By the Water See the green ribbon along the shore of Lake Michigan And the tall buildings behind it That’s Chicago Illinois Over two million seven hundred thousand people live in this city It didn’t always look like this When French explorers arrived in the 1600s it was a stinky swamp By the Chicago River the water did not drain away from the land Many wild leeks grew there It smelled so bad that the explorers called the area Chicago which came from the Miami Indians word for the smelly leeks and a striped skunk Chicago Notes Chicago is called the Windy City but it’s only the 14th windiest city in the United States 44 4 People in Chicago enjoy the beaches and parks along Lake Michigan
Thousands of boats fill Chicago’s Lake Michigan harbors These boats are often seen sailing on the lake Chicago is built at the edge of Lake Michigan Lincoln Park runs along the lake in the northern part of the city Walkers bikers and skaters use the Chicago Lakefront Trail in all kinds of weather Others take a paddle boat on the lagoon There are miles of beaches At The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum you can build a dam or walk with hundreds of live butterflies Lake Michigan by the Numbers Length 307 miles 494 kilometers Width 118 miles 190 kilometers Depth an average of 279 feet 85 meters Deepest spot 925 feet 282 meters Third largest Great Lake Sixth largest freshwater lake in the world Lake Michigan Chicago IL 5
The Potawatomi Indians traveled between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River They stay away in winter It was too cold and the rivers froze In 1803 U S soldiers built Fort Dearborn Then settlers from the east moved there Chicago was a city by 1837 The lake was important to the city In 1916 Navy Pier was built It stretched a half mile 81 kilometers into the lake For many years ships loaded up there Those ships delivered Chicago's breakfast sausages farm machines and chewing gum all over the world 6
Navy Pier is not quite the same these days Now it's a place to have fun The Chicago Children's Museum is at the pier In the summer you can take a boat ride on the lake At night you can watch the fireworks that explode in time to music 000000 Chicago Food Chicago is famous for its food Three favorites are Chicago pizza a stuffed deep dish pizza Chicago hot dogs all beef dogs on a hot bun covered with yellow mustard and bright green relish a pickle spear and celery salt but no ketchup and don't ask for any Italian beef sandwich seasoned roast beef on a gravy soaked Italian roll 7
