of department stores, specialty shops, and boutiques on
Michigan Avenue known as the “Magnificent Mile”; the Art
Deco-era Chicago Board of Trade Building, home of the
world’s busiest futures trade; and the city’s many theaters,
which stage everything from Shakespearean tragedies to
the finest in improvisational sketch comedy.
It’s easy to treat yourself to a first-rate experience in the
Second City! How about a walking tour with the Chicago
Greeter Program? Or reach for the sky on the famous
15-story Ferris wheel at Navy Pier? Or just step out on the
ledge of Willis Tower’s Skydeck observatory and look out
over the city that is second to none.
FUN FACTS ABOUT CHICAGO
b Chicago’s first permanent resident was a trader named
Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, a free black man from
Haiti who made his home in the area in the late 1770s.
b The name “Chicago” comes from a French rendering
of the Native American word shikaakwa, translated as
“wild onion” or “wild garlic.”
b Chicago’s nicknames include the Windy City, the City
of Big Shoulders, the Second City, the City That Works,
Chi-Town, and Hog Butcher of the World.
b Chicago’s downtown area is known as “The Loop.”
The nickname refers to the area encircled by the elevated train tracks.
b The Great Chicago Fire in 1871 was one of the largest
U.S. disasters in the 19th century, killing hundreds and
destroying 3.3 square miles of the city. Much of the
debris from the fire was dumped into Lake Michigan
as landfill, forming the underpinnings for what is now
Grant Park, Millennium Park, and the Art Institute of
Chicago.
b The elevators at the Willis Tower are the fastest in the
world, traveling at 1,600 feet per minute.
b The Lincoln Park Zoo is the country’s oldest public zoo
and one of only three free major zoos in the country.
