayor of Chicago, Illinois from ...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Hall of Science, Chicago World's Fair, 1933
  Postcard
  
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  Union Stock Yards
  Postcard
  
•  1937 - May 30 - The Chicago Police Department shoot and kill ten unarmed demonstrators in Chicago in what is known as the Memorial Day massacre.
  
  wikipedia.org
  May 30, 1937
  
  
• 1940 - June 19 - “Brenda Starr, Reporter” the first cartoon strip by a woman, appears in Chicago Tribune.
  
  http://www.independentsentinel.com/
  
  
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  Chinatown, 1940
  Postcard
  
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  Buckingham Fountain by Night, Grant Park
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  Fountain of Time, Washington Park, 1940
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  Chicago Civic Opera Building, 1943
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  Aerial View of Hotel Southmoor and Jackson Park, 1946
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  Stevens Hotel, 1947
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•  1949 - January 31 - First TV Soap Opera Debuts. On Jan. 31, 1949, an NBC station in Chicago aired the first episode of Irna Phillips' “These Are My Children,” the first daytime soap opera on a major television network.
  
  www.findingdulcinea.com
  January 31, 1949
  
  
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  For a better start in life start COLA earlier!
  The Soda Pop Board of America
  Advertisement
  
• 1954 - October 9-11 - A deluge of 6.72 inches of rain in 48 hours flooded the Chicago River, causing ten million dollars damage in the Chicago area.
  
  The Weather Channel
  
  
• 1958 - School Fire
  Fire at Our Lady of Angels elementary school in Chicago claims the lives of ninety-two children and three nuns.
  www.e-referencedesk.com/ resources/state-history-timeline/ illinois.html
  
  
• 1966 - May 11 - The 1.6 inch snow at Chicago, IL, was their latest measurable snow of record. Previously the record was 3.7 inches on the 1st and 2nd of May set in 1940
  
  The Weather Channel
  
  
• January 27, 1967 - Residents of Chicago, IL, began to dig out from a storm which produced 23 inches of snow in 29 hours. The snow paralyzed the city and suburbs for days, and business losses were enormous.
  
  WeatherForYou.com
  
  
• 1968 - Civil Disorder Results in 650 Arrests
  Civil disorder erupts during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago; police report 650 arrests.
  
  www.e-referencedesk.com/ resources/state-history-timeline/ illinois.html
  
  
• 1972 - Trains Collide
  Two Illinois Central commuter trains collide in Chicago; forty-five passengers are killed and more than two hundred are injured.
  
  www.e-referencedesk.com/ resources/state-history-timeline/ illinois.html
  
  
• 1974 - Sears Tower
  The Sears tower was constructed in 1974. It was the world's tallest building, eclipsing New York's twin-towered World Trade Center by 25 meters (83 ft...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• Chicago is the snowiest place in Illinois, averaging 38.5 inches (98 cm) per year.
  It is also the wettest city in Illinois, averaging 92 days of precipitation each year.
  National Weather Service
  
  
• Is Chicago the windiest city in the U.S.?
  No! It is likely in the top fifteen. These are the winners in terms of average wind speed:
  
  Amarillo, Texas: 13.6 mph
  Rochester, Minnesota: 12.6 mp...Read MORE...