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| View from my office window, downtown Chicago |
Chicago has had a long history dating back to before there was a United States. First mentioned by French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in 1679, Chicago has figured prominently in many important events. It was the transportation hub between the eastern and western United States with the it's first railway, Galena & Chicago Union Railroad, and it's steamship and sailboat shipping connections from the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes with the Illinois & Michigan Canal. Abraham Lincoln won the Republican nomination for President a the convention held in Chicago in 1860. In 1871, a Great Fire destroyed the city which the population completely rebuilt as witnessed, a mere 20 years later, by the entire world at the Columbian Exposition of 1893. The Union Stockyards revolutionized the meat packing industry and the Pullman Rail cars offered luxury to travelers. Organized crime became synonymous with Chicago during prohibition with the infamous gangster Al Capone. During the 1940's the scientific minds at the University Of Chicago developed the Atom Bomb which brought a swift end to World War 2. More recently, former President Of The United States, Barack Obama, called Chicago home.
The history of Chicago has shaped the entire world in a very unique way.
In addition, Chicago has some great environments - from downtown to the lakefront. Art deco architecture permeates the landscape. The waterways of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan make the Chicago like no other city.
There are a number of spooky, haunted places which fit right into Visitations. Cemeteries Graceland, Rosehill, Resurrection and Batchelor's Grove. Downtown landmarks like the Congress Hotel, Holy Name Cathedral, the old Chicago Historical Society building, the Oriental Theater, and the Drake Hotel. The Biograph Theater and Lincoln Park also have their share of stories.
Lastly, the reason I set Visitations in Chicago is because I live there and know it well.
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