100
+80
+3
On March 4, 1837, the Windy City officially became a city. The town of Chicago had been organized four years earlier with a population of about 200 after a treaty was reached with local Native American tribes, but it wasn’t until 1837 that the city incorporated.
The hub of shipping and industry quickly became one of the fastest-growing cities in the country. By 1840 it had 4,400 people. By 1850 the city housed just under 30,000 people and by 1860 that had grown to 112,000.
Say what you will about Chicago (and all those stinkin' rotten politicians roaming its' streets). It truly is a beautiful city -- chock full of a rich history to be admired.
I'll end this post with a classic........
CHICAGO
Carl Sandburg
Carl Sandburg
Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:
They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people,
Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.
Grace & Peace & Love to you all -
Matt