RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The City of Chicago will celebrate the 175th Anniversary of its incorporation as a City, known officially as the dodransbicentennial - Greek for three-quarters of two hundred years; and
WHEREAS, The Chicago City Council has been made aware of this occasion by Alderman Edward M. Burke of the 14th Ward; and
WHEREAS, Chicago was first incorporated as a town in 1833; and
WHERREAS, Chicago's earliest life was characterized as a trading post for trappers and fur merchants before official incorporation, and
WHEREAS, Chicago was first populated by the Potawatomi Nation of native peoples who first characterized the landscape as "Chi-caw-goo," onion smell, from the fields of wild onion growing in abundance, and
WHEREAS, In 1803, the infant Republic of the United States under the direction of Secretary of War John Dearborn, commissioned a protective stockade to be constructed at the far western reaches of the nation that became known as Fort Dearborn. Captain John Whistler, a native-born Irishman, supervised the project and became the Fort's first commander. During the Ward of 1812, the Fort would be burnt and the residents slaughtered by the Potawatomi in league with the British. It was once again rebuilt. Much of Fort Dearborn was demolished in 1857; and
WHEREAS, In 1837 Chicago was incorporated as a City and elected its first mayor, William Butler Ogden; and
WHEREAS, The 1838 conjoining of the waterways of Chicago were the young city's number one priority with a canal dug that would effectively connect Lake Michigan to the Illinois River some 90 miles away; and
WHEREAS, The canal project was responsible for a large influx of Irish immigrants who worked in the strenuous labor of digging the 90-mile trench, with many Irish settling at the point of the canal's completion in Chicago - the neighborhood of Bridgeport; and
WHEREAS, The Illinois and Michigan Canal, as it was known, became Chicago's most stunning engineering project, and permitted agricultural products and manufactured goods to be transported across the heartland of the nation; and
WHEREAS, This waterway was the making of Chicago's commercial success by permitting shipping to flow from Lake Michigan to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River, opening in 1848; and
WHEREAS, 1848 also marked the beginning stages of the railroad industry that would make Chicago the nation's rail hub, boasting the world's largest railway station by 1860; and
WHEREAS, The Chicago Board of Trade first opened in March of 1848 providing the City with a effective and efficient means of brokering the rich harvest of agri-commerce in the heartland boosting Chicago's mercantile character and influence in our nation; and
WHEREAS, Chicago began an unprecedented political leadership hosting the nation's National Presidential Nominating Conventions, beginning with President Abraham Lincoln's nomination in Chicago at the 1860 Republican National Convention, as well as twenty-four more conventions of both Republicans and Democrats alike; and
WHEREAS, In 1871, the driest summer and autumn in our history unleashed a series of urban fires that eventually culminated in a tremendous urban conflagration on October 8, 1871, the Great Chicago Fire, destroying three-fifths of the central city before the flames were extinguished by a falling rain on the night of October 9, 1871, with the Chicago Water Tower and the Pumping Station at Michigan and Chicago Avenues, being one of the few structures in the path of the fire to survive; and
WHEREAS, The world's first elevated electric railway made its debut in Chicago in 1883; and by June 6, 1892, the elevated train, known as the "EL," began operation across the City and today is known as the second longest rapid transit system in the nation in total track miles covered; and
WHEREAS, In 1884 Chicago became home to the nation's first skyscraper, the 10-story, steel-framed Home Insurance Building built by architect William Le Baron Jenney, the father of the skyscraper; and
WHEREAS, Chicago celebrated its urban survival and the Four Hundredth Anniversary of Columbus' voyage to the New World by hosting the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Jackson Park which twenty-nine million visitors attended, seeing their first electric light bulb, telephone, moving picture, Cracker Jacks, the Vienna Kosher Hot Dog, Ferris Wheel and automobile; and
WHEREAS, Chicago celebrated the 100th Anniversary of its 1833 founding by again hosting the World's Fair, on Northerly Island, from 1933-1934, known as the Century of Progress; and
WHEREAS, Construction on Chicago's first subway began in 1938 and operations commenced in 1943 during the administration of Mayor Edward Kelly; and
WHEREAS, Chicago's most recognizable political leader, Mayor Richard J. Daley, was elected in 1955 and remained for two decades as a local and national political force of nature; and
WHEREAS, Chicago's passion for sports has been cut on the weal and woes of the Cubs, the White Sox, the Blackhawks, the Bears and the Bulls who have been the recipients of an unusual urban sport's loyalty that seldom is the result of winning or losing; and
WHEREAS, The City of Chicago has been an important air hub, boasting the nation's busiest aviation center, home to O'Hare and Midway International Airports; and
WHEREAS, Chicago will turn a milestone on March 4, 2012, as it celebrates 175 years of history, culture, and urban survival; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, That there is hereby created a Civic Committee to stage appropriate events to commemorate Chicago's dodransbicentennial and to establish a suitable piece of public sculpture to be placed in an area of high public activity; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Chicago Public Schools are invited to hold essay contests in each school to commemorate Chicago's 175th Birthday; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and the Department of General Services and Fleet Management are ordered to install a permanent exhibit commemorating Chicago's dodransbicentennial. The Office of Budget and Management shall allocate funds for the fitting, permanent tribute, as well as an appropriate celebration in honor of the dodransbicentennial anniversary of the incorporation of the City of Chicago.
Edward M. Burke (14)