Understand

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Progress and modernization rule in Chicago. The old Chicago with its smoke-spewing factories and quarreling politicians - not to mention machine gun-wielding gangsters - is mostly gone, having given way to a new Chicago known for architecture, world-class museums, and tourism in general.

Chicago is known as The Windy City. Popular myth has it that this nickname for Chicago was coined by Charles Dana, the editor of the New York Sun, in 1893. Chicago was competing with New York to host the 1893 Columbian Exposition and Dana allegedly coined the name as a derogatory moniker. Supposedly the term is not a reference to the winds off Lake Michigan as one might suppose, but rather refers to the Chicagoan habit of rabid boosterism and shameless boasting. To a New Yorker like Dana, Chicago was full of hot air.

The story simply isn't true. The name dates to at least 1885, and clearly refers to the breezes off the lake. 1885 references include "city of winds" as well as "Windy City." This isn't new information either. Mathew's Dictionary of Americanisms, published some 50 years ago, includes an 1887 quotation of "Windy City", but the myth persists--largely due to newspaper reporters and editors who repeat the tale without checking the facts.

Chicago is also known as The Second City, which refers to its rebuilding after the famous Chicago fire. The current city of Chicago is literally the second city. Some also believe it refers to the city's historical position as the United States' second largest city, after New York City, though it has long since been surpassed in population by Los Angeles. Chicago, however, is still the second largest financial center in the country, ahead of Los Angeles.

Carl Sandburg called Chicago the City of the Big Shoulders, referring to its tall buildings. Chicago was the birthplace of the skyscraper.

The best-known song about Chicago, written in 1922 by Fred Fisher, calls it That Toddlin' Town. Since then many different well known artists, including Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and of course Chicago, have sung their versions of the song.

Finally, the city is sometimes called the The City That Works, which is a local promotional campaign by the administration of current Mayor Richard M. Daley. It refers to the long labor tradition as well as the long hours worked by residents, as well as a stable, municipal government which provides numerous services to its inhabitants.
Chicago's history with corruption cannot be ignored. During the Prohibition Era, the Mafia became entrenched, with names like Al Capone and Baby Face Nelson. Eliot Ness was known as the "incorruptible" investigator. Al Capone was eventually sentenced on tax evasion and Baby Face Nelson was shot and killed in the northwest suburb of Barrington. (A small plaque at Langendorf Park briefly describes the dramatic shootout.) This continued with claims of ballot packing, where the dead would vote, and the motto was "vote early, vote often". More recently the former governor of Illinois, George Ryan, was convicted in 2006 and sentenced to...