Chicago, IL Locations Locator Map and Directory

Chicago is a major city in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city is the largest in the Midwest and the third-most populous city in the United States, with close to three million people. The Chicago Metropolitan area, informally known as Chicagoland, has a population of over 9.4 million in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana making it the third largest in the United States. Chicago is located along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan and is a major center of transportation, industry, politics, culture, finance, medicine and higher education. Chicago is informally called the "Second City," the "Windy City," and the "City of Big Shoulders" (from Carl Sandburg's poem Chicago).

Today, Chicago is the financial, business, and cultural capital of the Midwest, and is recognized worldwide as an Alpha Global City. Chicago was founded in 1833 as a town to link the Great Lakes with the Mississippi River system. It soon became a transportation hub of the Northwest Territory, with major connections by steamboats, canals and (by 1855), railroads. By 1890, it was one of the ten most influential world cities.

Thirty-three million foreign and domestic visitors came to Chicago in 2005. Luxury shopping along the Magnificent Mile, thousands of restaurants, as well as Chicago's position as global architectural capital, have attracted millions of tourist over the years. The city is also a convention hub, being the United States' third largest city for conventions, behind only Las Vegas, and Orlando.

Navy Pier, a 3000-foot (900 m) pier housing restaurants, shops, museums, exhibition halls, auditoriums, and a 150-foot-tall (45 m) Ferris wheel, is located north of Grant Park on the lakefront, and is one of the most visited landmark in Midwest attracting over 8 million people in 2005.

The Chicago Cultural Center, built in 1897 as Chicago's first permanent public library, now houses the city's Visitor Information Center, galleries, and exhibit halls. The ceiling of Preston Bradley Hall includes a 38-foot (11 m) Tiffany glass dome. Millennium Park is a rebuilt section of a former railyard that was planned for unveiling at the turn of the 21st century, though it was delayed for several years. The park includes the original sculpture Cloud Gate (known locally as The Bean). When visitors face The Bean and Lake Michigan, a curved image of the Chicago skyline is reflected back. Millennium Park also contains a restaurant with an outdoor seating section that is transformed into an ice skating rink in the winter. Two tall glass sculptures make up the Crown Fountain by Jaume Plensa. The fountain's two towers display huge LED images of Chicagoans' faces, with water spouting from their pursed lips. Frank Gehry's ornate stainless steel bandshell, Pritzker Pavilion, is home to the Grant Park Music Festival, a free summer series of classical concerts. Behind the pavilion's stage is the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, an indoor venue for mid-sized performing arts companies, including Chicago Opera Theater and Music of the Baroque. Gehry's stainless steel BP Bridge connects Millennium Park with Daley Bicentennial Plaza.