[9] One of the most distinct of these German groups were the Volga Germans, or ethnic Germans having lived along the Volga River in Russia. Within sixty years of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the population went from about 300,000 to over 3million,[157] and reached its highest ever recorded population of 3.6million for the 1950 census. This is one of the most important centers of Polonia. [80], During World War II, the city of Chicago alone produced more steel than the United Kingdom every year from 1939 1945, and more than Nazi Germany from 1943 1945. A flourishing independent rock music culture brought forth Chicago indie. The historic Chicago Cultural Center (1897), originally serving as the Chicago Public Library, now houses the city's Visitor Information Center, galleries and exhibit halls. A scattering of diagonal streets, many of them originally Native American trails, also cross the city (Elston, Milwaukee, Ogden, Lincoln, etc.). In Millennium Park, the reflective Cloud Gate public sculpture by artist Anish Kapoor is the centerpiece of the AT&T Plaza in Millennium Park. The median income for a household in the city was $38,625 in 2000, and the median income for a family was $46,748. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4, 1837,[35] and for several decades was the world's fastest-growing city. 2012. City laws and later, state laws that upgraded standards for the medical profession and fought urban epidemics of cholera, smallpox, and yellow fever were both passed and enforced. [98][99], Chicago's history and economy are closely tied to its proximity to Lake Michigan. The Kennedy and Dan Ryan Expressways are the busiest state maintained routes in the entire state of Illinois.[334]. ", "As feds help Chicago on guns, Trump aide says city's crime more about 'morality', "Heroin Pushed on Chicago by Cartel Fueling Gang Murders", "Probing Ties Between Mexican Cartel And Chicago's Violence", "Rahm Emanuel's performance as Chicago mayor", "Chicago's Murder Rate Double American Soldiers Killed in Iraq", "Illinois: Offenses Known to Law Enforcement, Table 8", "Chicago homicides in 2010 fell to lowest level since 1965", "Crime in the United States 2011 ('Metropolitan Statistical Area')", "Police: Chicago Reports 415 Murders In 2013, Lowest Since 1965", "Chicago's 2014 murder total on track for another low, but shootings rise", "Chicago homicide rate compared: Most big cities don't recover from spikes right away", "Chicago Killings Cost $2.5 Billion as Murders Top N.Y.'s", Carjackings more than double in Chicago during 2020, police say, perhaps as criminals blended in with masked public, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says spike in carjackings 'top of mind,' adding 40 more police officers to carjacking unit and gathering regional mayors, "Appeals panel: IL governments can pare back retiree health coverage, if benefits included 'expiration date', "Chicago Public Schools: Selective enrollment", "These Are the Best High Schools in Illinois", "6 CPS High Schools Rank Among Top 10 in Illinois", "Lane Tech College Prep The School of Champions", "Chicago, Illinois Colleges and Universities", "Nielsen Media 20092010 Local Market Estimates", "Window to The World Communications presents WYCC MHz Worldview beginning April 23, 2018 | WTTW Chicago", "Shakey Ground: Arts Magazines Find Chicago's Landscape Still Hostile To New Ventures", "Chicago Daily News II: This Time It's Digital", "The Onion celebrates controversial Chicago move with banjo playing, steak tartare", "Where was Justice League filmed? Chicago is also home to a number of national radio shows, including Beyond the Beltway with Bruce DuMont on Sunday evenings. [citation needed], The city's distinctive accent, made famous by its use in classic films like The Blues Brothers and television programs like the Saturday Night Live skit "Bill Swerski's Superfans", is an advanced form of Inland Northern American English. [319], William Rainey Harper, the first president of the University of Chicago, was instrumental in the creation of the junior college concept, establishing nearby Joliet Junior College as the first in the nation in 1901. Two of the city's largest parks are also located on this side of the city: Jackson Park, bordering the waterfront, hosted the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and is the site of the aforementioned museum; and slightly west sits Washington Park. As the major meat companies grew in Chicago many, such as Armour and Company, created global enterprises. [252] In the 1980s, a modern form of poetry performance began in Chicago, the poetry slam. Three of the most heavily Catholic cities also are the nations three largest cities. Many Polish churches are found in Chicago, built in the Polish Cathedral style of architecture. The city grew significantly in size and population by incorporating many neighboring townships between 1851 and 1920, with the largest annexation happening in 1889, with five townships joining the city, including the Hyde Park Township, which now comprises most of the South Side of Chicago and the far southeast of Chicago, and the Jefferson Township, which now makes up most of Chicago's Northwest Side. By the time of the official census count in 1990, it was overtaken by Los Angeles as the United States' second largest city. Frank Gehry's detailed, stainless steel band shell, the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, hosts the classical Grant Park Music Festival concert series. Anarchist and socialist groups played prominent roles in creating very large and highly organized labor actions. THE 2020 U.S. number of members in ethno-racial group. The city's main convention center is McCormick Place. Students at the University of Chicago identify with various faith practices or do not actively identify with any faith practices at all. [87] Major construction projects, including the Sears Tower (now known as the Willis Tower, which in 1974 became the world's tallest building), University of Illinois at Chicago, McCormick Place, and O'Hare International Airport, were undertaken during Richard J. Daley's tenure. The vast majority of Chicago Hispanics are of Mexican descent. [288] Violent crime rates vary significantly by area of the city, with more economically developed areas having low rates, but other sections have much higher rates of crime. The name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the indigenous Miami-Illinois word shikaakwa for a wild relative of the onion; it is known to botanists as Allium tricoccum and known more commonly as "ramps". On June 4, 1998, the city officially opened the Museum Campus, a 10-acre (4ha) lakefront park, surrounding three of the city's main museums, each of which is of national importance: the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, the Field Museum of Natural History, and the Shedd Aquarium. The Irish are still very active in the city's politics. [222] A 2007 report on the Chicago music industry by the University of Chicago Cultural Policy Center ranked Chicago third among metropolitan U.S. areas in "size of music industry" and fourth among all U.S. cities in "number of concerts and performances". Future expansion will extend the Riverwalk south an additional 1.8 miles from Lake Street to Ping Tom Memorial Park in Chinatown. [362], To celebrate the sister cities, Chicago hosts a yearly festival in Daley Plaza, which features cultural acts and food tastings from the other cities. Because of this, ComEd reports indicate that Chicago receives about 75% of its electricity from nuclear power. Dominicans There is a small community of Dominicans in Chicago. Chicago is home to. The ceiling of its Preston Bradley Hall includes a 38-foot (12m) Tiffany glass dome. In 1893, Chicago hosted the World's Columbian Exposition on former marshland at the present location of Jackson Park. On the shore of Lake Michigan, Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837 near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. [262] The Fire have won one league title and four U.S.Open Cups, since their founding in 1997. [309] Northside College Preparatory High School is ranked second, Jones College Prep is third, and the oldest magnet school in the city, Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, which was opened in 1975, is ranked fourth. Chicago nicknames or aliases (official or unofficial): Chi-Town, City in a Garden, The City of the Big Shoulders, The City . [119] Today, Chicago's skyline is among the world's tallest and densest. [93] The area was shut down for three days and some buildings did not reopen for weeks; losses were estimated at $1.95billion. [341] The program ended on October 15, with nearly 800,000 rides taken. They come to see the nations oldest zoo to explore exotic plants at the grand Victorian glass conservatory, enjoy plays at the outdoor theater, row along the canal, stroll through the North Pond Nature Sanctuary and Butterfly conservatory, picnic on the playing fields, and frolic on North Avenue Beach. Concern for social problems among Chicago's immigrant poor led Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr to found Hull House in 1889. [10] Chicago also hosts the headquarters of the largest Lutheran body in the United States, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. [268] The building of the boulevard system continued intermittently until 1942. [88] In 1979, Jane Byrne, the city's first female mayor, was elected. 35.2%. Large swaths of the city's residential areas away from the lake are characterized by brick bungalows built from the early 20th century through the end of World War II. 42.07% of Loyola Chicago students come from out of state, and 3.78% come from out of the country. [304] According to the Chicago Police Department, carjackers are using face masks that are widely worn due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to effectively blend in with the public and conceal their identity. Chicago has the third most franchises in the four major North American sports leagues with five, behind the New York and Los Angeles Metropolitan Areas, and have six top-level professional sports clubs when including Chicago Fire FC of Major League Soccer (MLS). Of all households, 32.6% were made up of individuals, and 8.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. Taiwanese and Hong Kong immigrants settled in Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s. [301] According to the FBI, St. Louis, New Orleans, Detroit, and Baltimore had the highest murder rate along with several other cities. Several special studies provide datafor groups without central data offices, such as the Amish, Buddhist and Hindu groups, as well as Orthodox and non-denominational Christian churches. [31], After the War of 1812, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. [276] The council takes official action through the passage of ordinances and resolutions and approves the city budget.[277]. (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main Washington's first term in office directed attention to poor and previously neglected minority neighborhoods.