Chicago's Coolest Historical Spots | National Geographic

2m read

·Nov 11, 2024

This vibrant city of art, culture, and industry is also a treasure trove of storied sites. While you're enjoying public art at Millennium Park and savoring deep-dish pizza, make time to check out some of Chicago's coolest historical spots. The Chicago River runs through the center of the city. Head to the McCormick Bridge House in Chicago River Museum for a piece of living history.

The McCormick Bridge House is one of four on the iconic Michigan Avenue Bridge, a two-decker drawbridge built in 1920. Today, the ornate five-story bridge house is a museum dedicated to the city's famous movable bridges. On the west side of the city is a Chicago landmark that played an important role in the city's meatpacking industry.

The Fulton Market District was a thriving commercial and industrial center. It was also the site of the violent 1886 Haymarket Riot, which was a significant event in the American labor movement. Today, upscale restaurants, swanky shops, and architecturally arresting bars occupy the former warehouses, all worth a visit.

On the south side of Chicago is Jackson Park, the home of the 1893 World's Fair, where innovations such as the Ferris wheel and moving walkway made their debut. Most of the fair's buildings were temporary, but two still stand today. The fair's Palace of Fine Arts is now the home of the Museum of Science and Industry, the largest science museum in the Western Hemisphere.

You can't visit Chicago without taking a trip to its most iconic landmark, the Willis Tower, also known as the Sears Tower. Dominating the Chicago skyline, this 110-story, 1,450-foot steel and glass skyscraper was the tallest building in the world for 25 years. Today, it's the second tallest in the Northern Hemisphere.

From the 103rd floor Skydeck, on a clear day, visitors can see sweeping views of the city and feel the tower sway up to six inches in the wind. From shimmering skyscrapers to World Fair wonders, Chicago has enough historical treasures to keep travelers intrigued for days.

I woke up at 4 am for a week💀 (one day was enough 🥵)| Med School Diaries 👩🏻‍⚕️

What is a Leap Year?

View All

China Strikes Back: “The End Of The US Dollar”

Is the United States dollar under threat? We should prepare to lose our position as holder of the world’s reserve currency. That is happening in slow motion; it’s unmistakable. I think it’s—I will use the word doomed—in the long term. What’s up guys, it’…

15 Things Everyone Wants But Money Can’t Buy

You know, there are things money can’t buy. You know it, but you forget it. You forget that fundamentally, you’re on the same level as the richest people in the world. You have to appreciate these things now, so that when your wealth grows, your motivatio…

A Rare Look at the Secret Life of Orangutans | Short Film Showcase

Something like seven million years ago, there was nothing like a human on Earth. There was not even a pre-human standing upright; there were simply great apes, very much like the ones that live with us today. [Music] I was crossing the river at dawn. It…

Radical functions differentiation | Derivative rules | AP Calculus AB | Khan Academy

Let’s see if we can take the derivative with respect to (x) of the fourth root of (x^3 + 4x^2 + 7). At first, you might say, “All right, how do I take the derivative of a fourth root of something?” It looks like I have a composite function; I’m taking the…

Preston Silverman on Building out a Marketplace in Education - at YC Edtech Night

Hello everyone. Good evening. Thanks for having me! Really excited to be here. So, I’m the founder and CEO of Raise Me. We’re focused on expanding access to higher education by rethinking the way that students access scholarships and grant funding for col…

Continuity-Sikhism connections to Hinduism and Islam | 1450 - Present | World History | Khan Academy

In previous videos, we’ve gone into reasonable depth on the narrative of how the Sikh religion was started initially by Guru Nanak, and then it has developed under the next gurus all the way until the tenth Guru and finally as it was compiled in the Guru …

Chicago's Coolest Historical Spots | National Geographic

More Articles