Chicago is a city in the US state of Illinois. In order to know the complete details about Chicago, check out the fun and interesting facts given here.

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Facts About Chicago

Chicago is a city in USA, which comes under the state of Illinois. Situated adjacent to Lake Michigan, it was incorporated as a city only in the year 1837. However, its strategic location, at the site of a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed, contributed a lot to its development and the city saw great progress in the coming years. Today, Chicago has transformed into a leading global city as well as a major transportation hub. In fact, it is now recognized as the business, financial and even cultural capital of the American Midwest. Today Chicago is one of the major tourist destinations in the region and around 40 million people from all around the globe visit this city every year. The flag of Chicago has four stars which stand for the Fort Dearborn, the Chicago Fire, the World’s Columbian Exposition, and the Century of Progress Exposition. In case you want to learn more about Chicago, feel free to explore the fun and interesting facts given below.
Image: By User:JeremyA (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
 
Fast Facts
 
Country: USA
State: Illinois
Established In: 1837(Incorporated as a city)
Population: 2,707,120
Area: 606.1 km2
Demonym: Chicagoan
 
Interesting & Fun Facts About Chicago
  • Chicago is the third largest city in United States, apart from being its third largest metropolitan area.
  • Chicago is the largest city located on the Great Lakes, along with being the 22nd largest urban area in the world, by population.
  • Chicago has been classified as an Alpha World City for its economic and cultural influence throughout the world.
  • The name ‘Chicago’ is the French interpretation of the Miami-Illinois name ‘Shikaakwa’, which means ‘wild leek’.
  • Chicago was founded in 1772, when Jean-Baptiste Pointe du Sable, a man from Haiti, established a settlement on the north bank of the Chicago River, calling it Eschikagou.
  • The town of Chicago was integrated in the year 1833, with a minuscule population of 350.
  • Chicago is home to over 40 museums, more than 150 theaters and over 6,000 restaurants.
  • Chicago boasts of housing three of the world's tallest buildings, Sears Tower, Amoco Building and John Hancock. From the Sears Tower, also known as Willis Tower, four of the American states can be seen including Michigan, Indiana, Illinois & Wisconsin.
  • The world's largest public library, Harold Washington Library Center, with a collection of more than 2 million books, is in Chicago.
  • Chicago is home to the largest population of Poles in the world, outside of Warsaw.
  • Roller skates, steel frame skyscraper, elevated railway, cracker jacks, zipper, window envelope, hostess Twinkie, pinball game and spray paint were invented in Chicago.
  • More than 200 annual parades take place in the city of Chicago every year.
  • Chicago is home to the largest building in America (excluding Pentagon), The Merchandise Mart, with 90 acres of floor space.
  • Oceanarium, in Chicago, is the largest indoor marine mammal pavilion in the world.
  • Chicago is home to one of the last free zoos in the world, the Lincoln Park Zoo.
  • Chicago River is the only river in the world that flows backwards. However, the flow was reversed by the engineers in 1900.
  • Chicago is known as the ‘Candy Capital of the World’.
  • Chicago is the home to the world’s first mail-order business - Montgomery Ward.
  • The first American Nobel Prize for science was received by Albert Michelson, Head of the Physics Department of the University of Chicago.
  • The Chicago Cultural Center is the first free municipal cultural center in the US. It is also home to the largest Tiffany Dome in the world.
  • The Art Institute of Chicago is home to the largest collection of Impressionist paintings in the world, apart from the Louvre (Paris).
  • Alone in the metropolitan Chicago area there are more than 30 Fortune 500 companies.
  • The first planetarium in the entire Western Hemisphere known as the Adler Planetarium was opened in Chicago in 1930.
  • The World’s biggest outdoor food-fest is held in Chicago, known as the ‘The Taste of Chicago’.

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