Chicago History (Note: not all Chicago history)

Doing research at The Chicago History Museum

One day in prehistoric times, a period called the glacial age began. The glaciers slowly spread across the globe, and soon enough the Laurentide ice sheet and other ice sheets spread to Canada and north America. They spread to the Midwestern United States and the area that would eventually be known as Illinois. They also covered the great lakes region. For millions of years, the area that would later be known as Chicago was covered only by the Laurentide ice sheet. (Note: this was only thousands of years from the thing I just said.) Then from about 12,000 to 10,000 years ago, the first people in the Paleoindian Perioid, migrated to Illinois and lived in small hunting bands. (Note: I had a lot more photos but I decided to just use this one because of the guys hunting.)


Then the glacial age started to end. The earth had rising temperatures and the glaciers started to move. When the glaciers moved, they left behind water, clay, gravel, and a LOT of sand. They also left behind glacial moraines. They were all filled with minerals.

Soon enough, land formed. The land that would become known as Illinois was carved into a flat land( not southern Illinois though). The glaciers carved out big holes in the earth that would later be known as Lake superior, Lake Huron, Lake Chicago, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario. Then the glaciers started to melt. While the glaciers melted, the holes filled with water. Once They were done spreading the water into the holes, they formed the five great lakes, Superior, Huron, Chicago, Erie, and Ontario. There were two waterways that helped link the great lakes to the Mississippi river, the Chicago river is one of them, it has three parts to it: the north branch, the south branch, and the main stem. There was also the Illinois river. Lake Chicago dried up and left behind a smaller lake called Lake Michigan.

Fur Trading

When the glacial age ended, trees such as maples and oaks grew in Illinois. They formed forests. The climate was very dry though. There was not enough water for the trees. So instead they formed prairies. But while that happened, wind blew the sand over plants and rocks on the lake Michigan shore. That is how sand dunes along the lake Michigan shore were created.

Chicago, on fire

Fast forward so many thousands of years and the following things will happen:

• Jean Baptiste Point Dusable will build a trading post/cabin and trade with other settlers items such as animal fur.
•  Fort Dearborn will be built in 1803 to protect settlers from Native American attacks.
• The city of Chicago was built up.
• The Great Chicago Fire occurred. 



World's Columbian Exposition

• The World's Columbian Exposition happened in 1893.

The story of Chicago is more than just plain evolution of a city, it is the truly wonderful story of an uprising from a Native American area to a truly wonderful city.