Did Gary and Chicago ever fight it out to see who would become the "Capital of the Midwest"? (Hammond: transporting)

[JPits312]

We all know that Chicago is the biggest and most powerful city in the Midwest.

I´ve always wondered how Chicago was given this distinction.

How did Chicago beat out Milwaukee and Gary to become “the one”? A lot of people said it was when Chicago got the railroads in the mid-1800´s or so. How come Gary didn´t get the railroad? If one was passing from coast to coast on the railroad they would have to go north a bit to get to Chicago, whereas in Gary the railroad could go straight across.

Also, I heard that the guy who eventually built the canal that reached the Mississippi River from the Chicago River also considered using the Calumet River. How do you all think the region would look if this had been the case? If downtown Chicago were that close to Indiana I can imagine we´d have much more of a "Kansas City effect" (Where the two sides of the metro fight, compete, and disagree with each other so much that the whole metro area ends up losing out on certain oportunities) going on. What do you all think?

When did Chicago pass up everyone else? Any historic information would be well appreciated.

[Lookout Kid]

Gary mostly grew long after Chicago was well-established. It wasn't founded until 1906, and by this time Chicago was already a very large city.

Milwaukee, on the other hand, did duke it out with Chicago in the beginning. And it was the well-placed canal route that led to Chicago's dominance, being further south and more accessible to areas east of Lake Michigan.

[linicx]

I don't know the history, but I suppose there was a lot of pieces of the puzzle in play. For one thing the Great Chicago Fire was an event that gave Chicago world notoriety while the largest wild fire in US Forest history, that started at almost the same minute, and did the most damage the same night, went unreported.

The fire was followed by the World's Fair in Chicago, and the world's tallest skyscraper in Chicago. Some of the greatest American architects, and even authors of the 19th century lived in Cook County. The Union Station and Lake Michigan were gateways to rail and water transport in the Midwest; they still are. Why I don't know. I suppose that Chicago is older than Gary and developed more rapidly. Then came the Mother Road that began in Chicago and ended at the Pacific Ocean. But the most compelling reason was probably money. To this day the greatest percentage of Illinois millionaires live in or very near Cook County/Chicago.

[oakparkdude]

Chicago grew because it was the best location to dig a canal between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River. The Illinois and Michigan canal opened in 1848, before the railroads. Along with the Erie Canal, it was possible to take a boat from NYC to Chicago to the Mississippi (St. Louis, New Orleans, etc). As a result of the canals, Chicago became a great inland transportation hub, and continues to this day.

[richb]

Gary grew rapidly,,,,,,in the early twentieth century. Chicago had a huge head start so there was never a rivality. But it did grow rapidly like Chicago had nearly a hundred years before. I know that is hard to believe now, but it was a boom town in the teens, twenties and even the thirties and forties. It once held the title of the largest American city founded in the twentieth century (1906).

Until the beginning of the 20th century, most of Gary was sand dunes that had few residents. A few of the neighborhoods like Miller existed as independent towns, but Gary was largely a wasteland, useless for farming, which was the primary business in Lake County at the end of the 19th century. Hammond was the largest town with industry, Crown Point the county seat. All of today's suburbs were farming communities, and they are all older then Gary (except Merrillville(1971) and Winfield(1993)).

Gary was also a company town, where Chicago never was. US Steel built the world's largest steel mill creating the city of Gary. The EJ&E railroad which circles the entire city of Chicago was bought by US Steel to support Gary Works. Since the dunes had been left alone there was room for Gary to be created.

[k3worker]

This battle was more between Chicago and St. Louis than between Chicago and any other city. The nutshell version is that Chicago staked its future on railroads, while St. Louis banked on rivers continuing to be the primary means of transporting goods and people. St. Louis eventually became and still is an important railroad hub, possibly even second to only Chicago in terms of importance, but it didn't embrace the railroads as quickly as Chicago. Of course there were other factors too.

Landscape: Railroad Cities -- Chicago Derails StLouis

[linicx]

It is very difficult for a company town to recover when the revenue stream changes. Sadly, the result is 'rust belt' cities. it is a long, slow, and painful process to watch a once vibrant city die. The only way to turn it around is to attract big national stores like Costco. Recently they've been moving into smaller areas that "need a hand up" and have been quite successful.

Originally Posted by richb

Gary grew rapidly,,,,,,in the early twentieth century. Chicago had a huge head start so there was never a rivality. But it did grow rapidly like Chicago had nearly a hundred years before. I know that is hard to believe now, but it was a boom town in the teens, twenties and even the thirties and forties. It once held the title of the largest American city founded in the twentieth century (1906).

Until the beginning of the 20th century, most of Gary was sand dunes that had few residents. A few of the neighborhoods like Miller existed as independent towns, but Gary was largely a wasteland, useless for farming, which was the primary business in Lake County at the end of the 19th century. Hammond was the largest town with industry, Crown Point the county seat. All of today's suburbs were farming communities, and they are all older then Gary (except Merrillville(1971) and Winfield(1993)).

Gary was also a company town, where Chicago never was. US Steel built the world's largest steel mill creating the city of Gary. The EJ&E railroad which circles the entire city of Chicago was bought by US Steel to support Gary Works. Since the dunes had been left alone there was room for Gary to be created.

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Chicago is in a great transportation location for being so far inland. It's the Southwestern most point of the Great Lakes and access to the Atlantic Ocean thru the St Lawrence Seaway, and access to the Gulf of Mexico thru the Mississippi and Illinois River. I think an argument could be made that Chicago is naturally the most accessible city in all the country.