Paris1972-Versailles2003

I am kind of becoming nostalgic and try to remember places I have been in the USA but not lived. Well , if read my blog ,you know I lived in New Jersey and Florida for a total of 31 years…. Yes ! Memories forever. Now let me tell you briefly as memory fades on my visit to Chicago, Illinois ! Sit back and hope you enjoy the post as I

These were older times before blogging and love of pictures. I used to collect post cards and have still over 1000 of them (from a high of 4K+) , and from a high of 79 countries. Once, began to like photos ,and getting in online travel forums, stop collecting postcards. The story follows with my blog, Therefore, these older spots are few and between on pictures but at least one is enough to light up the memories and this post,

Chicago is the third largest city in the United States by population and is located in the state of Illinois. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan, one of the five Great Lakes of North America. The Chicago and Calumet rivers flow through the city. A trading post founded in the late 18C by Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, a mulatto born in Santo Domingo, Chicago became a town in 1833 and officially acquired city status in 1837. It is the seat of Cook County, the second most populous county in the United States Considered the birthplace of skyscrapers, it undertook the opening in 1885 of the Home Insurance Building, the first building of its kind in the world. Today, Chicago is still among the ten cities in the world with the most skyscrapers.

I came to visit Chicago,Illinois as part of the same training class as in Omaha,for the Mutual of Omaha Ins Co., it was the first test and we were put in an hotel by the waterfront can’t even remember the name; I believe it was the Hilton magnificent mile by the lake, but not sure. We were just in the hotel for about 3 days with all day work, but again I can say I was there ! The Hilton hotel : https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/ordmdhf-hilton-chicago-magnificent-mile-suites/

A bit of history I like tell us that before the arrival of the first Europeans, the Chicago region was occupied by the Potéouatamis Native Americans who succeeded, around the middle of the 18C, the Miamis ,the Sauk and Fox. The name of the city comes from the Miami-Illinois word “sikaakwa”, distorted by the French into “Chécagou” which means “wild onion”, “swamp” or even “skunk”, which says a lot about the prevailing pestilential odor on the original site. It was the wood chaser Louis Jolliet and the Jesuit father Jacques Marquette who, in 1673, returning from an expedition on the Mississippi, reached the current location of Chicago. The Chicago site was first part of the Country of Illinois, in French Louisiana. In the 17C, Fort Chécagou (or “Fort Chicago”) was a fortress probably occupied for less than a year during the winter of 1685 ,Henri de Tonti sent Pierre-Charles de Liette as commander of the fort until 1702. However, no archaeological evidence support these cartographic annotations , During the Revolutionary War (1775-1783), Colonel George Rogers Clark captured the entire Illinois Country in the name of Virginia and transformed it into “Illinois County.” in order to exercise a theoretical government over the region. In 1795, by the Treaty of Greenville and under the coercion of Colonel Anthony Wayne, the Native Americans had to cede the lands located near the estuary of the Chicago River. In 1803, the purchase of the immense territories of French Louisiana by the United States reinforced the strategic importance of the place. The same year, Captain John Whistler arrived on the site and then erected Fort Dearborn in 1808. In the meantime, the region of the future Chicago was integrated into the Northwest Territory (1787-1809), then into the Territory of Illinois (1809), before becoming part of the State of Illinois since 1818. In 1821 and 1833, two agreements resulting from the Treaty of Chicago were concluded and signed between the United States and the Native American peoples Outaouais,  Ojibwe  and  Potéouatamis (all three represented through the Council of the Three Fires) so that the latter would give in more large lands to allow the founding and expansion of what would become the city of Chicago , The City is 830 km from Toronto, Canada’s largest city, 957 km from  Washington DC, the federal capital, 1,146 km from New York, 1,341 km from New Orleans, 2,803 km from Los Angeles and 6,656 km from Paris France !

I landed at Chicago O’Hare International Airport (IATA code: ORD • ICAO code: KORD), the fourth largest airport in the world by passenger numbers (2021 statistics), The airport receives its name in honor of American aviator Edward O ‘Hare, first ace of the United States Navy, died in action in the Pacific during WWII

The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 attracted more than 27 million visitors in 1893. It was an opportunity for the promoters of the City Beautiful architectural movement to create several buildings that are now part of Chicago’s heritage: the Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) in the Hyde Park area and the famous Union Loop Skytrain whose route forms a loop that demarcates the financial sector of the Loop. A few years later, the Chicago School flourished, which enjoyed international influence. The city became the laboratory of architectural experiments: in 1885, the Home Insurance Building, the world’s first skyscraper, was built there. In 1889, architect Frank Lloyd Wright arrived in Chicago and developed a new style of domestic architecture, the Prairie houses.

The Chicago tourist office : https://www.choosechicago.com/

The City of Chicago on its history : https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/about/history.html

The USA tourist office on Chicago : https://www.visittheusa.com/destination/chicago

There you go folks, could not leave this out of my blog, I had a great time writing it again for you and me, Again, hope you enjoy the post on Chicago, Illinois, USA as I

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!