Why is chicago referred to as the windy city

It borders Lake Michigan and is only a short drive from the Illinois-Indiana border and the Illinois-Wisconsin border. Chicago is likely the most well-known city in Illinois, probably because it is by far the largest city in the state, not to mention the third largest in the U. Why is Chicago so much larger than all the other cities in the area?

In , Jean Baptiste Point du Sable settled in the area and others came after. In , Chicago was officially incorporated as a city with a population of 4, Chicago expanded rapidly from there, and by , more than 3 million people lived in Chicago.

So, as industries boomed in the city, more and more people moved to Chicago and sought work. The top five cities are Mt. So the question still stands: Why is Chicago called the Windy City? Some of the freaks of the Last Chicago Tornado. This early reference may have also had another meaning. The reference likely jabs at the longwinded people of Chicago, who were full of hot air.

Since the reference came from a Cincinnati newspaper, it was a form of name-calling — apparently the people of Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Chicago all wanted to prove that their city was the greatest in the Midwest. However, it so happened that Chicago got involved and so the final competition was between the two cities. At that time, Chicago was perceived as a frontier and not a proper city.

For this reason, many people from New York were annoyed after Chicago won the bidding in to host the World Fair, which was also called the World Columbia Exposition. A more accurate report is that the name was perpetuated by journalists of that time from other cities in reference to Chicago.

One thing to note is that these reporters did not use the name as a term of endearment. More specifically, these windbags were politicians and prominent people. For example, a reporter of the Chicago Daily Tribune stated that the city had a vain police force that aired its vanity in the windy city.

Another reporter from Milwaukee also wrote something similar and mentioned the rotten morals that Chicago had compared to Milwaukee.

After these two journalists started using the name, more journalists also fueled the use of the name. Notably, most of those journalists were from New York City due to their bitter defeat. Going by this, it is clear that Chicago did not give itself the name but it is one that the city has learned to embrace over the years.