Understand Chicago

Background reading for the city behind the itinerary — how the 1871 fire gave rise to the skyscraper, how Chicago reversed its own river and engineered its lakefront, how the 1893 World's Fair seeded the museum city, and how migration, neighborhoods, and the blues made its culture.

Fire and architecture The Fire and the birth of the skyscraper In 1871 the Great Chicago Fire destroyed the heart of a booming young city. What the city built in its place changed architecture worldwide: within two decades Chicago engineers had worked out the steel-framed high-rise, and the "Chicago School" gave the world the skyscraper. This is why a downtown walk here is really a walk through the invention of the modern city. Water and engineering The river reversed and the engineered city Chicago grew on a flat, marshy site where a sluggish river met a great lake, and much of its early history is a story of engineering the ground and the water. The city literally raised its streets out of the mud, then reversed the flow of the Chicago River to protect its drinking water — one of the boldest public-works feats of its era, and the reason the river runs the way it does today. The World's Fair The World's Fair and the museum city In 1893 Chicago staged the World's Columbian Exposition, a vast "White City" on the lakefront that drew millions and announced the rebuilt city to the world. The fair's ambitions outlived it: one of its buildings became the Museum of Science and Industry, and the drive it set in motion helped give Chicago the lakefront cluster of great museums that anchors a visit today. Neighborhoods and music Neighborhoods, the Great Migration, and the blues Chicago is a city of neighborhoods, built by waves of migration and immigration, and its culture — especially its music — grew out of them. The Great Migration brought hundreds of thousands of Black Americans north, and out of that community came Chicago jazz and the electric blues that reshaped American music. To understand the city, follow its neighborhoods.