Things to do / Travel Guide
From the famed Chicago fire and the gangster past during Prohibition to southern Wisconsin's infamous labor union disputes, the history involved in this region is better than any novel. Full of adventure and the struggle to survive and flourish - you'll be thirsting for the next chapter!
Metro Chicago and Southern Wisconsin: Early Years
Until the 18th century, most of the region was inhabited by the Potowatomi Indians, however the site along the Chicago River was originally deemed unfit for settlement and dismissed by the Native Americans because it was seen as a feverish swamp. The French were the first to colonize in the region. Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, a French-Haitian explorer, is credited for being the first non-Native American to settle the land near Chicago, establishing a trading post on the Chicago River to send fur back to the east.
Europeans first came to southern Wisconsin in the late 18th century, and in the 1820s the area became a very important for the mining of minerals. The land was deemed perfect for the raising of cattle, which gave rise to Wisconsin becoming American's dairy land.
The area of the metro Chicago and southern Wisconsin region officially became part of the U.S. Northwest Territory after the Revolutionary War. Around the turn of the 19th century, as more pioneers started venturing westward, the United States Army constructed Fort Dearborn in Chicago. This stood until 1812, when a gang of Potowatomi Indians burned the fort and attacked the fleeing residents, killing many of them; this attack was called the Fort Dearborn Massacre.
In 1816, a peace deal was struck with the Native Americans, but it was another few years until Chicago saw a large resettlement of Yankees from New England. These Americans came in search of a quieter life, and Chicago began its life as a transportation hub to the West and along the Great Lakes. Around the time of the American Civil War, another large migration came through Wisconsin, consisting mainly of Europeans of German and Polish descent. A bit prior to this, in the year 1857 Chicago's population had grown to 90,000, and as a sign of its prosperity the 1860 Republican National Convention took place in the city. It nominated Illinois' honored son, honest Abe Lincoln.
Unfortunately, in 1871 unthinkable disaster struck this flourishing city: A huge conflagration broke out in the downtown area, its heat and flames destroying everything in its path. The newspapers at the time claimed the fire was the mischief of the cow of one Mrs. O'Leary, but this bogus story has been laid to rest by modern-day historians who say it might have been the work of a meteor shower, caused by Biela's Comet that sparked several other fires in the region that same night. If that's too farfetched for you – blame Pegleg Sullivan for the fire.
The Great Chicago Fire, as it has ever since been called, disrupted all aspects of life for Chicagoans. It raged for nearly three days, leaving several hundred dead and several square miles of Chicago razed. Over 90,000 people were left homeless, and 18,000 buildings were destroyed. One of the only surviving buildings was the Gothic Water Tower and Pumping Station, on Michigan Street, now an historic landmark. For days after the quenching of the Fire, survivors used the tower as a guidepost by which they could find the remains of their destroyed homes.
Metro Chicago and Southern Wisconsin: The Middle Years
By the late 1880's, as Chicago finally concluded its early recover from the tragedy of the previous decade, the city experienced its first form of social unrest and rioting. Unfair work hours and wages caused labor unions to strike, while immigrants poured into Chicago, at a rate of thousands a week, living in filthy conditions. Changes were made, thanks to area volunteers like Jane Addams Hull, who created schools and soup kitchens for immigrants.
In 1893, Chicago had the chance to show the world they had recovered from the Great Fire when they played host to the World's Columbian Exposition, held in Jackson Park. It featured the world's first moving pictures, George Ferris's first wheel as well as the introduction of Juicy Fruit gum. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, sent it's best to Chicago that year in the form of Pabst beer, which won the blue ribbon. The title of the beer changed shortly thereafter to its modern day moniker: Pabst Blue Ribbon.
At the start of the twentieth century, Milwaukee started gaining national attention because of its labor unions and their deadly militia offshoots. Much like the mob, if you turned against the militia men, you paid for it. The mechanical industry started changing during this time, and in 1903, Harley-Davidson Motorcycles was introduced to the world in Milwaukee.
Metro Chicago and Southern Wisconsin: Prohibition, Depression, World War II
The year 1920 saw the beginning of Prohibition. Southern Wisconsin - known for its export of beer, went dry, and switched to root beer, making the soft-drink a popular beverage alternative. However, Prohibition, and the whole “Roaring ‘20's” atmosphere, made Chicago front page news around the world. This was thanks in part to the mobsters of the Chicago Outfit, who with the help of corrupt cops, were able to provide Chicago with illegal alcohol throughout the dry years. Another major element of the times, and Chicago, was jazz. It was a style of music that had been brought to the region via the large influx of African Americans taking part in the Great Migration, as they searched for better economic and social opportunities.
With the Great Depression reeking havoc throughout the United States, the 1933 World's Fair, held once again in Chicago, and provided a great distraction for citizens and visitors. During the Depression years, Chicago was the scene of dangerous divisions among its citizens along ethnic and racial lines, and because Chicago and Southern Wisconsin were areas reliant on manufacturing for employment, they were among the hardest hit economically in the United States. Over 50 percent of the African-American population were left unemployed, and the City of Chicago was strapped for cash and could not afford to pay city workers, like public school teachers, who were owed eight and a half months back pay.
As frustrations grew, the citizens of Chicago, and those of Southern Wisconsin as well, took matters into their own hands with some of the most volatile strikes and protests in United States history. Unions became more popular, and by 1940 one-third of the workers in Chicago were unionized. To this day Chicago and southern Wisconsin still retain a large union presence.
Affluence returned to Chicagoland during World War II, with factories creating new jobs for the city's own unemployed and for incoming European migrants looking to escape the horrors of war. Chicago also had its war-time secrets. On the technological front, the University of Chicago conducted the world's first controlled nuclear reaction in 1942, as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project.
Metro Chicago and Southern Wisconsin: Beyond World War II
Chicago enjoyed a surge of affluence after the war until the election of Richard J. Daley in the 1950's. Daley was known for his use of machine politics in Chicago. To be balanced, on the one hand, Chicago's corruption while he was mayor was legendary; on the other, that Chicago never sank to the levels of poverty and unemployment of other Rust-Belt cities is often attributed to his leadership.
This decline in the economy brought a lot of factory closures in cities such as Detroit and Cleveland. Wisconsin faced deterioration of its major cities, while suburbanization became increasingly popular. Neither was Chicago immune to these trends. Crime, and all the signs of a sick society, flowered throughout the region.
The unrest of the 1960s saw Chicago as a major battleground. In a piece written during the decade, “Time” magazine reported that Chicago had the most corrupt police in the United States. This became apparent during the 1968 Democratic National Convention when protesters were savagely beaten, as were attendees at the convention - all by Chicago Police.
Similarly, the University of Wisconsin, Madison Campus, grew a reputation during the Vietnam War for being a radical campus. Professors and students held peaceful teach-ins but conflicts with police during protests brought on immense violence, and police brutality. In 1970, a bomb exploded on campus, killing a graduate student working in the Army Mathematics Research Center. This incident discredited the on-campus peace movement. Civil rights protesters also met police brutality, as well as violence from their white neighbors.
Affluence was once again brought back to Chicago in the 1980s thanks to a mid-decade economic boom that brought many yuppies to the city for work. The 1989 mayoral election of Richard J. Daley brought migration back to Chicago. Daley, like his father, has an uncanny ability to get things done, and he has been an easy going mayor who has done wonders for Chicago. Daley created new parks, cleaned up the Windy City, and made Chicago a family-friendly city.
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