Native Americans were the first inhabitants of Chicago, including Algonquian, Miamis and Mascouten tribes. These tribes traded with the Potawatomis to the east, the Fox to the north and the Illinois in the south. Not until 1833 did Europeans arrive, the French were the earliest non-native inhabitants having arrived in the 1600′s bringing Christianity.
In the 1780′s a Frenchman, one of the first European settlers, founded the city. After war in 1795 the building of Fort Dearborn occurred. The fort was destroyed in 1812 killing nearly everyone. In 1818 the fort was rebuilt.
The state was established in 1818 with under a 100 inhabitants. The people planned a canal and laid out the municipality serving as official notification of its existence. It was thought to have the ability to be a large transportation hub. The Great Lake linked with New York and in 1840 the population had grown to 4,000.
The fertile farmlands attracted settlers and roads were built. Wagons delivered produce to the docks to ship to the Erie Canal and down the Hudson. Railroads followed in the 1850′s making it a major hub with 30 lines. The Illinois Michigan Canal was opened in 1848 allowing shipping from Chicago to the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico.
With the invention of steam trains, steam-powered grain elevators, the telegraph and the Board of Trade founded by 1870 it had become the 2nd largest city in the country and the largest worldwide. Many of the immigrants arriving were of Irish Catholic and German descent. In the late 1800′s and early 1900′s migrants from Eastern and Southern Europe arrived including Poles, Greeks, Italians, Ukrainians, Jews and Czechs. During both world wars poor Americans arrived from the South, whites from Appalachia and blacks from the cotton fields.
The Great Fire of 1871 burned most of the town, a third of the population was left homeless. The fire spread because the city was built out of wood which led to a preference of masonry structures. The ground was swampy and unstable for heavy structures near the lake so steel framing was used which gave birth to the first skyscraper. The city is known for it’s modern architecture and led the nation in vertical design.
Chicago is called the second city as is Laguna Beach, CA in Orange County. By the 1900′s homesteaders had settled and rented areas near the beaches for income. This is the mainstay of the region today. Depending on what your style of living is, Chicago offers much in the way of big city life and farming whereas if you are more prone to living on the coast Laguna Beach is the other second city.
Amerman, JR. writes on real estate nationwide. Click here for more resource on Lakeview Chicago Homes For Sale and Lincoln Park Chicago homes for sale