Portal:Chicago

The Chicago Portal

Chicago's population of nearly 3 million people and over 9 million people in its metropolitan area make it the third-most populous city and metropolitan area in the United States. Adjacent to Lake Michigan, it is the largest Great Lakes city and among the world's 25 largest urban areas by population. Incorporated as a city in 1837 after being founded in 1833 at the site of a portage, it became a transportation hub in North America and the financial capital of the Midwest. Since the World's Fair of 1893, it has been regarded as one of the ten most influential cities in the world. Among its influences are Chicago Pile-1, the first artificial nuclear reactor, and Chicago school architecture. It boast some of the world's tallest buildings (Chicago Spire, Sears Tower, and Trump International Hotel and Tower). The University of Chicago is a leader in many fields and has contributed to academic thought, such as the Chicago school of economics or Chicago school of sociology.

Today, Chicago has diverse cultural offerings: teams from each of the major league sports (Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs, and White Sox), a financial district anchored by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on LaSalle Street in the Chicago Board of Trade Building, and an arts culture anchored by the Art Institute of Chicago and Millennium Park as well as Chicago Landmarks such as Wrigley Field. The Magnificent Mile is a fitting tribute for a city that has revolutionized retail merchandising with mail order catalogs, the money-back guarantee, bridal registry and using posted prices on goods.

Chicago hosts O'Hare (the world's second busiest) and Midway International Airports as well as the renowned 'L' rapid transit system. Chicago was once the capital of the railroad industry and the nation's meatpacking was hubbed at the Union Stock Yards. Chicago has seen the influence of Al Capone and the Cook County Democratic Organization run by Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley. More recent Democrats from Cook County include the first African-American female United States Senator, Carol Mosley-Braun, and the first African-American United States Presidential nominee, Senator Barack Obama.

More about Chicago...

Selected article

Lakeshore East is a master planned mixed use urban development being built in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located in the northeastern part of the Loop, which along with Illinois Center is called the New Eastside. The development is bordered by Wacker Drive to the north, Columbus Drive to the west, Lake Shore Drive to the east, and East Randolph Street to the south. Skidmore, Owings and Merrill designed the master plan. The development is scheduled for completion in 2011. Although the majority of the buildings in the neighborhood will be 21st-century constructions resulting from the master plan, some of the current buildings were built as early as the 1960s and 1970s. Thus, the term Lakeshore East refers only to the components of the new master plan, while the term New Eastside refers to the greater neighborhood surrounding Lakeshore East that extends westward to Michigan Avenue. However, there is little distinction between buildings in the masterplan and other buildings in the region because the pre-existing buildings are referred to as being located in the Lakeshore East area. The neighborhood features several of the tallest buildings in Chicago and will include a few of the tallest buildings in the United States. The overall planned development, the park and several of the individual buildings have won awards for architecture or urban planning. The buildings are planned for various types of residential use (condominiums, apartments, or hotels). Due to the neighborhood's proximity to both Lake Michigan to the east and the Chicago River to the north, many of the buildings are named with aquatic or nautical themes.

...Archive/Nominations

More...

Selected picture

Credit: Soakologist

The Sears Tower is a skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. It has been the tallest building in the United States since 1973, surpassing the World Trade Center, which itself had surpassed the Empire State Building only a year earlier. On August 12, 2007, the Burj Dubai in Dubai, United Arab Emirates was reported by its developers to have surpassed the Sears Tower in all height categories.

...Archive/Nominations

More...

Selected list

This is a complete list of Chicago Bears head coaches. There have been 16 head coaches for the Chicago Bears, including coaches for the Decatur Staleys (1919–1920) and Chicago Staleys (1921), of the National Football League (NFL). The Bears franchise was founded as the Decatur Staleys, a charter member of the American Professional Football Association. The team moved to Chicago in 1921, and changed their name to the Bears in 1922, the same year the American Professional Football Association (APFA) changed its name to the National Football League.

The Chicago Bears have played over one thousand games. In those games, five different coaches have won NFL championships with the team: George Halas in 1921, 1933, 1940, 1941, 1946, and 1963, Ralph Jones in 1932, Hunk Anderson and Luke Johnsos in 1943, and Mike Ditka in 1985. George Halas is the only coach to have more than one tenure and is the all-time leader in games coached and wins, while Ralph Jones leads all coaches in winning percentage with .706. Of the 16 Bears coaches, three have been elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame: George Halas, Paddy Driscoll, and Mike Ditka. The current coach is Lovie Smith, who was hired on January 14, 2004. Statistics correct as of December 30, 2007, after the end of the 2007 NFL season. (Read more...)

Categories

Selected biography

Harold Innis was a professor of political economy at the University of Toronto and the author of seminal works on Canadian economic history, media, and communication theory. In spite of his dense and difficult prose, Innis is considered by many scholars to have been one of Canada's most original thinkers. He helped develop the staples thesis, which holds that Canada's culture, political history and economy have been decisively influenced by the exploitation and export of a series of staples such as fur, fish, wood, wheat, mined metals and fossil fuels. Innis's communications writings explore the role of media in shaping the culture and development of civilizations. He argued, for example, that a balance between oral and written forms of communication contributed to the flourishing of Greek civilization in the 5th century BC. He warned however that Western civilization is now imperilled by powerful, advertising-driven media obsessed by "present-mindedness" and the "continuous, systematic, ruthless destruction of elements of permanence essential to cultural activity".

...Archive/Nominations

More...

Quote

"It is hopeless for the occasional visitor to try to keep up with Chicago-she outgrows his prophecies faster than he can make them. She is always a novelty; for she is never the Chicago you saw when you passed through the last time." — Mark Twain

...Archive/Nominations

More...

Selected landmark

The Rookery Building is an historic landmark located in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Completed by John Wellborn Root and Daniel Burnham of Burnham and Root in 1888, it is considered one of their masterpiece buildings and once housed the office of the famous architects. It measures 181 feet (55 m), is twelve stories tall and is considered the oldest standing high-rise in Chicago. It has a unique style with exterior load-bearing walls and an interior steel frame. The lobby was remodeled in 1907 by Frank Lloyd Wright. Starting in 1989, the lobby was again restored to the original Wright design. The building was designated a Chicago Landmark on July 5, 1972. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 17, 1970 and listed as a National Historic Landmark on May 151975. The name Rookery comes from the previous building on the property which became home to many birds, especially pigeons.

...Archive/Nominations

More...

News

Wikinews Chicago, Illinois portal

• June 9: "Jezebel of Jazz" Anita O'Day dies at age 87
• March 22: "The Dark Knight" film director's brother arrested for murder, kidnapping
• December 2: Arrest made in Jennifer Hudson family killings
• November 1: American prize-winning author Studs Terkel dead at 96

Did you know?

• 

  ...that the Arts Club of Chicago (pictured) arose from the success of the Art Institute of Chicago's handling of the Chicago showing of the Armory Show?

• ...that the Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic is the largest African American parade in the United States?
• ...the AT&T Corporate Center is the tallest building built in Chicago in the last quarter of the 20th century?
• ...that Jerrold Wexler helped save a transaction to purchase the Denver Nuggets, helped save Goldblatt's from bankruptcy and led the Drake Hotel to a National Register of Historic Places listing?

  ...Archive/Nominations

  More...

WikiProjects

• Illinois
  • Chicago
  • Illinois State Routes
• Cities