Nowness - Illinois Institute of Technology

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mapping that defined European settlement
of the central and western United States.
Simultaneously idealistic, democratic, and
pragmatic, this system parceled out land in
an even and extendible lattice that organized
the nation’s westward expansion, and along
with it, Chicago’s rise. Subtle disruptions—
diagonally radiating avenues, railway lines, the
Chicago River, the lakefront and its system
of parks—provide differentiation and a sense
of place within the city’s seemingly abstract
spatial system.
10,000 BCE. Formation of the Subcontinental
Divide Separating the Mississippi and St.
Lawrence Watersheds at Chicago. In suburban
Oak Park, two raindrops hit the ground
only inches apart. One travels westward to the
Mississippi River and on to the Gulf of Mexico;
the other flows east into the Great Lakes,
the St. Lawrence River, and finally the North
Atlantic. Although barely discernable, Chicago
sits on an enormously consequential ridge left
behind by the retreating glaciers of the last
ice age. Easy movement between these vast
waterways has made the city a locus for trade
since humans first inhabited the area. Long
before railways, highways, or airports, boats
put Chicago on the map.
8-10 October 1871. Great Fire. Until the evening
of 8 October 1871 Chicago was a city of
wood, built fast and cheap to keep pace with
4 August 1830. Drawing the Grid. From the
blocks of Chicago’s first property map drawn
in 1830, Chicago’s street grid expanded to
become the apotheosis of the Cartesian
its explosive growth. When fire broke out in a
barn on the city’s south side, winds drove the
blaze north across the city center. After two
days a thriving hub of commerce was reduced
to ashes. Chicago’s formidable architectural
heritage is rooted in this destruction. In the
decades following the fire, the city reinvented
itself, implementing strict building codes, investing
in modern infrastructure, preserving public
space, and planning for future growth. The city
burned but a metropolis rose from its ruins.
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Legacy
Chicago