Chicago

Incorporated as a city in 1837 beside a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi watershed, and grown fast through the middle of the nineteenth century. The Great Chicago Fire destroyed several square miles in 1871 and left more than 100,000 people homeless, and the city kept growing anyway. What came out of that period shaped how cities are built: the Chicago School, the City Beautiful movement, and the steel-framed skyscraper. It is the third-most populous city in the country, on the western shore of Lake Michigan.