Chicago timeline
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Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable Establishes First Non-Indigenous Settlement of Chicago
Point du Sable's chief occupation seems to have been that of a trader who wandered from place to place in the customary manner, and fortunately... Read more
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Founding of Fort Dearborn
In the summer of 1803, Captain John Whistler, U. S. A., then stationed at Detroit, was ordered, with his company, to Chicago, to occupy the post... Read more
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Fort Dearborn Massacre
The Fort Dearborn massacre occurred on August 15, 1812, near Fort Dearborn, Illinois Territory (in what is now Chicago, Illinois) during the War of... Read more
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First Treaty of Chicago
The first treaty of Chicago was signed by Michigan Territorial Governor Lewis Cass and Solomon Sibley for the United States and representatives of... Read more
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Incorporation of the Town of Chicago, Population 350
On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago was incorporated with a population of 350. The first boundaries of the new town were Kinzie, Desplaines,... Read more
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Second Treaty of Chicago
The second treaty of Chicago was signed by Michigan Territorial Governor George B. Porter, Thomas J. V. Owen, and William Weatherford for the... Read more
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City of Chicago is Incorporated, Granted City Charter by the State of Illinois
In 1837 Chicago received its first city charter, which divided the city into six wards, allowed for a mayor elected to a one-year term, and legally... Read more
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Douglas Founds Baptist Seminary - The University of Chicago
A deeply religious man, but one also dedicated to the enterprise of higher education, Stephen Douglas founded a Baptist Seminary in Chicago which... Read more
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SS Lady Elgin Sinks in Lake Michigan
The Lady Elgin was a luxury steamship that sank in Lake Michigan on the stormy night of September 8, 1860. Returning late from Chicago to Milwaukee... Read more
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Great Chicago Fire
The Great Chicago Fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed over 17,000 structures, and left 100,000 people homeless. Although legend has it... Read more
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Sullivan Works for William Le Baron Jenney
Laid off in November during the recession of 1873, Louis Henry Sullivan followed his parents to Chicago where Louis Henry Henry Sullivan found a... Read more
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Home Insurance Building Built
The Home Insurance Building was built in 1885 in Chicago, Illinois, USA and destroyed in 1931 to make way for the Field Building (now the LaSalle... Read more
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Haymarket and May Day
On May 1, 1886, Chicago unionists, reformers, socialists, anarchists, and ordinary workers combined to make the city the center of the national... Read more
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Wright arrives in Chicago and Works for Joseph Lyman Silsbee
In 1887, Wright arrived in Chicago in search of employment. Resulting from the devastating Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and recent population boom,... Read more
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Frank Lloyd Wright Works for Adler & Sullivan
After less than a year had passed in Silsbee’s office, Wright learned that Adler & Sullivan, the forerunning firm in Chicago, were "looking for... Read more
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Jane Addams and Ellen Starr opens the Hull House in Chicago
Hull House, the most well known settlement house in the United States, was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located in the... Read more
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Frank Lloyd Wright Marries Catherine Tobin
On June 1, 1889, Wright married his first wife, Catherine Lee "Kitty" Tobin (1871–1959). The two had met around a year earlier during activities at... Read more
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Frank Lloyd Wright Establishes His Own Practice
After leaving Louis Sullivan, Wright established his own practice on the top floor of the Sullivan designed Schiller Building (1892, demolished... Read more
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Robert P. Parker House Completed; A "Bootleg House"
The Robert P. Parker House is a house located in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, United States. The house was designed by famous American... Read more
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James Charnley Residence Completed
The James Charnley Residence is located in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood, in the 1300 block of North Astor Street. The house is now called the... Read more
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Walter Gale House Completed; A "Bootleg House"
The Walter H. Gale House, located in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and constructed in 1893. The... Read more
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Fracis J. Woolley House Completed; A "Bootleg House"
The Francis J. Woolley House is located in Oak Park, Illinois, United States, a Chicago suburb. The house was designed by famous American architect... Read more
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World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition (also called The Chicago World's Fair), a World's Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th... Read more
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Wright Published in Ladies' Home Journal
Between 1900 and 1901, Frank Lloyd Wright completed four houses which have since been considered the onset of the "Prairie style". Two, the Hickox... Read more
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Grant Park is established
Lake Park is renamed Grant Park in honor of Galena, Illinois resident President Ulysses S. Grant. Read more