World's Columbian ExpositionMacMonnies Fountain and Machinery Hall, World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893.(more)Chicago never fulfilled its dream of becoming the largest American city, but between 1890 and 1982 it was second only to . That fact has contributed much to the city’s reputed personality. In the 19th century it had the image of being aggressive and self-promoting, stealing population and businesses from the East. Chicago’s “Windy City” nickname, in fact, came not from lake breezes but from its braggadocio—exhibited most dramatically in the 1890s, when it pushed aside and , Missouri, in the competition to become the site of the of 1893. Poet hailed it as the “city of the big shoulders,” cunning and cruel, yet creative and strangely attractive. It was the “toddlin’ town” of the 1920s tune, and famously proclaimed it “my kind of town.” New York writer A.J. Liebling belittled its provinciality in a stinging series of magazine articles, collected in the 1952 book Chicago: The Second City. Chicagoans eventually forgot the book, but the adopted epithet stuck. Under the regime of the late , efficient municipal services made it the “city that works.” Chicagoans still like to refer to it as the “city of neighborhoods,” even though that description can carry connotations of segregation by race, ethnicity, and . 1 of 2History of the Hull House in ChicagoA discussion of Hull House in Chicago and its archive of demographic material.(more)See all videos for this articleChicago-style pizzaServing a slice of Chicago-style pizza.(more)Few cities evoke as many contrasting pairs of images as Chicago. During the 19th century it was regarded as exceptional for the speed of its growth and the diversity of its population, yet its interior location supposedly made it a much more “typically American” city than New York. One-third of Chicago lay in ashes in the wake of the , but it was rebuilt in record speed during the onset of an economic depression. It was the city of the humble immigrant and the new millionaire, the home of brazen criminals such as and of great humanitarians such as settlement-house pioneer and child-welfare crusader . There were raucous saloons under the watchful eye of temperance leader . Crumbling high-rises have coexisted cheek by jowl with a uniquely innovative architectural tradition and the beautiful Gold Coast lakefront neighborhood just north of the river. Chicago traditionally has been a shot-and-a-beer town whose best-known culinary inventions include a and a elaborately loaded with garnishes (although, notably, without ). At the same time, it has long enjoyed a reputation for cutting-edge innovation in the arts and , and the has maintained a high level of international renown., Chicago is the seat of Cook County, the second-most populous county in the U.S. Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837 near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed., Chicago is a city, the seat of Cook county, in northeastern Illinois, U.S. With a population of nearly three million, Chicago is the state’s largest and the country’s third most populous city. It is the commercial and cultural hub of the American Midwest. Learn more about Chicago in this article..