CHICAGO RIVER HISTORY TOUR

We live inside a history book. When you move around the city look for clues to Chicago’s past in historical markers, the architecture, the street names, the school names and the basic structure of the streets. Why is the city where it is? How do we get water to our homes and how do we dispose of the waste we put down our sinks, or down our toilets? Where does rainwater go? What have other people in the past changed in order to try to make things better? We can find clues and some answers to these questions by exploring the Chicago River.

I created this short history of the river to share with some kids as part of a summer learning program and a preamble to visiting the Riverwalk.

This is an overview of some interesting things to know. Then you can visit some of the actual places and imagine what it was like 200 years ago, 100 years ago, or even 50 years ago. Actually, some important things have happened just in the past 10 years, so you are even now are living through history.