Category: Chicago History
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The home of Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, Chicago’s first settler. Chicago’s Beginnings In the early 1800s, the city that we now know as Chicago, was a small community and an important center of the fur trade. The city began as a trading post where the Potawatomi would provide pelts and information to the traders in…
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The Second Fort Dearborn by Dwight Benton The Original Fort Dearborn, 1803-1812 On August 15, 1812, the original Fort Dearborn, erected in 1803, was burned to the ground by members of the Potowatami after Captain Nathan Heald attempted to evacuate the fort on orders by his superiors. Heald’s evacuation was a disaster, and his actions…
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By the year 1828, Chicago was in the midst of a great transformation that would take the lakeside village and literally reshape its horizon. The fur trade began shuttering its windows and closing its doors, and Chicago, along with the times, changed and grew accordingly. With the end of the fur trade, so would come…
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The Black Hawk War The Black Hawk War, like other wars throughout history, was not fought because of hatred and love for violence, but rather, for land. The US government wanted to expand its territory, and the Native Americans wished to retain their homeland. Treaties were signed, often peaceably, and yet, those same treaties were…
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Massacre at Fort Dearborn University of Chicago Looking Back To recap my first installment, Mud Lake: The Future Home of Fort Dearborn, Captain Whistler, who planned and constructed the first real settlement at Fort Dearborn, was called back to Detroit in 1810. He was replaced by Captain Nathan Heald, who is best remembered for being…
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Mud Lake, 1833 Father Pierre Charlevoix The first historical mention of Chicago (in writing) can be found in a report written by Father Pierre Charlevoix in 1671; “Chicagou at the Lower End of Lake Michigan”. Father Charlevoix, a French Jesuit Priest, was also a historian and explorer. Some even say that he was a spy,…
History Belongs To Us 