Chicago has played a central role in American economic , cultural and political history. Since the s Chicago has been one of the dominant metropolises in the Midwestern United States , and has been the largest city in the Midwest since the census.
The area's recorded history begins with the arrival of French explorers, missionaries and fur traders in the late 17th century and their interaction with the local Potawatomi Native Americans. Jean Baptiste Point du Sable , a black freeman, was the first permanent non-indigenous settler in the area, having a house at the mouth of the Chicago River by at least , [ 1 ] though possibly as early as The small settlement was defended by Fort Dearborn after its completion in , but was abandoned as part of the War of in expectation of an attack by the Potawatomi , who caught up with the retreating soldiers and civilians not two miles south of the fort.
Despite a fire in that destroyed the Central Business District , the city grew exponentially, becoming the nation's rail center and the dominant Midwestern center for manufacturing, commerce, finance, higher education , religion , broadcasting , sports , jazz , and high culture. The city was a magnet for European immigrantsβat first Germans, Irish and Scandinavians, then from the s to , Jews, Czechs, Poles and Italians. They were all absorbed in the city's powerful ward-based political machines.
Many joined militant labor unions , and Chicago became notorious for its violent strikes, but respected for its high wages. Mexicans started arriving after , and Puerto Ricans after The Cook County suburbs grew rapidly after , but the Democratic party machine kept both the city and suburbs under control, especially under mayor Richard J.
Daley , who was chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party. Deindustrialization after closed the stockyards and most of the steel mills and factories, but the city retained its role as a financial and transportation hub.
