When you think of Chicago, what comes to mind? Towering glass and steel structures? Bitter cold temperatures and overpowering winds? Da Bears? How about wild garlic and onions? No? That's where Chicago got its name. While traveling to Lake Michigan by way of the Chicago River, Canadian explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette discovered that the Potawatomi Indians called the area around the mouth of the river "Checaugou" after the wild garlic and onions growing there.

When the Revolutionary War ended, the United States decided to focus most of its attention on the West. The country wanted to create a strong military base, and it decided Lake Michigan was the perfect location. Thus, in 1803, Fort Dearborn was constructed on the south bank of the Chicago River. Only 30 years after Fort Dearborn was born, it had grown into a fully functional town called Chicago.

Three years after that, construction began on the Illinois and Michigan Canal, an inland waterway made to link the Great Lakes to the Illinois River. Chicago's population exploded. Real estate lots that had sold for $33 in 1829 were going for well over $100,000. The young town had officially matured into a city. The canal opened in 1848, leading to the founding of the Chicago Board of Trade, whose goal was to handle the sale of grain after the canal improved Illinois farmers' access to Eastern markets.

In 1851, Chicago donated land to the Illinois Central Railroad. Workers who had worked on the canal were snatched up to start work on the first land-grant railroad. Similar railroads soon followed, all coming from Chicago, which quickly blossomed into America's freight and passenger train center. It kept that title for the next 100 years. Also in 1851, the area's first university, Northwestern University, was opened.

October 8, 1871, marked a turning point for the city of Chicago. The city had continued to flourish during the Civil War and the opening of the Union Stockyards, but on October 8, everything changed. The Chicago fire burned for three days. It left 300 people dead, 90,000 people homeless and 18,000 buildings destroyed.

But the people of Chicago had built grand canals and revolutionary railroads and mammoth skyscrapers. Their city may have burned down, but their spirits remained undaunted. "By morning 100,000 people will be without food and shelter," Mayor Roswell Mason pleaded in a telegraph sent east. "Can you help us?" Millions of Americans decided they could help. They sent money and prayers to the people of Chicago, who used both to rebuild their city. By the end of the 1800s the windy city's population had skyrocketed to almost 2 million people.

Ed Kelly became mayor in 1933, creating a Democratic "Machine" that held the political power for the next 50 years. In 1942, the first nuclear chain reaction occurred at the University of Chicago, beginning the Atomic Age. In 1973, the people who stood tall during the devastating fire constructed a building that stood taller than any other in history. The 110-story Sears Tower created countless jobs that led to even more growth and prosperity, carving out Chicago's place as one of the greatest cities in the United States. Chicago is now the nation's third-largest city with a population of just under 3 million.

Famous Chicago natives:

• Hillary Rodham Clinton
• Walt Disney
• Harrison Ford
• Miles Davis
• Bill Murray

• Roller skates
• Zippers
• Cracker Jacks
• Pinball

Sources:
(http://www.chicagotraveler.com)

(http://www.chicago-travel-services.com/)

(http://www.lonelyplanet.com)