Chicago History for Kids: Triumphs and Tragedies of the Windy City Includes 21 Activities
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS R HIS BOOK WOULD NOT have been possible without the cooperation and participation of many individuals and institutions Joan Sommers deserves my special thanks She was the first one to suggest that I write this book She also did an excellent job of designing the book and its cover and made great improvements to the art project in chapter 8 Linda Bechtle Clare Abbene and Douglas Knox read every page of the manuscript and made many insightful edits and suggestions Bill Hurd provided editorial guidance on several early chapters Several kids read portions of the book and pro vided valuable feedback My most dedicated kid edi tors were my son Patrick Hurd and his cousins Eamon Hurd and Mariel Ian and Julia Abbene If my niece Shannon were old enough to read I'm sure she would have made some valuable suggestions too The following individuals shared expert advice related to pre European human existence in Illinois and Chicago William Iseminger Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site Linda Bechtle Midwest Institute for Native American Studies and Frances L Hage mann John Swenson reviewed and made helpful comments about the chapters on Chicago's early his tory and Jerry Crimmins lent his expertise on Fort Dearborn Marc Lipkin at Alligator Records coordinated my interview with Koko Taylor Thanks Koko for the great tips on the craft of writing a blues song Kenan Heise provided many of the wonderful photos that appear in this book The librarians archivists and photo reproduction
staff at the Newberry Library Chicago History Muse um and The Art Institute of Chicago were very coop erative and helpful Thanks also to Carina Carusi John Powell Heather Malec Trina Higgins Rob Medina Erin Tikovitsch Edward Maldonado Steve Nash and Jean Linsner Lisa Reardon was my capable and thorough project editor Thanks finally to my editor Cynthia Sherry who responded so enthusiastically to the sug gestion that we work together on this book and who patiently tolerated the anxieties of a first time author Finally and most importantly thank you to my wife Geralyn whose love and support made this work
INTRODUCTION MAGINE YOU COULD transport yourself back in time more than 300 years to the year 1673 Now pretend that you were standing at the cen ter of what would eventually become modern day Chicago What would you see Well first of all you'd probably be ankle deep in water Back then the future site of Chicago was mostly low lying marsh land that often flooded in the spring This drawing shows what Chicago may have looked like in the early 1780s HISTORY OF CHICAGO A T ANDREAS COMPANY 1884 86 In summer you would see tall grass prairies dotted with colorful wildflowers You would see beavers foxes wolves deer rodents and frogs But you obvi ously wouldn't see the Sears Tower the Lincoln Park Zoo the Museum of Science and Industry or Wrigley Field In fact you probably wouldn't even see any other people Even though about three million people live within Chicago's boundaries today back then the mushy swampy soil may have provided a suitable
habitat for wildlife but not for humans Various tribes of Native Americans Illinois Miami Potawatomi Fox and Kickapoo settled in the outly ing areas from time to time farming the drier lands farther from the lake and surrounding marshes In the autumn months they would most likely head west to hunt buffalo and deer The land you are imagining is about what Chicago would have looked like in 1673 That's when two Frenchmen became the first non Native Americans to visit the future city The visitors were a priest named Jacques Marquette and an explorer named Louis Jolliet They were followed by fur trappers and traders who were the first ones to consider Chicago an ideal place to settle for good IN A ROI DI I ID IID III IT In IT ID II In
