Chicago is tall – some of the world’s
mightiest skyscrapers rise up here.
It’s also beach-y, museum-y and
inventive, with a backward-flowing
river and trains that run on stilts.
Lively and competitive by nature, the
locals in this city take their sport and
their pizza seriously.
Cloud Gate
One of Chicago’s most popular sights is the Cloud Gate
sculpture by
artist Anish Kapoor in Millennium Park. Everybody calls it the ‘Bean’
and it’s not hard to guess why. Visitors are allowed to walk up and
touch its shiny, reflective surface, even though they are bound to leave
fingerprints. City workers buff the Bean daily with a cloth and spritz it
twice a year with a detergent spray to help keep it gleaming.
WINDY CITY?
Despite its ‘Windy City’ nickname, Chicago
isn’t especially gusty. The name came about
in the 1890s when a New York newspaper
described Chicago as ‘windy’ because of
the hot air its politicians spouted to try and
win the bid to host the 1893
World’s Columbian Exposition.
THE FIRST SKYSCRAPER
Chicago built its first skyscraper in
1885, changing the way modern
cities look forever. The Willis Tower
remained the tallest building in
America until One World Trade
Center was built in New York in
2013 and it’s still higher than most
buildings on Earth. The best way
to experience such dizzy heights
is to go up to the 103rd floor
Skydeck. The deck has glass
ledges that jut out from
the tower, creating
a crazy-scary view
down to the ground.
THE GOAT-CURSED BASEBALL TEAM
Built in 1914, Wrigley Field is one of the few old ballparks left. Its
home team – the Chicago Cubs – suffers from the longest
championship losing streak in US sports history. The
unlucky side haven’t won a World Series since
1908! The record is said to be the result of a
curse. In 1945, a fan called Billy Sianis
tried to enter the ballpark with his
goat, Murphy, hoping that
the pet would be a lucky
mascot. When the goat
was denied entry,
Sianis called a terrible
curse down upon
the baseball team.
Unfortunately
it seems to
have stuck.
SOLE SURVIVOR
No one knows how the Great
Chicago Fire of 1871 started.
Tales have been swapped about
a cow kicking over a lantern, or
a meteor shower sparking the
blaze. One thing’s for sure –
the fire burned for three days
and destroyed everything
downtown apart from the
water tower. Its yellow
limestone bricks managed
to withstand the flames.
BIG IDEAS
The Ferris wheel was invented in Chicago
– there’s a replica of the original on Navy
Pier. Pinball machines, brownies, zips
and deep-dish pizza are also Chicago
inventions. To top this, the city
created the world’s first mobile
phone in 1973. It was the size
of a brick and went on sale to
the public in 1984.
BACKWARD-FLOWING
RIVER
The Chicago River is the only one
in the world to flow backwards.
Engineers reversed the current in
1900 using a series of canals and
locks. The goal was to send sewage
away from Lake Michigan, where
the city got its drinking water. The
Chicago is also the only river dyed
green every St Patrick’s Day.
TRAINS ON STILTS
In 1892, Chicago’s streets were unpaved and clogged up with
wagons, carts and streetcars. As a solution, planners built
a rail system that ran above the messy roads, supported on
hundreds of steel stilts. The elevated trains still clatter
along the tracks today and the ‘L’, as it is called,
remains the city’s main mode of
public transport.