Chicago, Illinois
- This article is about the city, for other uses of the term see Chicago (disambiguation)
- "Hog butcher for the world,
Tool maker, stacker of wheat,
Player with railroads and the nation's freight handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the big shoulders."- —Carl Sandburg's "Chicago" (1916)
- "Hog butcher for the world,
Chicago is the third largest city in the United States with an official population of 2,896,016 as of the 2000 US Census and when combined with its suburbs a metro area population rapidly approaching ten million. Recent (2003) population estimates put the number for the city proper at 2,869,121 while suburban populations continue to grow with estimates at 9,650,137 for the combined city and suburbs, although there is skepticism about the accuracy of this estimate with regard to the city proper. (See the Demographics section for more details.) The city is also host to five teams from the four major professional sports leagues.
Chicago is located in the state of Illinois on the shores of Lake Michigan. Chicago is recognized as an alpha world city, and when combined with its surrounding suburbs and with Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Chicago is part of a megalopolis.
The city of Chicago is the county seat of Cook County. The Chicago metropolitan area is known colloquially as Chicagoland, after a term promoted by the Chicago Tribune in the early 20th century. Today Chicago has many different nicknames and is a city recognized around the world for it's magnificent skyline, unique cuisine and an urban style that is all its own.
Four ships called the USS Chicago were named after the city by the U.S. Navy.
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| City nickname: "The Windy City" | |||||
| City motto: Urbs In Horto ("City in a Garden") | |||||
Location in the state of Illinois | |||||
| County | Cook County, Illinois | ||||
| Area - Total - Water | 606.1 km² (234.0 mi²) 17.8 km² (6.9 mi²) 2.94% | ||||
| Population
- Total (2000)
- Density |
4,923.0/km² | ||||
| Time zone | Central: UTC-6 | ||||
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Latitude
|
41°54' N | ||||
| External link: City web page (http://egov.cityofchicago.org/) | |||||
History
By the middle of the 1700s, the Chicago area was inhabited primarily by Potawatomis, who thus took the place of the Miami and Sauk and Fox who had controlled the area previously. The name Chicago originates from "Checagou" (Chick-Ah-Goo-Ah) or "Checaguar" which in the language of the Potawatomi Indians means 'wild onions' or 'skunk'. The area was so named because of the smell of rotting marshland onions that used to cover it. The first non-native settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, a Haitian of African descent, who settled on the Chicago River in the 1770s and married a local Potawatomi woman. In 1795, following the War of the Wabash Confederacy, the area of Chicago was ceded by the Native Americans in the Treaty of Greenville to the United States for a military post. In 1803, Fort Dearborn was built and remained in use until 1837, except between 1812 and 1816 when it was destroyed in the Fort Dearborn Massacre during the War of 1812.
On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago was incorporated as a town with a population of 350. Within 7 years of being incorporated, the primarily French and Native American town had a population of over 4,000. Chicago was granted a city charter by Illinois on March 4, 1837. The opening of the Illinois and Michigan Canal in 1848, allowed shipping from the Great Lakes through Chicago to the Mississippi River and so to 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 nationwide retailers offering catalog shopping using these connections like Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck and Company.
Because of the geography of Chicago, early citizens faced many problems. The prairie bog nature of the area provided a fertile ground for disease-carrying insects. Early on, Chicago's population and commerce growth was stymied by lack of good transportation infrastructure. History shows that this problem was soon remedied. In the spring Chicago was so muddy from the high water that horses would often be stuck up to their bellies in the street. One dirt road was so hazardous that it became known as the "Slough of Despond". Comical signs proclaiming "Fastest route to China" or "No Bottom Here" were placed out to warn passersby of the deep mud.
To address these transportation problems, the board of Cook County commissioners, at its second meeting after being created by the Illinois General Assembly on January 15, 1831, decided to improve two country roads toward the west and southwest. The first road went west, crossing the "dismal Nine-mile Swamp," crossed the Des Plaines River, and went southwest to Walker's Grove, which is today known as Plainfield. There is a dispute about the route of the second road to the south.
Early Chicago was also plagued by sewer and water problems. Many people described it as the filthiest city in America. To solve this problem Chicago embarked on the creation of a massive sewer system. In the first phase sewage pipes were laid across the city above ground with gravity moving the waste. Then in 1855 the level of the city was raised four to seven feet (one to two meters), with individual buildings jacked up and fill brought in to raise streets above the swamp and the newly laid sewer pipes.
Next the city decided to work on their water problem. Because Lake Michigan — the primary source of fresh water for the city — was already highly polluted from the rapidly growing industries in and around Chicago, a new way of procuring clean water was needed. The city embarked on a large tunnel excavation project and started building tunnels underneath Lake Michigan to newly built water cribs. The water cribs were two miles (three kilometers) off the shore of Lake Michigan but they still didn't bring enough clean water because spring rains would wash the polluted water from the Chicago River into them. To solve this problem the direction of flow of the Chicago River was reversed in 1900 by the Army Corps of Engineers to prevent sewage from running into Lake Michigan.
By 1857 Chicago was the largest city in then what was known as the Northwest. In a period of twenty years Chicago grew from 4,000 people to over 90,000.
The 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago nominated home state candidate Abraham Lincoln.
In 1871, most of the city burned in the Great Chicago Fire. By this time the city had grown to a population of over 300,000. As a result of the fire much of the city needed to be rebuilt; this gave city planners a clean slate to fix the problems of the past. In the following years, Chicago architecture would become influential throughout the world because of this. The first skyscraper in the world was constructed in 1885 using novel steel skeleton construction.
On December 2, 1942, the world's first controlled nuclear reaction was conducted at the University of Chicago as part of the top secret Manhattan Project.
Mayor Richard J. Daley was elected in 1955, in the era of so-called machine politics. During Daley's tenure (he died in office in 1976), the 1968 Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago, four major expressways were built, the Sears Tower became the world's tallest building and O'Hare Airport (which later became the world's busiest airport) was constructed. In 1983, Harold Washington became the first black mayor of Chicago. Richard M. Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, became mayor in 1989.
To see a list of additional important events visit the Chicago Timeline.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 606.1 km² (234.0 mi²). 588.3 km² (227.1 mi²) of it is land and 17.8 km² (6.9 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 2.94% water.
Urban setting
As mentioned below in the Street Layout subsection in the Transportation section, Madison Street in the heart of Chicago separates the city into North and South sides. More than just an address landmark, it serves as Chicago's own version of the Mason-Dixon Line. Part of this is in someway linked to history of segregation in Chicago; the South Side has large African-American neighborhoods while the North Side tends to be hugely Caucasian. Unfortunately, history has not been too kind to the South Side, so while it is undergoing a resurgeance in recent years, it was the sight of many urban renewal projects that decimated the urban geography as well as upset the local economy. This is not particularly helped by the fact that common literature tends to spread the notion that the South Side is largely undesirable or unsafe (usually stemming from the segregationist sentiments about all-African American areas) despite the fact that large areas of the South Side are stable and/or middle-to-upper class. Regardless, residents identify with their side, and this fact is expressed in the tendency for South Siders to be strict adherents to the Chicago White Sox (whose stadium is on the South Side), and the tendency for North Siders to be strict adherents to the Chicago Cubs (whose stadium is on the North Side).
The West Side, that is, the area loosely west of the Loop and South Loop, while long considered a part of either the South Side or not even considered at all, as well as home to some of the most neglected and blighted neighborhoods in the city, is beginning to develop its identity, thanks in part to massive economic development in the Near West Side (bordering the Loop), city investment in the area, and a surging immigrant population. In fact, office/high-rise development in Chicago is slowly creeping across the river into the Near West Side, where transit connections are as strong, if not stronger, than the actual Loop itself.
When it comes to skyscrapers, Chicago is king, being the first US city to reach new heights, shortly joined by New York City. Chicago, along with New York City and Hong Kong, makes up the "big three" when it comes to city skylines.
Realistically by modern standards, Chicago has very little reason to build up: being located in the Midwest, Chicago has plenty of room to sprawl outwards on almost Euclideanesque flat ground. There is, of course, the Chicago River, which may bring some argument as to geographic restriction, but the impact of which was strongly lessened by the strict adherence to the Chicago grid across the river. Mostly though, Chicago runs on energy and inertia. Even today, Chicago is going through a massive skyscraper building boom, with projects like 55 East Erie (the tallest residential building in the US outside New York City) and Trump International Hotel (to be completed in 2007, to be the fourth tallest in Chicago and the tallest building built in the US for nearly three decades) breaking ground frequently. All this can really be attributed to precedent: Chicago has always had a history of frantic skyscraper building, mostly beginning after the Great Chicago Fire, and since this time developers simply follow the pattern set before them.
Community areas
Chicago is divided into seventy-seven community areas. The community areas were defined by sociologists at the University of Chicago during the 1920s, and at that time corresponded to neighborhoods. Now, many of the communities no longer correspond to any neighborhood, and many have fallen out of use as a useful signifier. However, census data and zipcodes are tied to the community areas, and they are considered more durable than the names of neighborhoods which can change very rapidly.
For purposes of relevancy, community area designation is useful more as a historical curiosity, since its use for census data and zipcodes are quite independent of the actual character of the once neighborhood. A full listing and a map is available in the article Chicago community areas.
Neighborhoods
Chicago has many informal or traditional neighborhoods that do not correspond to a community area.
Major parks
Chicago boasts the largest park district in the United States and is managed by the Chicago Park District. The Park District manages over 220 facilities throughout the city with 7,300 acres (2,954 hectares) of parkland. Each year the Park District holds thousands of special events for the citizens. The Park District also has the excellent reputation of spending the most per capita on its parks, beating out even Boston in terms of park expenses per capita. Some of the more famous parks and facilities include:
- Millennium Park (newly opened in 2004, just north of the Art Institute of Chicago)
- Grant Park (downtown, the site of the Taste of Chicago and Buckingham Fountain)
- Lincoln Park (north of downtown, in the Lincoln Park community area)
Metropolitan area
Chicago is the center of a large metropolitan area, most often called Chicagoland. It is the focal point for suburban communities in seven surrounding counties in Illinois and at least one county in Indiana and one in Wisconsin. The 2000 U.S. census estimates Chicagoland's population at 9,157,540. With such a wide area of flat land, the suburbs have been expanding at a tremendous rate since around 1960. Settlement patterns in Chicagoland mirror those in the city itself to some extent: northern suburbs along the lake shore tend to be more affluent, while southern suburbs tend to be less so, with lower median incomes and a lower cost of living.
Demographics
People living in the Chicago area are sometimes called "Chicagoans".
As of the census2 of 2000, there are 2,896,016 people, 1,061,928 households, and 632,909 families residing in the city of Chicago proper. The population density is 4,923.0/km² (12,750.3/mi²). There are 1,152,868 housing units at an average density of 1,959.8/km² (5,075.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 41.97% White, 36.77% Black or African American, 0.36% Native American, 4.35% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 13.58% from other races, and 2.92% from two or more races. 26.02% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 1,061,928 households out of which 28.9% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.1% are married couples living together, 18.9% have a female householder with no husband present, and 40.4% are non-families. 32.6% of all households are made up of individuals and 8.7% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.67 and the average family size is 3.50.
In the city the population is spread out with 26.2% under the age of 18, 11.2% from 18 to 24, 33.4% from 25 to 44, 18.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.3% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 32 years. For every 100 females there are 94.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 91.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $38,625, and the median income for a family is $42,724. Males have a median income of $35,907 versus $30,536 for females. The per capita income for the city is $20,175. 19.6% of the population and 16.6% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 28.1% of those under the age of 18 and 15.5% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
As of census estimates of 2003, there are 2,869,121 people estimated to be residing in the city. However, this number has been met with some skepticism. First, this would mean a marked change in the 1990-2000 trend of population growth. Second, it seems contrary to the expectations of residents who are witnessing the largest building boom in Chicago since the Great Fire. Third, the census bureau uses different standards when estimation population numbers, and the newer population methodlogies are critiqued for understating the presence of minorities in urban centers, of which Chicago has many. Fourth, years earlier, the census had estimated a constant decline in population for Chicago until the official census of 2000 proved it wrong (vastly). Fifth, the suburban population according to this same estimate growth is continuing at a rapid pace and with new revitalization projects in place and new architecture and upper and upper-middle class townhomes and duplexes appearing on the cities near West and Northern sides with many new people moving into the city proper. Thus, there is reason for healthy skepticism about this numbers, especially since some forms of federal funds are dependent on population numbers.
Law & government
The City of Chicago is divided into executive and legislative branches. The mayor is the Chief Executive, elected by general election for a term of four years. The mayor appoints commissioners who oversee the various departments. The current mayor is Richard M. Daley.
The city council is the legislative branch and made up of 50 aldermen, one elected from each ward in the city. The city council makes local ordinances and passes the city budget.
Government priorities and activities are established in a budget ordinance usually adopted in November of each year. The city takes official action through the passage of ordinances and resolutions.
In addition to the mayor, Chicago's two other city-wide elected officials are the clerk and the treasurer.
Chicago is considered to be one of the largest Democratic strongholds in the United States, as an example, the citizens of Chicago have not elected a Republican mayor since 1927 when William Thompson was voted into office. See this complete list of former Chicago mayors.
Sister cities
Chicago actively pursues the sister cities program and has, in fact, the largest number of sister city connections of any city in the United States. Chicago's sister cities are listed in full here.
Arts & culture
For its relative youth compared to eastern cities and older Californian cities, Chicago has made many significant pop-cultural contributions. In the field of music, Chicago is very well-known for its Chicago blues, but it is also the origin of House style of music, whose history is related to the development and fostering of an electronic style of music in nearby Detroit. In addition, in the field of culinary arts, Chicago provides the antithesis to New York styles of pizza and hot dogs, being synonymous with deep dish pizza in addition to being linked to a robustly complex hot dog that challenges the relative simplicity of a New York coney dog. In addition, Chicago schools have developed in various aspects of study, such as the famed Chicago school of architecture and the Chicago schools of economic theory, literary criticism and urban sociology, the three latter founded by the University of Chicago.
Chicago is a well-known theater town and is a national nexus for improvisational comedy. It is home to The Second City and ImprovOlympic, two of the largest comedy training programs in the country.
Historically, Chicago is remembered for machine politics ("Vote early and vote often" and "A city run of the Daleys, by the Daleys, for the Daleys" are two phrases associated with Chicago politics), meat packing (as mentioned in the nicknames section and made infamous by Upton Sinclair's The Jungle), and gangster violence during Prohibition (some key figures are linked to Chicago, such as Al Capone and John Dillinger).
See also: List of fiction set in Chicago
Sports
The following sports teams are based in Chicago:
- National Football League
- National Basketball Association
- National Hockey League
- Major League Soccer
- Major League Baseball
Business & commerce
Chicago has been a hub for commerce in the United States for most of its modern history. Before it was incorporated as a town in 1833 the primary industry was fur trading. Chicago's early explosive growth led many land speculators and enterprising individuals to the area. Located on the Great Lakes and with so many new people settling the area Chicago became an ideal location for shipping and receiving goods to other parts of the country and world. With that, many railroads started to be built from Chicago to other parts of the country further aiding in the growth of the city. Additionally, the building of the Illinois and Michigan Canal helped move goods south down the Mississippi River.
During the 1840s Chicago became the largest grain port in the world shipping food from the Mississippi Valley region which was also growing into the largest food producing region in the world. In 1848 Chicago built its first grain elevator and 1858 there were twelve grain elevators dotting the skyline. Carl Sandburg described Chicago as a "stacker of wheat" and some would argue that the grain elevators built were Chicago's first skyscrapers.
In the 1850s and 1860s Chicago's pork and beef industry exploded. Great entrepreneurs such as Gustavus F. Swift and Philip Armour helped the area to become the largest producer of meat products in the world at the time. By 1862 Chicago had displaced Cincinnati, Ohio as "Porkapolis". During the 60s two factors helped push this more than anything else: first, the Civil War increased the demand for food products and Chicago's vast transportation ensured that goods could be delivered to soldiers quickly all over the northern United States; the second factor in increasing Chicago's meat production was the utilization of ice in meat packing plants. Before this time meat production/distribution facilities, otherwise known as disassembly plants, had to shut down in the hot summer months. Increased operating months created hundreds of thousands of new man-hours in which people could work.
The efficiency of Chicago's meat packing industry, and particularly the dis-assembly plants inspired others such as Henry Ford later on when he developed his assembly lines for the Model-T. Today, we consider industries such as steel, oil and banking to be the great global market segments. But, in the 1860s Chicago's pork and beef industry represented the first global industry. As the major meat companies grew in Chicago many, like Armour, created global companies and communicated with divisions spread across the globe via telegraph.
Modern day futures and commodity trading markets were pioneered in Chicago. A number of events led to this along with Chicago's grand transportation systems and geographic proximity to the rest of the country. Because of this, massive amounts of goods that passed through Chicago from places such as the Mississippi Valley and St. Louis, Missouri. All of this grain was stored and people began buying contracts on the grain stored there. Later people as far away as New York City began buying contracts by telegraph on the goods that would be stored there in the future. From this the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was established and the modern systems we use today for futures and commodity trading.
Health
The United States has the largest healthcare system in the world and Chicago is arguably the capital of that system. The city is home to the sprawling Illinois Medical District on the Near West Side as well as the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, the American Dental Association, the American College of Surgeons. In addition, the University of Illinois is the largest medical school in North America as well as many other health-related organizations, schools and institutions.
Transportation
Chicago has long been considered the transportation hub of America. Much of this stems from its geographic importance during a time when the United States was growing quickly. The Illinois and Michigan Canal, completed in 1848, allowed for transport around the world with connecting waterways through Chicago all the way to New York and the Atlantic, west to St. Louis and south to New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. Chicago then became one of the largest grain and lumber ports in the world with grain sent to more established populations and lumber being sent to the forest-starved prairies where new settlers needed to build.
In the 1850s the railroads started growing from Chicago faster than anywhere else in the world. By 1856 Chicago was the railroad hub of America and by the end of the decade more than 100 trains were coming and going each and every day. This network allowed Chicago to become the center of the meatpacking industry.
In the 20th century Chicago held on to its status as a transportation hub with the building of three major airports: O'Hare Airport, Midway Airport, and Meigs Field. Meigs Field, which was closed by Mayor Richard M. Daley in a night coup, was a relatively small airstrip but unique because of its proximity to Chicago's downtown and, as a private airstrip, it was one of the busiest in the world. With it closed, plans to use the land are to create new parkspace along the lake.
In the 21st century Chicago is working towards maintaining its status as a transportation hub for the United States and the world by working to expand O'Hare International Airport. Additionally, a new airport is being proposed for Peotone, Illinois and the city administration is working towards expanding its ties with the Gary/Chicago International Airport in Gary, Indiana.
Airports
| Name | Airport Code (Location Identifier) |
| Meigs Field (closed; see the introduction to the Transportation section above) | CGX |
| Midway Airport | MDW |
| O'Hare International Airport | ORD |
Mass transit
The Regional Transportation Authority ("RTA"), installed by referendum in 1974 helps fund these subordinate agencies:
- The Chicago Transit Authority ("CTA") serves the City of Chicago and its adjacent suburbs with 146 bus routes and the Chicago 'L', a network of seven rapid transit lines. The 'EL'evated nature of much of the system as well as the L-shaped curves that make up the loop of elevated tracks in downtown Chicago give the system its nickname, the L. The seven rapid transit lines are referred to by color (Blue, Red, Brown, Purple, Yellow, Green, and Orange). The Purple line, connecting Chicago to Evanston, Illinois and Wilmette, Illinois, runs through the Loop only during rush hour. The Blue and Red lines are the only 24/7 lines, although this gives Chicago the rare distinction of having 24/7 lines (only New York City shares this distinction). Currently, the Blue line has been undergoing massive infrastructure renovation. The Brown line, due to massively increased ridership, is proposed for an ambitious renewal and capacity expansion project and has already been promised federal funding. An increase in ridership in general (despite minor drops early 2004) has led to extension in service hours, especially on the increasingly popular Brown and Purple lines. A new, eighth line has been proposed, the Circle line, which would form a large circle around the Loop (a small rectangular nexus for the Chicago 'L') and connect other various lines and Metra trains.
- The Northeastern Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation, under its trademark Metra, operates eleven commuter rail lines that serve 200+ stations across the RTA's six-county service area. Unlike the 'L' lines, fare pricing is based on zones instead of a flat boarding fee. In addition, being mainly commuter rail service, frequent service is generally only provided during rush hours, although Metra is known for its speed and reliability. The eleven lines (while there are eleven, the Metra Electric line has three different branches) connect into one of four different downtown stations: Union Pacific North, West, and Northwest arrive in the Richard B. Oglivie Transportation Center (known more casually as the "Northwestern Station"); Milwaukee District North and West, North Central Service, Southwest Service, Burlington Northern, and Heritage Corridor converge in Union Station (along with being the nexus of Amtrak); the Rock Island Line arrives in the La Salle Street Station; and the Metra Electric arrives in the Randolph Street Station.
- The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District ("NICTD"), separate from the RTA, operates the South Shore Line, an interurban line that runs between Chicago and South Bend, Indiana. It arrives and departs from the Randolph Street Station.
- Pace buses serve suburban Chicagoland.
Street layout
The streets of Chicago for the most part follow the grid system which was established by the City Council in 1908 and implemented on September, 1st 1909. The baseline from which all streets and houses in Chicago are numbered are State Street, which runs North and South, and Madison Street, which runs East and West. Street numbers begin at "1" at the base lines and run numerically in directions indicated to the city limits. Letters, N,S,E and/or W indicate directions.
The City of Chicago is divided into one mile sections which contain 8 blocks to the mile. Every average block is assigned a new series of 100 numbers. Therefore, every 800 in numbers is approximately one mile. There are three exceptions to the 800-to-a-mile rule: Madison (0 N/S) to Roosevelt (1200 S) is one mile, as is Roosevelt to Cermak (2200 S), and Cermak to 31st Street (3100 S). The normal 800 rule resumes south of 31st Street so that 39th Street (3900 S) is one mile south of 31st.
Even numbers are found on the North and West sides of the street. Odd numbers are found on the South and East sides.
Lowest and highest house numbers for all streets are given regardless of the continuity of the street.
South of Madison street many of the streets are simply numbered. These streets run East and West and the number of the street indicates its location and distance.
Many of the suburbs of Chicago continue with the Chicago numbering system, and their exact location can be determined by street names and numbers. However, some suburbs do have their own numbering system.
Highways
The city of Chicago proper has seven major interstate highways crossing through it, but segments of each highway are named after influential politicans. Each segment represents a major link to the city center, so traffic reports tend to refer to the local highways by segment name instead of number.
Interstate Highways
- Interstate 90 enters the Chicagoland area from the northwest by O'Hare Airport and travels through Chicago's Northwest Side. It is called the Northwest Tollway west of the Interstate 190 junction; east of that junction it is called the Kennedy Expressway. It joins with Interstate 94 on the north side. The expressway intersects with Interstate 290 at a junction called the Circle Interchange, close to the Chicago loop. Near the loop, Interstate 55 junctions with the Dan Ryan at a junction called the Spaghetti Junction. The expressway turns south and is then referred to as the Dan Ryan Expressway until it splits off, turns southeast, and exits Chicago directly into the state of Indiana as the Chicago Skyway.
- Interstate 94 enters the Chicagoland area from the north at the junction with U.S. Highway 41. West of that junction it is known as the Edens Spur; south of that junction it is known as the Edens Expressway until it joins with Interstate 90 on the north side of Chicago and becomes part of the Kennedy Expressway. It remains the Kennedy Expressway north of Interstate 290; south of that expressway, it becomes the Dan Ryan Expressway. After the Chicago Skyway splits off from the Dan Ryan, Interstate 94 turns southeast at its junction with Interstate 57 while Interstate 57 turns turns southwest. Outside of Chicago, Interstate 94 intersects with Interstate 80 and the Tri-State Tollway, turning east and becoming part of the Kingery and Borman expressways.
- Interstate 55 enters the Chicago area from the southwest, by Midway Airport. It runs southwest to northeast, and ends after the junction with the Dan Ryan Expressway at U.S. Highway 41, Lake Shore Drive. Interstate 55 is known as the Adlai Stevenson expressway, after a former governor of Illinois.
- Interstate 57 enters the Chicago area from the southwest, further south than Interstate 55. It ends at its junction with Interstate 94.
- Interstate 190 is technically referred to as the western end of the Kennedy Expressway. The short, three mile highway connects the Northwest Tollway and the mainline Kennedy Expressway with O'Hare Airport.
- Interstate 290 enters the Chicagoland area on the western edge of the city. It is known as the Eisenhower Expressway, and was known as Congress Parkway before that. Interstate 290 terminates at the Circle Interchange, but a four lane road passes through the junction into the heart of Chicago just south of the Loop. West of the city, Interstate 290 intersects with Interstate 88 and Interstate 294, and splits off to become the Eisenhower Extension; it then intersects with Interstate 355 and becomes a non-toll portion of the North-South Tollway, which is occasionally referred to by its old name north of the tollway, Illinois 53.
- Interstate 294 does not actually pass through the city of Chicago except where it crosses Interstate 190. The Tri-State Tollway was built to circumvent the city entirely, joining with Interstate 94 a few miles south and north of the city.
U.S. Highways
- U.S. Highway 41 enters through the southeastern part of the city from Indiana as a part of U.S. 12 and U.S. 20, underneath the bridge linking the Chicago Skyway and the Indiana Toll Road. It traverses the southeast side of the city until it becomes South Shore Drive, and eventually Lake Shore Drive. U.S. 41 then exits the city into neighboring Evanston.
- U.S. Highway 14 splits off from U.S. Highway 41 at Bryn Mawr Avenue by Lake Michigan on the north side of the city. U.S. 14 then recrosses U.S. 41 and eventually exits the city as the Northwest Highway.
- U.S. Highway 12 and U.S. Highway 20 enter the city proper on the far south side at 95th Street. They stay together until they join U.S. 41 in the south side, and exit together into Indiana. U.S. 12 crosses back into Chicago by O'Hare Airport multiplexed with U.S. 45.
- U.S. Highway 45 remains mostly outside of Chicago, crossing Interstate 190 as a part of U.S. 12 and U.S. 20. It follows the Des Plaines River as the Des Plaines River Road or Mannheim Road.
Interesting facts
- On the first day of implementing the modern street numbering system 75% of the mail was incorrectly addressed.
- There were thirteen streets named Washington at the turn of the 20th century.
- Chicago's longest thoroughfare is Western Avenue at 23.5 miles.
See also: Route 66, Chicago El stations, Fort Sheridan, Illinois
External links
- Wikitravel Page on Chicago
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