In the 20th century, Chicago became famous thanks to jazz, which moved here in the 1920s from Louisiana, and two of its citizens, known not only in the US but throughout the world - gangster Al Capone (who controlled a monopoly on the liquor trade for a full 20 years) and animator Walt Disney (born in Chicago and died here in 1966, and came up with his cheerful mouse in 1928).
Later, before moving to the southernmost tip of Florida, Ernest Hemingway lived and worked in a Chicago suburb. And nowadays the city has become famous throughout the world thanks to the basketball team “Chicago Bulls”, or rather, its most important player - Michael Jordan, nicknamed His Airness for his jump shots at the hoop. True, now Jordan has changed the “Bulls” for the “Wizards” and plays for the “Wizards” team in Washington, but Chicagoans still consider him one of their own and even awarded him the title of honorary citizen of the city. And if we recall the history of Chicago, it began with a catastrophe that turned into good fortune.
A Useful Fire
When in 1674 the first white settlers from Ireland and Italy reached the mouth of the Chekugu River (“big dead water” - as the Indians called it), they were met by mosquito-infested swamps and hostile Indian tribes. However, the settlement built at the river's confluence with Lake Michigan gradually grew - mainly because of its favorable geographical position, and in 1837 it received the status of a town with a population of 5,000 people.
Chicago began to attract more and more merchants, carpenters and other craftsmen, and accordingly, it began to be actively built up. And the city would have prospered at a rapid pace if on October 8, 1871, a devastating fire had not occurred, which lasted three days and was dubbed, as is the way with everything in America, the Great Fire. About ten square kilometers of urban development burned to the ground, two-thirds of the buildings turned to ashes - all of them were wooden, as were the city sidewalks; 300 citizens of Chicago died in the fire, and 90,000 lost their homes.
But the city was rebuilt anew, better than before, and already in 1882, using the navigational advantages of the entire Great Lakes system and nearby Lake Michigan, as well as the Chekugu and Ohio rivers, it was the largest port in North America.
And the culprit of the Great Fire was recognized to be the family of Irish immigrants with the surname O'Leary, in whose barn the fire allegedly started. Today, on the site of that same unremarkable, burned-to-the-ground barn stands a bronze statue... of a cow that belonged to the ill-fated Irish family. Why a cow? Because in court, the O'Learys shifted all the blame for the fire onto her, the cow.
The hapless owners could not have imagined that later their four-legged property would be promoted from a culprit of the tragedy to a “founder of new architectural transformations.” And even - in due form - acquitted. On November 1, 1997, after a long special investigation, the Chicago city pardon commission solemnly acquitted the cow, clearing her of the charge of setting fire to that very wooden trading center of all Northeastern America.
Whether the cow set the city on fire or not, with intent or without - now it no longer matters. What matters is that the fire, strangely enough, did Chicago a good turn. Thanks to it, for the first time in America, architects from all over the world, not just the United States, had the opportunity for grandiose experiments in constructing the most fanciful and original buildings, so to speak, from a clean slate.
Higher, and Higher, and Higher?
When the ashes left after the fire were cleared, the immediate question arose: what to build now on the empty site. Many did not like the buildings that had stood in Chicago before, and local laws did not allow building anything extraordinary, since every piece of city land, even a scorched wasteland, cost a fortune. And so it was decided to build not outward but upward. Thus in 1882, the world's first skyscraper, 26 stories high, was erected in the city. One can imagine what a sensation it caused and how many people wanted not only to climb onto its roof and look down, but also to buy an office or apartment in the skyscraper.
Others followed the first, fortunately, in the very center of Chicago only two buildings remained untouched by the fire - the old water tower (it survives to this day - now it houses a tourist center) and the fire station opposite it. Over ten years, the imposing candles of the present-day Trade Exchange, Stock Exchange and City Financial Administration were built. These first high-rise buildings in the States laid the foundation for other architectural experiments carried out in Chicago by leading American and foreign urban planners - Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan and Daniel Burnham. The second wave of “architectural fancies” swept over Chicago in the 40s. Buildings such as the Wngley Building, the Chicago Sun Tower and others were built according to the same canons - there were more stories, and at the top of each new skyscraper they tried to come up with something extravagant and original - such as a copy of Notre-Dame de Paris or the dome of St. Peter's Cathedral in the Vatican.
And finally, the third architectural wave swept over Chicago in the late 60s - early 70s. It was then that the construction of champion skyscrapers got under way in the city. Today, Chicago officially has six of the twenty-five tallest buildings on the planet, and despite the terrorist attacks in New York, Chicago architects intend to build new towers even more impressive than those that have already brought the city considerable fame.
The tallest building in Chicago and in all of America is the 110-story Sears Towers complex, built in 1973. For many years it was the most visited corner of Chicago, but a tourist coming to the city in the near future may be disappointed - they won't be allowed near the Sears Towers. Citing the threat of terrorist attacks, the owners closed not only the observation deck at bird's-eye height, but also all the premises of the towers in general. But Sears' competitors decided to make money despite any threats. The second tallest tower in Chicago (and fourth in America), the Amoco Building, lets guests onto its roof, but the guest must be a member of the private club located on the 101st floor or come with one of its regulars. Tourists are even more actively attracted to the Hanckock Building. It took five years to build, copying the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and it opened in 1970. The tower's 96 floors are pulled into a trapezoid with metal plates; it itself rests on four columns, each weighing 100 tons, and its height reaches 372 meters. By the way, the highest apartments in the world are also located in the Hanckock - residents live here at the height of the 89th floor.
From the observation deck on the 94th floor, which can be reached in 40 seconds, paying $9 for the pleasure, a stunning panorama opens not only of all of Chicago, but also of the four surrounding states - Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan. A piquant detail - the tower is staffed exclusively by Lithuanians who left the former Soviet republic in the last few years. And below, at the foot of Hanckock, three more Chicago celebrities have been built - the largest vertical shopping malls (department stores) in the world, the most grandiose of which is Bloomingdale's. Usually city guests enter them in the morning and barely drag their feet out only late in the evening.
The Magnificent Mile and the Most Italian Pizza
The reader has probably already understood that modesty is far from the main virtue of the "Windy City," which at every opportunity strives to impress its guests. The first thing you learn upon flying into the city's O'Hare airport - it turns out to be the world record holder for the number of passengers carried. The local Shedd Aquarium, which opens directly into the underwater world of Lake Michigan, is again the largest indoor water park on the planet.
And Chicago has more drawbridges than anywhere else in the world - at least, that's what local tourist brochures claim, although St. Petersburg would surely disagree - and the largest parks by area - Grant Park and Lincoln Park. In general, "Chicago with one face" simply does not exist - there is Little Italy, Chinatown, the Kingdom of Southeast Asia, entire neighborhoods populated only by Puerto Ricans, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians. They live in their own communities and often have no contact with each other at all. Hence another reason for pride: the largest number of Polish and Peruvian restaurants in America is naturally also here, and the pizza made in small restaurants by people from the Apennines is considered the "most Italian" of all those outside Italy.
Every year 30 million guests come here. So that the city's architectural wonders become more understandable and closer to them, the Art Institute was built, whose exhibitions attract art lovers from all over the world. Its Impressionist collections can be compared only with the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. And in the very center of the city there is a whole theater street, where Broadway musicals and jazz productions remain the most popular.
But still, perhaps the main attraction of Chicago is the so-called "Magnificent Mile," a section of North Michigan Avenue where huge skyscrapers with the most expensive stores in the world stand. Even if you don't buy anything there because of prices far exceeding domestic ones, it's worth walking along it and gazing at the exotic stalls. By the way, during the Christmas holidays, exactly one million colorful light bulbs are hung on 200 trees on this very section of North Michigan Avenue, giving the whole area a truly fairy-tale appearance.
Well, if you want to commune with the local "sea" - Lake Michigan, amazingly beautiful not only in hot summer but also in cold winter, especially for those who like to skate - then Navy Pier was built specifically for entertainment and walks - a pier jutting into the water, offering a fantastic view of Chicago skyscrapers and 45 kilometers of surrounding beaches. Here, too, is a unique museum of stained glass with religious themes.
Today the "Windy City" does not intend to compete with Los Angeles or New York with luxurious exhibitions or pompous parades. Its residents simply consider their city "the very best in the world." And if there is a little exaggeration in this, it is only just a little.