History of Chicago

Chicago is a city rich with history and we've created a list of fun facts about the city's population, history, attractions and many more interesting stories.

Poet and author Kevin Coval talks about his new book of poems, A People's History of Chicago. The book tells the stories of the city's marginalized communities.

Chicago history articles from the Chicago Tribune. Flashback to important historical events with Chicago Tribune archives.

Kevin Coval's new collection creates community through history.

Louis Jolliet, a Canadian explorer, and the French-born Jesuit Jacques Marquette were the first Europeans to discover the Chicago area in 1673 with the help of local Indians.

Timeline of the history in Chicago

The role of History of Chicago, Illinois in the history of the United States of America.

Before Chicago was officially "discovered" by the team of Father Jacques Marquette, a French missionary, and Louis Jolliet, a French-Canadian mapmaker and trader, in 1673, the area served as a center of trade and seasonal hunting grounds for several Native American tribes, including the Miami, Illinois, and Pottawattomie. Villages kept close trading ties with the French, though scuffles with the Fox tribe kept the French influence at bay until 1779. That year, black French trader Jean Baptiste Point du Sable built a five-room "mansion" by the mouth of the Chicago River on the shore of Lake Michigan.

"It is hopeless for the occasional visitor to try to keep up with Chicago. She outgrows his prophecies faster than he can make them." - Mark Twain, 1883 Chicago was only 46 years old when Mark Twain wrote those words, but it had already grown more than 100-fold, from a small trading post at the mouth of the Chicago River into one of the nation’s largest cities, and it wasn’t about to stop. Over the next 20 years, it would quadruple in population, amazing the rest of the world with its ability to repeatedly reinvent itself.

Find out more about the history of Chicago, including videos, interesting articles, pictures, historical features and more. Get all the facts on HISTORY.com

The history of Chicago, Illinois, has played a central role in American economic, cultural and political history and since the 1850s has been the dominant Midwest metropolis. The area's recorded history begins with the arrival of French explorers, missionaries and fur traders in the late 17th century and their interaction with the local Potawatomi Indians. There were small settlements and a U.S. Army fort, but the soldiers and settlers were all driven off in 1812.