By Tim Lambert
1673
Two Frenchmen reach the area
1779
Jean Baptiste Point du Sable builds a house in the area
1803
Fort Dearborn is built
1825
The Erie Canal opens
1837
The population of Chicago is 4,000. Chicago is made a city.
1848
The Illinois and Michigan Canal opens
1850
The population of Chicago reaches 30,000
1860
Chicago is booming and has a population of 169,000
1865
Union Stock Yards open
1870
The population of Chicago reaches 300,000
1871
Chicago is devastated by a fire
1880
The population of Chicago reaches 503,000
1884
The Home Insurance Building is erected
1885
The Fine Arts Building is erected
1886
The Haymarket Massacre takes place
1893
The World’s Columbian Exhibition was held in Chicago
1900
The population of Chicago rises to 1.7 million
1903
A fire in the Iroquois Theater kills many people
1920
The population of Chicago reaches 2.7 million
1927
Chicago Municipal Airport opens
1929
The St Valentines Day Massacre takes place in Chicago
1933
Chicago hosts the Century of Progress World Fair
1942
Enrico Fermi carries out the first controlled nuclear reaction at Chicago University
1950
The population of Chicago peaks at 3.6 million
1973
Willis Tower opens
1979
Jane Byrne becomes the first female mayor of Chicago
1990
Chicago ceases to be the second-largest city in the USA
1995
Navy Pier opens
2004
Millennium Park opens
2007
Spertus Museum opens
2009
Trump International Hotel and Tower is completed
2016
The population of Chicago is 2.7 million
