On a cold, brutally windy day in Chicago, when the temperature's sub-zero and strong gusts keep you from walking down the street, the first question that will come to mind is, 'Who the (heck) decided to build a city and settle here?' Well, nearly three million hardy souls now call this great city home, and they can thank the mettle and vision of their Irish, Italian, German, Polish, Mexican and Asian immigrant forebears, and others who migrated here from the southern US for creating it. This diverse mix has built a city with an unrivaled tradition of jazz and blues, an astonishing architecture, an appetite for hearty food, award-winning newspapers, universities full of Nobel laureates and some of the most die-hard sports fans you'll ever meet.
Population: 2.8 million
Area: 230 sq mi (600 sq km)
Elevation: 580ft (175m)
State: Illinois
Time Zone: Central Time (GMT/UTC minus 6 hours)
Telephone area codes: 312 inside the Loop; 773 outside
Orientation
The city of Chicago, in northeastern Illinois, stretches for 25 miles (40km) along the southern tip of Lake Michigan's shore. Illinois is located in the northern central part of the United States, bordered by Wisconsin and Lake Michigan to the north, Iowa and Missouri to the west, Indiana to the east and Kentucky to the south.
The Loop is the historic center of the city, drawing its name from the elevated train tracks that circle it. Its buildings constitute a virtual textbook of American architecture. The intersection of Madison and State Streets is ground zero in a numbering system that lets you navigate without knowing any street names. From this point, all street numbers are predicated on north, south, east or west, depending on which way they radiate. Many of Chicago's neighborhoods are named for their location in relation to the Loop (South Loop, Near North, West Side, etc).
Chicago's O'Hare International Airport is 17mi (27km) northwest of downtown. Midway Airport is 12mi (19km) southwest of downtown. Amtrak's national headquarters are within Union Station, located southwest of the Loop. The Greyhound station is also southwest of the Loop, not far from Amtrak.
History
...from LonelyPlanet.com
Further Readings (links to Amazon.com - buy used, buy cheap)
"Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago" (New American Library Trade, 1988), by the late Chicago journalist Mike Royko, is a classic in political history and interpretation, telling the sorted story of Richard J Daley, the mayor whose Democratic Machine ruled Chicago from 1955 to 1976.
Investigative reporter Alex Kotlowitz's "There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America" (Anchor, 1992) examines race, poverty, and violence through the lives of two young boys in Chicago's Henry Horner housing projects.
"Streetwise: Race, Class, and Change in an Urban Community" (University of Chicago Press, 1992) is Elijah Anderson's offering to the wealth of sociological material on the interrelationship between race, class, and social change.
Coach Wayne Gordon's "Real Hope in Chicago" (Zondervan, 1995) chronicles the journey from dispair to hope in a Chicago neighborhood (North Lawndale). With a Christ-centered vision, the Lawndale Community Church preaches a relevant gospel message through Christian Community Development.