Geography Project Part 4:
Chicago: The Windy City.
In my last post I said that Chicago had its own type of pizza so now I'm linking this to Chicago.
Chicago has many nicknames but its probably most commonly known as 'The Windy City'. There are 3 possibilities for this and they are: the weather, the World's Fair and their rivalry with Cincinnati.
Weather: Chicago is a naturally windy city because it is on the shores of Lake Michigan, although it is not actually any windier then any other American City. The average annual wind speed of Chicago is: 10.3 mph (16.6 km/h).
Chicago has always prided itself as being an ideal summer resort because of its cool lake breeze. For years papers have issued statements on the refreshing winds of Chicago being perfect for summer holidays. 'The Boston Globe',July 8, 1873, said "a few years ago, Chicago advertised itself as a summer resort, on the strength of the lake breezes which so nicely tempered the mid-summer heats." The 'Chicago Tribune', June 14, 1876, said "Chicago as a Summer Resort" at length, proudly declaring that "the people of this city are enjoying cool breezes, refreshing rains, green fields, a grateful sun, and balmy air.
World's Fair: At the time of the 400th anniversary of Columbus' arrival, America planned to host a World's Fair as celebration. As news spread, many prominent cities started to compete for the honour of hosting this event. In the end the fight came down between New York City and Chicago.
In 1890, Chicago won the bid to host the World's Fair, also known as the World's Columbian Exposition. Many New Yorkers were angry that Chicago had beaten them.
It is a popular myth that the first person to use the term "Windy City" was The New York Sun editor, Charles Dana. He wrote, "Don’t pay any attention to the nonsensical claims of that windy city. Its people could not build a World’s Fair even if they won it".
Rivalry with Cincinnati: Cincinnati and Chicago were rivals in the 1860s and 1870s. Cincinnati was well known in the meatpacking trade and it was called "Porkopolis" from around 1843. From the very early 1860s, Chicago surpassed Cincinnati in this trade and took the "Porkopolis" nickname.
The baseball inter-city matches were really intense. The 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings were the champions of all baseball, so Chicago came up with a rival team called the White Stockings to defeat them. "Windy City" often appeared in the Cincinnati sporting news of the 1870s and 1880s. Here are some examples:
- 'The Cincinnati Enquirer', May 9, 1876, headline: "THAT WINDY CITY. Some Freaks of the Last Chicago Tornado."
- 'The Cincinnati Enquirer', May 13, 1876: "Only the plucky nerve of the eating-house keeper rescued the useful seats from a journey to the Windy City."
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