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Full Name:Chicago
Birth Name:Chicago Transit Authority
Date of Birth: 1967
Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Claim to Fame: Album Chicago Transit Authority (1969)

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Chicago
extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

For other uses, see Chicago (disambiguation).

Coordinates: 41°53′20″N 87°37′22″W / 41.888988, -87.622833

City of Chicago
From top left: Chicago Theater, the Sears Tower, the University of Chicago, the skyline from Northerly Island, Navy Pier, the Field Museum, and Crown Fountain in Millenium Park
From top left: Chicago Theater, the Sears Tower, the University of Chicago, the skyline from Northerly Island, Navy Pier, the Field Museum, and Crown Fountain in Millenium Park
Flag of City of Chicago
Flag		 Official seal of City of Chicago
Seal
Nickname(s): The Windy City, The Second City, Chi-Town, Hog Butcher for the World, City of Broad Shoulders, Chi City, The City That Works
Motto: Latin: Urbs in Horto (English: City in a Garden), Make No Small Plans, I Will1
Location in the Chicago metro area and Illinois
Location in the Chicago metro area and Illinois
Coordinates: 41°52′55″N 87°37′40″W / 41.88194, -87.62778
Country United States
State Illinois
Counties Cook, DuPage
Settled 1770s
Incorporated March 4, 1837
Government
 - Type Mayor-council government
 - Mayor Richard M. Daley (D)
 - City Council
Aldermen
 - State House
Representative
 - State Senate
State senators
 - U.S. House
Representatives
Area
 - City 237.0 sq mi (606.2 km2)
 - Land 227.2 sq mi (588.3 km2)
 - Water 6.9 sq mi (17.9 km2)  3.0%
 - Urban 2,122.8 sq mi (5,498.1 km2)
 - Metro 10,874 sq mi (28,163 km2)
Elevation 586 ft (179 m)
Population (2007)
 - City 2,836,659 (3rd U.S.)
 - Density 12,649/sq mi (4,816/km2)
 - Urban 8,711,000
 - Metro 9,785,747
 - Demonym Chicagoan
Time zone CST (UTC-6)
 - Summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5)
Area code(s) 312, 773
Website: www.cityofchicago.org

Chicago (IPA: /ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ/ or /ʃɪˈkɔːgoʊ/ pronounced shi-KAH-goh or shi-KAW-goh) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States, as well as the third-most populous city in the United States with more than 2.8 million residents. Adjacent to Lake Michigan, the Chicago metropolitan area (commonly referred to as Chicagoland) has a population of more than 9.5 million people2 in three U.S. states, Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, and was the third largest U.S. metropolitan area in 2000.3 One of the largest cities in North America, Chicago is among the world's twenty-five largest urban areas by population, and rated an alpha world city by the World Cities Study Group at Loughborough University.4

Chicago incorporated as a city in 1837 after being founded in 1833 near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. The city soon became a major transportation hub in North America and the transportation, financial and industrial center of the Midwest. Today the city's attractions bring 44.2 million visitors annually.5 O'Hare International is the second busiest airport in the world. The city has a notable and famous political culture, is a stronghold of the Democratic Party, and has been home to numerous influential politicians, including the first African-American president-elect of the United States, Barack Obama.

Chicago is called the "Windy City", "Chi-Town", "Second City," and the "City of Big Shoulders".

Contents

History

Main articles: History of Chicago, Political history of Chicago, Windy City, Origin of Name (Chicago), and List of mayors of Chicago

First settlers

During the mid-18th century the area was inhabited by Potawatomis, who had taken the place of the Miami and Sauk and Fox peoples. The first permanent settler in Chicago, Haitian Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, arrived in the 1770s, married a Potawatomi woman, and founded the area’s first trading post. In 1803 the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in the 1812 Fort Dearborn massacre. The Ottawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi later ceded the land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of 350. Within seven years it grew to a population of over 4,000. The City of Chicago was incorporated on March 4, 1837. The name "Chicago" is the French rendering of the Miami-Illinois name shikaakwa, meaning “wild leek.”678 The sound shikaakwa in Miami-Illinois literally means 'striped skunk', and was a reference to wild leek, or the smell of onions.7 The name initially applied to the river, but later came to denote the site of the city.

Railway link

Union Station in 1943

The city began its step toward regional primacy as an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicago’s first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, opened in 1848, which also marked the opening of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. The canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants abroad. Manufacturing and retail sectors became dominant among Midwestern cities, influencing the American economy, particularly in meatpacking, with the advent of the refrigerated rail car and the regional centrality of the city's Union Stock Yards.9

In February 1856, the Chesbrough plan for the building of Chicago's and the United States' first comprehensive sewerage system was approved by the Common Council.10 The project raised much of central Chicago to a new grade. Untreated sewage and industrial waste now flowed into the Chicago River, thence into Lake Michigan, polluting the primary source of fresh water for the city. The city responded by tunneling two miles (3 km) out into Lake Michigan to newly built water cribs. In 1900, the problem of sewage was largely resolved when Chicago reversed the flow of the river, a process that began with the construction and improvement of the Illinois and Michigan Canal and completed with the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal leading to the Illinois River which joins the Mississippi River.

Chicago Fire

Artist's rendering of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871
The Chicago Water Tower, one of the few surviving buildings after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed a third of the city, including the entire central business district, Chicago experienced rapid rebuilding and growth.11 Ever since the city was rebuilt, it became known as the Second City, since the first city was largely destroyed in the Fire. During Chicago's rebuilding period, the world's first skyscraper was constructed in 1885 using steel-skeleton construction. Labor conflicts and unrest followed, including the Haymarket affair on May 4, 1886. Concern for social problems among Chicago’s lower classes led Jane Addams to be a co-founder of Hull House in 1889. Programs developed there became a model for the new field of social work. The city also invested in many large, well-landscaped municipal parks, which also included public sanitation facilities.

World's Fair

In 1893, Chicago hosted the World's Columbian Exposition on former marshland at the present location of Jackson Park. The Exposition drew 27.5 million visitors, and is considered among the most influential world's fairs in history.12 The University of Chicago was founded in 1892 on the same South Side location. The term "midway" for a fair or carnival referred originally to the Midway Plaisance, a strip of park land that still runs through the University of Chicago campus and connects Washington and Jackson Parks.

20th Century

The 1920s brought notoriety to Chicago as gangsters, including the notorious Al Capone, battled each other and law enforcement on the city streets during the Prohibition era. The 1920s also saw a major expansion in industry. The availability of jobs attracted African Americans from the South. Arriving in the tens of thousands during the Great Migration, the newcomers had an immense cultural impact. It was during this wave that Chicago became a center for jazz, with King Oliver leading the way.13 In 1933, Mayor Anton Cermak was assassinated while in Miami with President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In the late summer of 1942, during World War II, Chicago held a practice black-out. According to one witness, "the sirens sounded, the lights went out while airplanes flew overhead to spot violators". After about 30 minutes the beacon on top of the Palmolive Building came back on and the lights were quickly restored.14

On December 2, 1942, physicist Enrico Fermi conducted the world’s first controlled nuclear reaction at the University of Chicago as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project.

The Sears Tower, at 108 stories, stands as Chicago's tallest building since its completion in 1974 and is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

Mayor Richard J. Daley was elected in 1955, in the era of machine politics. Starting in the 1960s, many residents left the city for the suburbs, taking out the heart of many neighborhoods, leaving impoverished and disadvantaged citizens behind. Structural changes in industry caused heavy losses of jobs for lower skilled workers. The city hosted the tumultuous 1968 Democratic National Convention, which featured physical confrontations both inside and outside the convention hall, including full-scale police riots in city streets. Major construction projects, including the Sears Tower (which in 1974 became the world’s tallest building), McCormick Place, and O'Hare Airport, were undertaken during Richard J. Daley's tenure. When he died, Michael Anthony Bilandic was mayor for three years. His loss in a primary election has been attributed to the city’s inability to properly plow city streets during a heavy snowstorm. In 1979, Jane Byrne, the city’s first female mayor, was elected. She popularized the city as a movie location and tourist destination.

In 1983 Harold Washington became the first African American to be elected to the office of mayor, in one of the closest mayoral elections in Chicago. After Washington won the Democratic primary, racial motivations caused a few Democratic alderman and ward committeemen to back the Republican candidate Bernard Epton, who ran on the slogan Before it’s too late, a thinly veiled appeal to fear.15 Washington’s term in office saw new attention given to poor and minority neighborhoods. His administration reduced the longtime dominance of city contracts and employment by ethnic whites. Washington died in office of a heart attack in 1987, shortly after being elected to a second term. Current mayor Richard M. Daley, son of the late Richard J. Daley, was elected in 1989. He has led many progressive changes to the city, including improving parks; creating incentives for sustainable development, including green roofs; and major new developments. Since the 1990s, the city has undergone a revitalization in which some lower class neighborhoods have been transformed as new middle class residents have settled in the city.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Chicago
See also: Lake Michigan and Chicago metropolitan area
Northward aerial view of Chicago during winter.

Topography

Chicago is located in northeastern Illinois at the southwestern tip of Lake Michigan. It sits on the continental divide at the site of the Chicago Portage, connecting the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes watersheds. The city lies beside Lake Michigan, and two rivers — the Chicago River in downtown and the Calumet River in the industrial far South Side — flow entirely or partially through Chicago. The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal connects the Chicago River with the Des Plaines River, which runs to the west of the city. Chicago's history and economy are closely tied to its proximity to Lake Michigan. While the Chicago River historically handled much of the region's waterborne cargo, today's huge lake freighters use the city's far south Lake Calumet Harbor. The Lake also moderates Chicago's climate, making it warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.

When Chicago was founded in the 1830s, most of the early building began around the mouth of the Chicago River, as can be seen on a map of the city's original 58 blocks.16 The overall grade of the city's central, built-up areas, is relatively consistent with the natural flatness of its overall natural geography, generally exhibiting only slight differentiation otherwise. The average land elevation is 579 feet (176 m) above sea level. The lowest points are along the lake shore at 577 feet (176 m), while the highest point at 735 feet (224 m) is a landfill located in the Hegewisch community area on the city's far south side.

Lake Shore Drive runs adjacent to a large portion of Chicago's lakefront. Parks along the lakeshore include Lincoln Park, Grant Park, Burnham Park and Jackson Park; 29 public beaches are found all along the shore. Near downtown, landfills extend into the Lake, providing space for the Jardine Water Purification Plant, Navy Pier, Northerly Island and the Museum Campus, Soldier Field, and large portions of the McCormick Place Convention Center. Most of the city's high-rise commercial and residential buildings can be found within a few blocks of the Lake.

Chicago Harbor Lighthouse

Chicagoland is an informal name for the Chicago metro area, used primarily by copywriters, advertising agencies, and traffic reporters. There is no precise definition for the term "Chicagoland," but it generally means "around Chicago" or relatively local. The Chicago Tribune, which coined the term, includes the city of Chicago, the rest of Cook County, eight nearby Illinois counties; Lake, McHenry, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Grundy, Will and Kankakee, and three counties in Indiana; Lake, Porter, and LaPorte.17 The Illinois Department of Tourism defines Chicagoland as Cook County without the city of Chicago, and only Lake, DuPage, Kane and Will counties.18 The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce defines it as all of Cook, and DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties.19

Climate

Main article: Climate of Chicago

The city lies within the humid continental climate zone (Koppen Dfa), and experiences four distinct seasons. Summers are warm & humid with average high temperatures of 80-84°F (27-29°C) and lows of 61-65 °F (16-19°C). Winters are cold, snowy and windy with temperatures below freezing. Spring and Fall are mild with low humidity. According to the National Weather Service, Chicago’s highest official temperature reading of 105 °F (41 °C) was recorded on July 17, 1995. The lowest temperature of −27 °F (−33 °C) was recorded on January 20, 1985. Chicago can suffer extreme winter cold spells. In the entire month of January 1977, the temperature did not rise above 31 °F (-0.5 °C). The average temperature that month was around 10 °F (-12 °C).

Chicago’s yearly precipitation averages about 34 inches (860 millimeters). Summer is typically the rainiest season, with short-lived rainfall and thunderstorms more common than prolonged rainy periods.20 Winter precipitation tends to be more snow than rain. Chicago's snowiest winter on record was that of 1978–79, with 89.7 inches (228 cm) of snow in total. The winter of 2007-08, with more than 61 inches (155 cm) of snow, was the snowiest in nearly three decades. Average winter snowfall is around 38 inches (96.52 cm). The highest one-day snowfall total in Chicago history was 18.3 inches (46.5 cm) on Jan. 3, 1999. Chicago’s highest one-day rainfall total was 6.63 inches (168.4mm) on September 13, 2008.citation needed The previous record of 6.49 inches (164 mm) had been set on August 14, 1987.

 Weather averages for Chicago, IL 
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °F (°C) 67
(19)		 75
(24)		 88
(31)		 92
(33)		 102
(39)		 107
(42)		 106
(41)		 103
(39)		 102
(39)		 94
(34)		 81
(27)		 71
(22)		 107
(42)
Average high °F (°C) 32
(0)		 38
(2)		 47
(8)		 59
(15)		 70
(21)		 80
(27)		 84
(29)		 83
(28)		 76
(24)		 64
(18)		 48
(9)		 37
(2)		 60
(15)
Average low °F (°C) 18
(-8)		 24
(-6)		 32
(-1)		 42
(5)		 51
(10)		 61
(16)		 66
(19)		 65
(18)		 57
(14)		 46
(7)		 35
(1)		 24
(-5)		 42
(6)
Record low °F (°C) -27
(-33)		 -20
(-29)		 -8
(-22)		 7
(-14)		 28
(-2)		 35
(2)		 40
(4)		 41
(5)		 28
(-2)		 17
(-8)		 -3
(-19)		 -25
(-32)		 -27
(-33)
Precipitation inches (cm) 1.8
(4.9)		 1.6
(4.0)		 2.6
(7.0)		 3.4
(8.9)		 3.6
(9.2)		 3.8
(10.2)		 3.6
(9.5)		 3.3
(8.8)		 3.1
(8.0)		 2.7
(7.0)		 2.6
(6.9)		 2.2
(5.7)		 34.3
(90.2)
Source: Illinois State Climatologist Data21 July 2007

Cityscape

A panoramic view of the Chicago Skyline stretching from Shedd Aquarium to Navy Pier taken from Adler Planetarium.
A panoramic view of the Chicago Skyline stretching from Shedd Aquarium to Navy Pier taken from Adler Planetarium.

Architecture

Main article: Architecture of Chicago
See also: List of tallest buildings in Chicago and List of Chicago Landmarks
Buildings lining the Chicago River.
Looking north from the North Michigan Avenue Bridge on Chicago's 'Magnificent Mile'. The Wrigley Building and Tribune Tower are in the foreground with the John Hancock Center in the distance.

The outcome of the Great Chicago Fire led to the largest building boom in the history of the nation. Perhaps the most outstanding of these events was the relocation of many of the nation's most prominent architects to the city from New England for construction of the 1893 World Columbian Exposition.

In 1885, the first steel-framed high-rise building rose in Chicago ushering in the skyscraper era.22 Today, Chicago's skyline is among the world's tallest.23 Downtown's historic buildings include the Chicago Board of Trade Building in the Loop, with others along the lakefront and the Chicago River. Once first on the list of largest buildings in the world and still listed twentieth, the Merchandise Mart stands near the junction of the north and south river branches. Presently the three tallest in the city are the Sears Tower, the Aon Center (previously the Standard Oil Building), and the John Hancock Center. The city's architecture includes lakefront high-rise residential towers, low-rise structures, and single-family homes. Industrialized areas such as the Indiana border, south of Midway Airport, and the banks of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal are clustered.

Future skyline plans entail the supertall Waterview Tower, Chicago Spire, and Trump International Hotel and Tower. The 60602 zip code was named by Forbes as the hottest zip code in the country with upscale buildings such as The Heritage at Millennium Park (130 N. Garland) leading the way for other buildings such at Waterview Tower, The Legacy and Momo. Other new skyscraper construction may be found directly south (South Loop) and north (River North) of the Loop.

Multiple kinds and scales of houses, townhouses, condominiums and apartment buildings can be found in Chicago. Large swaths of Chicago's residential areas away from the lake are characterized by bungalows built either during the early 20th century or after World War II. Chicago is a center of the Polish Cathedral style of church architecture.

Neighborhoods

Map of Chicago's neighborhoods.
Main articles: Neighborhoods of Chicago, Chicago Loop, and South Side (Chicago)

Chicago is partitioned by the city into four main sections: Downtown (which contains the Loop), the North Side, the South Side, and the West Side. In the late 1920s sociologists at the University of Chicago subdivided the city into 77 distinct community areas. The boundaries of these areas are more clearly defined than those of the over 210 neighborhoods throughout the city, allowing for better year-by-year comparisons.

The Loop contains downtown's commercial, cultural, and financial institutions. The North Side is the most densely populated residential section of the city and the River North neighborhood features the nation's largest concentration of contemporary art galleries outside of Manhattan. The South Side is also home to two of the city's largest parades, the annual African American Bud Billiken Day parade and the South Side Irish Parade. It is home to two of Chicago's largest public parks. Jackson Park, which hosted the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, is currently the site of the Museum of Science and Industry. Washington Park, which is connected to Jackson Park by the Midway Plaisance, is currently being considered as the primary site of the Olympic Stadium for the 2016 Summer Olympics if Chicago wins the bid. The West Side holds the Garfield Park Conservatory, one of the largest collections of tropical plants of any U.S. city. Cultural attractions include Humboldt Park's Puerto Rican Day festival, and the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen.

Veteran Support

Chicago is nationally praised for its support in its home town veterans. Often Chicago is highlighted for its Veterans day parade, veteran support day festival (located in downtown Chicago), and its renound Veterans Affairs offices. Chicago is home for over 2.3 million United States veterans. Chicago has been recognized for its contributions to the Military and has been home to numorous influential veterans including U.S. Marine Corps Sergeant, Edwin Delgado.

Culture and contemporary life

Main article: Culture of Chicago

The city's waterfront allure and nightlife has attracted residents and tourists alike. Over one-third of the city population is concentrated in the lakefront neighborhoods (from Rogers Park in the north to Hyde Park in the south). The North Side has a large gay and lesbian community. Two North Side neighborhoods in particular, Lakeview and the Andersonville area of the Edgewater neighborhood, are home to many LGBT businesses and organizations. The area adjacent to the North Side intersection of Halsted and Belmont is a gay neighborhood known as "Boystown". The city has many upscale dining establishments as well as many ethnic restaurant districts. These include the Mexican villages such as Pilsen on 18th street and "La Villita" on 26th street, "Greektown" on South Halsted, "Little Italy" on Taylor Street, just west of Halsted, "Chinatown" on the near South Side, "Little Seoul" on and around Lawrence Avenue, a cluster of Vietnamese restaurants on Argyle Street and South Asian (Indian/Pakistani) on Devon Avenue.

Entertainment and performing arts

The Chicago Theatre
A Chicago jazz club
See also: Theatre in Chicago, List of people from Chicago, and Category:Music venues in Chicago

Chicago’s theatre community spawned modern improvisational theatre.24 Two renowned comedy troupes emerged — The Second City and I.O. (formerly known as ImprovOlympic). Renowned Chicago theater companies include the Steppenwolf Theatre Company (on the city's north side), the Goodman Theatre, and the Victory Gardens Theater. Chicago offers Broadway-style entertainment at theatres such as Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre, LaSalle Bank Theatre, Cadillac Palace Theatre, Auditorium Building of Roosevelt University, and Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place. Polish language productions for Chicago's large Polish speaking population can be seen at the historic Gateway Theatre in Jefferson Park. Since 1968, the Joseph Jefferson Awards are given annually to acknowledge excellence in theatre in the Chicago area.

Classical music offerings include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, recognized as one of the finest orchestras in the world,25 which performs at Symphony Center. Also performing regularly at Symphony Center is the Chicago Sinfonietta, a more diverse and multicultural counterpart to the CSO. In the summer, many outdoor concerts are given in Grant Park and Millennium Park. Ravinia Park, located 25 miles (40 km) north of Chicago, is also a favorite destination for many Chicagoans, with performances occasionally given in Chicago locations such as the Harris Theater. The Civic Opera House is home to the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

The Joffrey Ballet and Chicago Festival Ballet perform in various venues, including the Harris Theater in Millennium Park. Chicago is home to several other modern and jazz dance troupes, such as the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.

Other live music genre which are part of the city's cultural heritage include Chicago blues, Chicago soul, jazz, and gospel. The city is the birthplace of house music and is the site of an influential hip-hop scene. In the 1980s, the city was a center for industrial, punk and new wave. This influence continued into the alternative rock of the 1990s. The city has been an epicenter for rave culture since the 1980s. A flourishing independent rock music culture brought forth Chicago indie. Annual festivals feature various acts such as Lollapalooza, the Intonation Music Festival and Pitchfork Music Festival.

Tourism

Navy Pier, 3,000 feet (900 m) long, houses retail, restaurants, museums, exhibition halls, and auditoriums. Its 150-foot (46 m) tall Ferris wheel is north of Grant Park on the lakefront and is one of the most visited landmarks in the Midwest, attracting about 8 million people annually.26

Chicago attracted a combined 44.2 million people in 2006 from around the nation and abroad.5 Upscale shopping along the Magnificent Mile, thousands of restaurants, as well as Chicago's eminent architecture, continue to draw tourists. The city is the United States' third-largest convention destination.27 Most conventions are held at McCormick Place, just south of Soldier Field. The historic Chicago Cultural Center (1897), originally serving as the Chicago Public Library, now houses the city's Visitor Information Center, galleries, and exhibit halls. The ceiling of Preston Bradley Hall includes a 38-foot (11 m) Tiffany glass dome. Millennium Park, initially slated to be unveiled at the turn of the 21st century, and delayed for several years, sits on a deck built over a portion of the former Illinois Central rail yard. The park includes the reflective Cloud Gate sculpture (known locally as "The Bean"). A Millennium Park restaurant outdoor transforms into an ice rink in the winter. Two tall glass sculptures make up the Crown Fountain. The fountain's two towers display visual effects from LED images of Chicagoans' faces, with water spouting from their lips. Frank Gehry's detailed stainless steel band shell Pritzker Pavilion, hosts the classical Grant Park Music Festival concert series. Behind the pavilion's stage is the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, an indoor venue for mid-sized performing arts companies, including Chicago Opera Theater and Music of the Baroque.

In 1998, the city officially opened the Museum Campus, a 10-acre (4-ha) lakefront park surrounding three of the city's main museums: the Adler Planetarium, the Field Museum of Natural History, and the Shedd Aquarium. The Museum Campus joins the southern section of Grant Park which includes the renowned Art Institute of Chicago. Buckingham Fountain anchors the downtown park along the lakefront. The Oriental Institute, part of the University of Chicago, has an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern archaeological artifacts. Other museums and galleries in Chicago are the Chicago History Museum, DuSable Museum of African-American History, Museum of Contemporary Art, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, the Polish Museum of America, Museum of Broadcast Communications and the Museum of Science and Industry.

Parks

Main article: Parks of Chicago
Portage Park on the city's Northwest side

When Chicago incorporated in 1837, it chose the motto "Urbs in Horto", a Latin phrase which translates into English as "City in a Garden". Today the Chicago Park District consists of 552 parks with over 7,300 acres (30 km²) of municipal parkland as well as 33 sand beaches along Lake Michigan, nine museums, two world-class conservatories, 16 historic lagoons and 10 bird and wildlife gardens. Lincoln Park, the largest of these parks, has over 20 million visitors each year, making it second only to Central Park in New York City.28 Nine lakefront harbors located within a number of parks along the lakefront render the Chicago Park District the nation's largest municipal harbor system. In addition to ongoing beautification and renewal projects for existing parks, a number of new parks have been added in recent years such as Ping Tom Memorial Park, DuSable Park and most notably Millennium Park. The wealth of greenspace afforded by Chicago's parks is further augmented by the Cook County Forest Preserves, a network of open spaces containing forest, prairie, wetland, streams, and lakes that are set aside as natural areas which lie along the city's periphery, home to both the Chicago Botanic Garden and Brookfield Zoo.

Cuisine

See also: Chicago farmers' markets, Chicago Dining, and Food Manufacturers of Chicago
Polish market in Chicago.

Chicago lays claim to a number of regional specialties, all of which reflect the city's ethnic and working class roots. Included among these are its nationally renowned deep-dish pizza, although locally the Chicago-style thin crust is also popular; featuring a