Welcome to Chicago
Chicago is known for a lot more than just the Great Fire of 1871, which was started, according to legend, when Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern. However the fire started, for better and for worse, the city had to rebuild almost from scratch. The fire burned nearly the entire city in 1871, an area covering what today is the Loop, the Gold Coast and Old Town. When the clean up started, a plan was developed for the growth and renewal of the city. Today, much of this plan is still in existence, including a “grid” street system and the lakefront Grant Park, a land proclaimed “forever free and public.”
Since the Great Fire, Chicago has become a place of many nicknames. “Chicago – The Windy City” was given not because of the winds coming from Lake Michigan but rather because of the “wind” in the politicians who ran the city in the 1920s, a time when street gangs ruled the city. Chicago became famous as the “butcher to the world” long before Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle which told of the inhuman practices in the butcher industry. Chicago is known as the “Transportation Hub of the Nation” thanks to O’Hare International Airport, one of the world’s largest airports, as well as Union Station from which people travel all over the United States and Canada by train.
Chicago although less well-known for its diverse neighborhoods, is often called the “City of Neighborhoods.” The city consists of 77 official neighborhoods and new neighborhoods tend to grow within these. While this diversity is to be celebrated, these neighborhoods often create lines between races and classes. An example of this is the Dan Ryan Expressway (Interstate 90/94), which was built to separate two clashing neighborhoods in 1966.
Today, the downtown area is seeing a renewal of apartments, condos, and lofts for those who want to return to the city after years of migration to the suburbs. However, this is pushing rental housing and other low-income housing projects to the West and South sides, where there is now a high dropout rate, high teen-pregnancy rate, and high crime rate.
There are, however, many positive things happening on the West and South sides of the city. Many community organization groups have become active in the areas that groups will see in Chicago. Many neighborhoods are starting museums about their neighborhood’s culture. The Chicago Public Library has also taken an interest in educating residents about their neighborhoods and their heritage.
While your group is in Chicago, you will be able to start to take a serious look at the cultures that are represented in the different neighborhoods in Chicago. By visiting work sites as well as cultural events, you will be getting a glimpse of how exciting different cultures and diversity can be. You may be serving food, cleaning up a neighborhood, or hanging out with kids for the day. All these activities will give you an opportunity to start viewing Chicago in a brand new way.