Chicago, Illinois, USA
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. shore, about 700 miles in a direct line W. by N. of New York. Lat (main business quarter) 41° 53' N. ; Lon. 87° 36' W. Elevation above the sea, 600 feet. The narrow Chicago River, connecting with Lake Michigan, with its North and South Branches, divides the city into the North, West, and South Sides. The municipal district extends along the lake for about 26 miles. Chicago is the second city in the United States in population, and likewise the second in the volume of its trade and in commercial activity. It is the centre of the railway system of the United States, and its position gives it a great share of the prodigious commerce by way of the Great Lakes. With the progress of canal construction, it is destined in the near future to be connected by lines of ocean-steamers with every quarter of the globe.

The city, which covers an area of nearly 190 sq. m., rises but little above the level of the lake, and is laid out with the monotonous regularity that distinguishes the larger American cities generally. The business streets of first importance are State, Clark, Madison, Dearborn, and La Salle, and Wabash Avenue. In the grandeur and costliness of its business structures, Chicago is surpassed by New York only among the cities of the world. Among the more prominent buildings and institutions are the city-hall and county court house, a twin structure erected at a cost of nearly $5,000,- 000 ; the board of trade, with a tower 322 feet in height ; the chamber of commerce, the Auditorium, containing a theatre having a seating capacity of 5000 ; Chicago Art Institute; Chicago Historical Society, with valuable collections of books and of relics pertaining largely to the North west ; Chicago Academy of Sciences ; Masonic Temple ; Chicago Public Library ; Newberry Library ; and the Field Columbian Museum, with one of the most promising collections of natural history and archaeology in the United States. The University of Chicago, which was opened in 1892 as a successor to an earlier university (founded in 1857), is one of the leading institutions of learning in the country, and has full faculties of arts, science, commerce and politics, and philosophy, and a library of about 350,000 volumes. The number of enrolled students is about 3000, or, with auditors, 4000. Connected with the institution is the Yerkes Observatory, located on Williams Bay, Wis. Chicago is also the seat (in part) of the Northwestern University, with schools or colleges of medicine, law, dentistry, pharmacy, theology, and liberal arts, the last two located at Eranston ; of the Rush Medical College, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Chicago College of Pharmacy, and the Armour Institute of Technology (founded in 1892). The public libraries of the city (Chicago Public Library, New berry, and John Crerar libraries) are on a munificent scale, the first two containing together more than 500,000 volumes. Chicago is generously provided with parks (Lincoln, Washington, Jackson, Garfield, Humboldt, Lake Front, the last-named adjoining the business section), which cover collectively upward of 2600 acres. These, with their connecting boulevards, offer 90 miles of driveway within the city limits. Among the finest boulevards and residence streets are the Lake Shore Drive, Michigan, Grand, and Drexel Boulevards. No city in the world presents such a perfected system of rail intercommunication. The method of water-supply by means of a tunnel running 4 miles into the lake is a triumph of hydraulic engineering, which is now eclipsed by the great drainage canal (at the same time a ship-canal), 28 miles long, which conveys the sewage of the city, through the Des Plaines River, into the Illinois River. This canal, which was begun in 1892 and formally opened in Jan., 1900, terminates at Lockport, and will give passage to vessels of 22 feet draught. The cost of construction was $33,000,000.

The industries and manufactures of Chicago are as varied as they are extensive. The city is the greatest grain market and also the largest lumber mart in the world, while in the industry of slaughtering cattle and hogs and preparing the meat products ("packing," "canning") for the market it occupies a unique position. The extensive Union Stock yards, which cover an area of about 400 acres, have accommodation for 75,000 head of cattle, 300,000 hogs, 80,000 sheep, and 6000 horses. The receipts in the stock-yards were, in 1900, 8,100,000 hogs, 3,500,000 sheep, and 2,700,000 cattle, besides about 100,000 horses, having a total valuation approximating $200,000,000. The number of men employed in the packing- and canning-industry is upward of 20,000. The receipts of grain for the year 1900 were 314,000,000 bushels, and of lumber 1,576,000,000 feet, the exports of the latter being 770,000,000 feet. Among the more important general manufactures of the city may be mentioned those of railway cars, locomotives, agricultural implements, mining-appliances, clothing, electrical apparatus, lumber products, furniture, pianos, organs, bicycles, leather, cigars, chemicals, beer, spirits, and flour. The steel- and iron-industry is conducted on an enormous scale, and the city has some of the largest rolling-mills in the world. The value of the iron and steel product, including castings, was in 1900 $54,1100,000 ; the product of the foundries and machine-shops, $44,500,000. Chicago is also one of the leading publishing-centres of the United States and is the active jobbing-centre of the book trade. Upward of 500 journals are published here, of which number some 25 are dailies. The number of vessels that entered the port in 1900 was nearly 9000, with an aggregate tonnage of over 7,000,000, making Chicago in this respect one of the foremost places in the world. The imports of merchandise from foreign countries during the fiscal year 1899-1900 aggregated in value $15,309,725, and the exports, $5,211,770. The clearances of vessels engaged in the foreign trade were : sailing-vessels, 109; steam-vessels, 199.

The climate of Chicago, while generally healthy, is not altogether agreeable, owing to the high winds which prevail more particularly during the winter months. The mean temperature of the year is about 49° ; of January, 25.5° ; and of July, 73°. The annual rainfall is 37} inches. The name "Chicago" is of Indian origin, signifying either a wild onion, a king or deity, or a skunk. It was also applied to a valiant line of chiefs and to the voice of the Great Hanitou. The first Europeans known to have visited the site were two French fur-traders in 1654. In 1673 the two explorers Joliet and Father Marquette passed down the Chicago River to the lake, and for a time this region was in the possession of France. The name Fort Chicagou appears on a map published in Quebec as early as 1685. In 1795 the Indian residents ceded to the United States an area of 6 miles square at the mouth of the river, on which, in 1804, Fort Dearborn was erected. The fort was burned by the Indians in 1812, after the garrison and the few white settlers hod fallen into the hands of the Indians. Four years later the fort was rebuilt. Two years afterwards the surrounding territory was organised into the state of Illinois. In 1830, when there were about a dozen houses, a town was laid out. In 1831 the county of Cook was created, with Chicago as the county seat. The place was incorporated as a town in 1833. In the same year the first newspaper, known as the Chicago Democrat, was established. Chicago was chartered as a city in 1837, with a population of 4170. This was followed with 4853 in 1840, 29,993 in 1850, 112,172 in 1860, 298,977 in 1870, 503,185 in 1880, and 1,099,850 in 1890. The population in 1900 was 1,698,575, of whom about 475,000 were Germans, 470,000 Americans, 240.000 Irish, 105,000 Swedes, 95,000 Bohemians, 90,000 Poles, 40,000 Norwegians, 40,000 English, 35,000 Russians, 30,000 French, and 20,000 Italians.

The greatest event in the history of Chicago was the Great Fire, as it is termed, which broke out on the evening of Oct. 8, 1871. The total area of the land burned over was 2100 acres. Nearly 18,000 buildings were consumed. The lives lost were 200, and the grand total of values destroyed is estimated at $200,000,000. The World's Columbian Exposition was held in the city in 1893, on a site in Jackson Park.

Lippincotts New Gazetteer: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World, Containing the Most Recent and Authentic Information Respecting the Countries, Cities, Towns, Resorts, Islands, Rivers, Mountains, Seas, Lakes, Etc., in Every Portion of the Globe, Part 1 Angelo Heilprin Louis Heilprin - January 1, 1916 J.B. Lippincott - Publisher

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