A Chronological Listing of Events in Chicago History
The following links lead to other sources including the websites of institutions mentioned, the Encyclopedia of Chicago, the City of Chicago's Chicago Landmarks site, and the Library of Congress's American Memory project among others. A search of Chicago Public Library's research databases (in particular the Chicago Tribune Historical Archive and the Chicago Defender Historical Archive) and catalog will yield articles and books with more detail.- 1673 Discovery
- 1696-1700 Mission of the Guardian Angel
- 1779 Jean Baptiste Point DuSable
Marker - 1795 Treaty of Greenville
- 1803 Construction of Fort Dearborn Begins
- 1812 Fort Dearborn Massacre
- 1818 Illinois Admitted to Statehood
- 1830 Thompson Plat—First Plat of Chicago
- 1832 Black Hawk War
- 1833 Incorporated as a Town
- 1833 Chicago’s First Newspaper - The Chicago Weekly Democrat
- 1837 Chicago’s First Local Theater Company Established
- 1837 Incorporated as a City
- 1837 Chicago's First Mayor - William Butler Ogden Elected
- 1847 First Issue of Chicago Tribune story
- 1848 Chicago Board of Trade Founded
Building - 1848 Chicago Builds First Municipal Structure, Market Building
- 1848 Illinois & Michigan Canal Completed
- 1848 Galena & Chicago Union Railroad
- 1848 First City Hall in State Street
- 1848 Telegraph Reaches Chicago
1850
- 1855 Lager Beer Riots
- 1855 Police Department Created
- 1855 Street Level Change
- 1856 Chicago Historical Society Founded
- 1857 Academy of Sciences Founded
- 1860 Lincoln Nominated at Chicago’s First National Convention
- 1862 Camp Douglas Becomes Confederate Prisoner of War Camp
- 1865 Chicago’s First Museum - Academy of Sciences Opens
- 1865 Chicago Union Stock Yards Completed
Article - 1867 First Tunnel Under the Lake
- 1868 Field and Leiter Open Store at Washington and State
- 1868 Lincoln Park Zoological Gardens Founded
- 1869 First Traffic Tunnels Under the River
- 1869 Chicago Water Tower Built
- 1871 The Great Fire
- 1872 Chicago Board of Education Established
- 1872 Montgomery Ward—First Mail-Order House
- 1873 Chicago Public Library (CPL) Opened
- 1877 Telephones Reach Chicago
- 1877 Railroad Strike
- 1879 Carter Harrison Elected Mayor
- 1879 Art Institute Founded
- 1880 Town of Pullman Built
- 1886 Haymarket Riot
- 1889 Jane Addams—Hull House
Marker
Museum - 1889 Auditorium Building Dedicated
- 1890 City Press Association of Chicago Founded
- 1891 Inaugural Concert of Chicago Symphony Orchestra
- 1892 First Elevated Rapid Transit Line
- 1893 Chicago Harbor Lighthouse Built
- 1893 World's Columbian Exposition
- 1893 The First Ferris Wheel Debuts in Chicago
- 1893 Daniel Hale Williams Performs Open Heart Surgery
- 1893 Mayor Carter Harrison Shot and Killed
- 1893 Columbian Museum of Chicago (Field Museum of Natural History)Founded
- 1894 Pullman Strike
- 1896 Chicago Federation of Labor Founded
- 1897 John Crerar Library Opens
- 1898 Chicago Butter and Egg Board (later Chicago Mercantile Exchange) Founded
1900
- 1900 Flow of Chicago River Reversed
- 1901 Chicago Freight Tunnels
- 1902 First Bascule Trunnion Bridge Opens
- 1903 Iroquois Theater Fire
- 1904 Ravinia Park Opens
- 1905 Chicago Defender Debuts
Chicago Defender Building - 1906 White Sox Defeat Cubs in Crosstown World Series
- 1907 First American Nobel Prize Winner in Science
- 1907 Cubs Win World Series
- 1908 Garfield Park Conservatory Opens
- 1908 Cubs Win World Series
- 1908 Street Numbering Change
- 1909 Chicago Plan Published
- 1909 Illinois Supreme Court Rules to Keep Lakefront "Forever Open , Clear and Free"
- 1909 Water Crib Fire
- 1910 Comiskey Park Opens
- 1910 Union Stock Yards Fire
- 1911 Dedication of Present City Hall
- 1914 Wrigley Field Built
- 1915 Eastland Disaster
Chicago Daily News Photographs - 1916 Balaban & Katz Founded
- 1917 White Sox Win World Series
- 1919 Dirigible Balloon Crash
- 1919 Race Riots
- 1919 Black Sox Scandal
Court Case - 1921 Westinghouse Station KYW Broadcasts Chicago’s First Radio Program
- 1924 Grant Park Stadium (Soldier Field) Completed
- 1925 Union Station Completed
- 1927 Buckingham Fountain Constructed
Public Art - 1927 Municipal Airport of Chicago (Midway) Opened
- 1928 Straightening of the Chicago River
- 1929 St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
Case Details - 1929 Chicago Stadium Opens
- 1930 Shedd Aquarium Officially Opens
- 1930 Adler Planetarium Founded, First in Western Hemisphere
- 1931 Jane Addams Wins Nobel Peace Prize
- 1931 Merchandise Mart Opens as World’s Largest Building
- 1932 Bears Win NFL Championship
- 1933 Mayor Anton Cermak Shot and Killed
- 1933-34 A Century of Progress
- 1933 First Baseball All-Star Game
- 1933 Museum of Science and Industry Opens
- 1934 Brookfield Zoo Opens
- 1934 Blackhawks Win Stanley Cup Championship
Trophy Winners - 1937 Memorial Day Incident at Republic Steel
- 1938 Blackhawks Win Stanley Cup Championship
Trophy Winners - 1940 Bears Win NFL Championship
- 1942 Plutonium First Isolated
- 1942 First Controlled Atomic Reaction
- 1943 Bears Win NFL Championship
- 1943 Chicago's First Subway Opened
- 1946 Bears Win NFL Championship
- 1947 Chicago Transit Authority Created
- 1948 First Issue of Chicago Sun-Times
1950
- 1950 Chess Records Founded
- 1954 Lyric Theatre of Chicago (Lyric Opera) Founded
- 1955 Mayor Richard J. Daley Elected
- 1955 WTTW’s First Broadcast
- 1955 First Section of Congress Expressway (Dwight D. Eisenhower) Opened
- 1958 Our Lady of the Angels School Fire
- 1959 International Trade Fair Celebrates Opening of St. Lawrence Seaway—Queen Elizabeth's Visit
- 1960 Northwest Expressway (John F. Kennedy) Completed
- 1961 Blackhawks Win Stanley Cup Championship
Trophy Winners - 1961 The Ebony Museum of Negro History and Art (DuSable Museum of African American History) Established
- 1962 Dan Ryan Expressway Opened
- 1963 Bears Win NFL Championship
- 1963 O’Hare Airport Dedicated
- 1964 Southwest Expressway(Adlai E. Stevenson) Completed
- 1966 Civic Center Dedicated
- 1966 Martin Luther King, Jr. Marches in Chicago
- 1967 Major Snowstorm
- 1967 McCormick Place Fire
- 1967 Museum of Contemporary Art Founded
- 1967 Picasso Statue Dedicated in Civic Center Plaza
- 1968 Democratic National Convention
- 1971 Union Stock Yard Closes
- 1972 Shakman Agreement Signed
- 1972 Chicago Botanic Gardens opens
- 1972 Crash of United Airlines Flight 553
- 1973 Sears Tower Completed—Becomes World's Tallest Building
- 1974 Chagall’s Four Seasons Dedicated
- 1974 Calder’s Flamingo Dedicated
- 1975 Deep Tunnel Project Begins
- 1976 Mayor Richard J. Daley Dies at 74
- 1976 Civic Center Renamed Richard J. Daley Center
- 1977 Oldenburg’s Bat Column Dedicated
- 1977 First Running of Chicago Marathon
- 1979 Jane Byrne Elected Mayor
- 1979 State Street Mall Opens
- 1979 Crash of American Airlines Flight 191
- 1981 Miro’s Chicago Dedicated
- 1982 First Major City to Ban Sale of Handguns
- 1982 Chicago Children’s Museum Founded
- 1983 Harold Washington Elected Mayor
- 1984 Rapid Transit Line Extended to O'Hare
- 1984 DuBuffet’s Monument with Standing Beast Unveiled
- 1985 State of Illinois Center (later James R. Thompson Center) Opens
- 1986 Bears Win NFL Championship
- 1986 The Chicago Theater Reopens
- 1986 Lake Shore Drive S-Curve Straightened
- 1987 Museum of Broadcast Communications Opens
- 1987 Mayor Harold Washington Dies at 65
- 1989 Mayor Richard M. Daley Elected Mayor
- 1991 Chicago Bulls Win NBA Championship
- 1991 New Comiskey Park(U.S. Cellular Field) Opens
- 1992 Freight Tunnel Flood
- 1992 Chicago Bulls Win NBA Championship
- 1993 Chicago Bulls Win NBA Championship
- 1993 Orange Line Opens to Midway Airport
- 1994 Chicago Hosts World Cup
- 1994 United Center Opens
- 1995 Deadly Heat Wave
- 1995 Chicago Stadium Demolished
- 1996 National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum Opens
- 1996 State Street Revitalization
- 1996-98 Chicago Bulls Win NBA Championship
- 1998 Steppenwolf Theatre Company Wins National Medal of the Arts
- 1998 Chicago Fire Wins MLS Cup and U.S. Open Cup
- 1999 Notebaert Nature Museum Opens
- 1999 City News Bureau Closes
2000
- 2000 Chicago Fire Wins U.S. Open Cup
- 2000 Field Museum Unveils "Sue", the Tyrannosaurus rex
- 2003 E2 Nightclub Fatalities
- 2003 Chicago Fire Wins U.S. Open Cup
- 2003 Meigs Field Closes
- 2004 Millennium Park Opens
- 2005 White Sox Sweep World Series
- 2006 Chicago Fire Wins Open Cup
- 2006 CTA Pink Line Begins Service
- 2006 Abakanowicz’s Agora Dedicated
- 2007 Chicago Wins Right to Represent US in Bid for 2016 Olympics
- 2008 President-elect Barack Obama gives acceptance speech in Chicago's Grant Park