Welcome to Houston, Texas!
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About ChicagoLocated on the shores of Lake Michigan in the heart of the Midwest, Chicago is home to the Blues, top sports teams, an internationally-renowned symphony orchestra, spectacular live theater, celebrated architecture, thousands of restaurants, and world-class museums and shops. A city of life, beauty and spirit, Chicago exemplifies work and play coming together. With countless contributions already made to the world of business and tourism, Chicago continues to evolve in order to maintain its standing as a leading convention and tourism destination. Commissioned by the French government in, Louis Joliet and Father Jacques Marquette became the first explorers of Chicago. It was with the help of the Illinois Indians that the two were guided through the land. Around 1780, Chicago's first permanent settler, Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, and his family came to the area. The town of Chicago expanded its boundaries and became a city in March, 1837. The development of the railroad and the Illinois/Michigan Canal in 1848 proved necessary for Chicago's growth. Both helped the city become prominent in the cattle, hog, lumber, and wheat industries, and the city's population tripled in the six years following the opening of the canal. As the city continued to grow, there were set-backs along the way, one of the largest being the Great Chicago Fire. On October 8, 1871, the Chicago Fire destroyed most of the city's central area. By 12 a.m. October 10, it had destroyed nearly four square miles of the city, claimed at least 250 lives and left 100,000 residents homeless. More than 17,000 buildings were destroyed, and property damages were estimated at $200 million. The Great Chicago Fire became a turning point in the history of the city. The citizens of Chicago resurrected the city and even built momentum for more development after the fire. Construction of the first skyscraper, the Home Insurance Building - standing only 10 stories high - was completed in 1885. The architect, Major William Le Baron Jenney, created the first load-carrying structural frame. This development led to the "Chicago skeleton" form of construction which was later used in the creation of larger skyscrapers. Within a few years, Chicago was chosen to host the 1893 World Columbian Exposition. The exposition was a huge success, as it attracted a tremendous amount of national and international attention, brought 27.5 million visitors to the city, and demonstrated all Chicago had to offer. The exposition put the city "on the map" and brought a new light to Chicago and its citizens. Between the exposition and the First World War, ideas and machines created in Chicago shaped modern American civilization. By 1900 Chicago had built the longest cable car and streetcar lines in the world and managed to reverse the flow of the Chicago River. Also during this time, the city became second only to New York in manufacturing activities, and first in the meat packing and rail industries. In 1909, D.H. Burnham, Chief of Construction for the World's Columbian Exposition, and Burnham's design assistant, Edward Bennett, devised the "Burnham Plan." This plan, the first comprehensive outline of development ever offered to an American city, included suggestions for better living conditions for all people, beautification of the city, and a more efficient way of connecting different parts of the city. The first recommendation from the Burnham Plan to come to fruition was the double-decked Michigan Avenue Bridge. The bridge - which opened May 14, 1920 - made possible the development of the famed retail and tourist destination, "The Magnificent Mile." The 1920s brought important advances to the development of Chicago as a tourist destination. In 1927, the Chicago Municipal Airport (renamed Midway Airport in 1949) opened. From 1945 to 1958 it became the world's busiest air terminal. Also, beginning in 1929 and within a five-year span, three of Chicago's most famous attractions opened: the Shedd Aquarium, the Adler Planetarium, and the Museum of Science and Industry. The remainder of the 20th century brought more architectural advances to Chicago. The Sears Tower was completed in 1973, making Chicago home to the tallest building in the world. In addition, McCormick Place officially opened in 1960, but a fire destroyed the building on January 17, 1967. Because of this fire, numerous revisions to the Chicago Municipal Code were made.
The spirit of Midway Airport, however, never yielded even as the airport was virtually abandoned by the switching of operations to O'Hare. In fact, Midway went through major rebuilding and refurbishing and reopened in 1967. Today, Midway is one of the fastest growing airports in North America and a major redevelopment project will be completed in 2004. The future of the convention and tourism industry continues to look bright. Plans to build another building at McCormick Place are underway, as are a redevelopment project at O'Hare Airport and the creation of a major new tourist attraction downtown - Millenium Park. In the new millennium, Chicago continues to be an economic powerhouse, with an especially strong convention and tourism industry. The centralized location of the city, unmatched venues and world-class attractions continue to make Chicago one of the most popular destinations in the country. More information: Chicago is the largest city in Illinois and the seat of Cook County. It stretches for 22 mi along the southwest shore of Lake Michigan in the northeast part of the state. The first white men known to have visited the region were Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette in 1673. The first permanent white settler was John Kinzie, who is sometimes called the Father of Chicago. He took over a trading post in 1796 that had been established in 1791 by Jean-Baptiste Point du Sable, a black fur trapper. Fort Dearborn, a blockhouse and stockade, was built in 1804 but was evacuated in 1812, at which time more than half of its garrison was massacred by Potawatomi and Ottawa Indians loyal to the British. The name Chicago is thought to come from an Algonquian word meaning “onion” or “skunk.” Laid out in 1830, Chicago was incorporated as a village in 1833 and as a city in 1837. In the Today, Chicago is a major Great Lakes port and the commercial, financial, industrial, and cultural center of the Midwest. The manufacturing industries dominate the wholesale and retail trade, and trade in agricultural commodities is important to the economy. The Chicago Board of Trade is the largest agricultural futures market in the world. Among Chicago's many attractions are the Art Institute of Chicago, the Field Museum of Natural History, the Jane Addams–Hull House Museum, Navy Pier, and numerous architectural landmarks such as the Sears Tower and Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House.
Al Capone is America's best known gangster and the single greatest symbol of the collapse of law and order in the United States during the 1920s Prohibition era. Capone had a leading role in the illegal activities that lent Chicago its reputation as a lawless city. Al Capone's mug shot, 1931. (CHS DN-91508) Capone was born on January 17, 1899, in Brooklyn, New York. Baptized “Alphonsus Capone” he grew up in a rough neighborhood and was a member of two "kid gangs", the Brooklyn Rippers and the Forty Thieves Juniors. Although he was bright, Capone quit school in the sixth grade at age fourteen. Between scams he was a clerk in a candy store, a pinboy in a bowling alley, and a cutter in a book bindery. He became part of the notorious Five Points gang in Manhattan and worked in gangster Frankie Yale's Brooklyn dive, the Harvard Inn, as a bouncer and bartender. While working at the Inn, Capone received his infamous facial scars and the resulting nickname "Scarface" when he insulted a patron and was attacked by her brother. In 1918, Capone met an Irish girl named Mary "Mae" Coughlin at a dance. On December 4, 1918, Mae gave birth to their son, Albert "Sonny" Francis. Capone and Mae married that year on December 30. Capone's first arrest was on a disorderly conduct charge while he was working for Yale. He also murdered two men while in New York, early testimony to his willingness to kill. In accordance with gangland etiquette, no one admitted to hearing or seeing a thing so Capone was never tried for the murders. After Capone hospitalized a rival gang member, Yale sent him to Chicago to wait until things cooled off. Capone arrived in Chicago in 1919 and moved his family into a house at 7244 South Prairie Avenue. The unpretentious Capone home at 7244 South Prarie Avenue, far from Chicago's Loop and Capone's business headquarters. (CHS DN-91356) Capone went to work for Yale's old mentor, John Torrio. Torrio saw Capone's potential, his combination of physical strength and intelligence, and encouraged his protégé. Soon Capone was helping Torrio manage his bootlegging business. By mid-1922 Capone ranked as Torrio's number two man and eventually became a full partner in the saloons, gambling houses, and brothels. When Torrio was shot by rival gang members and consequently decided to leave Chicago, Capone inherited the "outfit" and became boss. The outfit's men liked, trusted, and obeyed Capone, calling him "The Big Fellow". He quickly proved that he was even better at organization than Torrio, syndicating and expanding the city's vice industry between 1925 and 1930. Capone controlled speakeasies, bookie joints, gambling houses, brothels, horse and race tracks, nightclubs, distilleries and breweries at a reported income of $100,000,000 a year. He even acquired a sizable interest in the largest cleaning and dyeing plant chain in Chicago. Although he had been doing business with Capone, the corrupt Chicago mayor William "Big Bill" Hale Thompson, Jr. decided that Capone was bad for his political image. Thompson hired a new police chief to run Capone out of Chicago. When Capone looked for a new place to live, he quickly discovered that he was unpopular in much of the country. He finally bought an estate at 93 Palm Island, Florida in 1928. Attempts on Capone's life were never successful. He had an extensive spy network in Chicago, from newspaper boys to policemen, so that any plots were quickly discovered. Capone, on the other hand, was skillful at isolating and killing his enemies when they became too powerful. A typical Capone murder consisted of men renting an apartment across the street from the victim's residence and gunning him down when he stepped outside. The operations were quick and complete and Capone always had an alibi. The Tribune headline after the St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929. Capone's most notorious killing was the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. On February 14, 1929, four Capone men entered a garage at 2122 N. Clark Street. The building was the main liquor headquarters of bootlegger George "Bugs" Moran's North Side gang. Because two of Capone's men were dressed as police, the seven men in the garage thought it was a police raid. As a result, they dropped their guns and put their hands against the wall. Using two shotguns and two machine guns, the Capone men fired more than 150 bullets into the victims. Six of the seven killed were members of Moran's gang; the seventh was an unlucky friend. Moran, probably the real target, was across the street when Capone's men arrived and stayed away when he saw the police uniforms. As usual, Capone had an alibi; he was in Florida during the massacre. Capone masterminded the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre which left seven men dead, but was in Florida when it happened. All but one of the victims were members of rival "Bugs" Moran's gang. (CHS ICHi-14406) Although Capone ordered dozens of deaths and even killed with his own hands, he often treated people fairly and generously. He was equally known for his violent temper and for his strong sense of loyalty and honor. He was the first to open soup kitchens after the 1929 stock market crash and he ordered merchants to give clothes and food to the needy at his expense. A line outside Capone's "Free Lunch" restaurant, a soup kitchen he ran during the Depression. (CHS DN-93842) Capone had headquarters in Chicago proper in the Four Deuces at 2222 S. Wabash, the Metropole Hotel at 2300 S. Michigan Avenue, and the Lexington Hotel at 2135 S. Michigan Avenue. He expanded into the suburbs, sometimes using terror as in Forest View, which became known as "Caponeville." Sometimes he simply bribed public officials and the police as in Cicero. He established suburban headquarters in Cicero's Anton Hotel at 4835 W. 22nd Street and in the Hawthorne Hotel at 4823 22nd Street. He pretended to be an antique dealer and a doctor to front his headquarters. Capone maintained a five-room suite and four guest rooms at the Metropole Hotel (2300 S. Michigan Avenue). The hotel served as his base of operations until 1928. (CHS ICHi-23301) Capone with deputy chief of police, John Stege, who eventually asked Capone to leave Chicago. (CHS DN-091506) Because of gangland's traditional refusal to prosecute, Capone was never tried for most of his crimes. He was arrested in 1926 for killing three people, but spent only one night in jail because there was insufficient evidence to connect him with the murders. When Capone finally served his first prison time in May of 1929, it was simply for carrying a gun. In 1930, at the peak of his power, Capone headed Chicago's new list of the twenty-eight worst criminals and became the city's "Public Enemy Number One". The popular belief in the 1920s and 30s was that illegal gambling earnings were not taxable income. However, the 1927 Sullivan ruling claimed that illegal profits were in fact taxable. The government wanted to indict Capone for income tax evasion, Capone never filed an income tax return, owned nothing in his own name, and never made a declaration of assets or income. He did all his business through front men so that he was anonymous when it came to income. Frank Wilson from the IRS's Special Intelligence Unit was assigned to focus on Capone. Wilson accidentally found a cash receipts ledger that not only showed the operation's net profits for a gambling house, but also contained Capone's name; it was a record of Capone's income. Later Capone's own tax lawyer Lawrence P. Mattingly admitted in a letter to the government that Capone had an income. Wilson's ledger, Mattingly's letter, and the coercion of witnesses were the main evidence used to convict Capone.
In 1931, Capone was indicted for income tax evasion for the years 1925-29. He was also charged with the misdemeanor of failing to file tax returns for the years 1928 and 1929. The government charged that Capone owed $215,080.48 in taxes from his gambling profits. A third indictment was added, charging Capone with conspiracy to violate Prohibition laws from 1922-31. Capone pleaded guilty to all three charges in the belief that he would be able to plea bargain. However, the judge who presided over the case, Judge James H. Wilkerson, would not make any deals. Capone changed his pleas to not guilty. Unable to bargain, he tried to bribe the jury but Wilkerson changed the jury panel at the last minute. The jury that convicted Capone consisted almost entirely of rural, white men. Among them, a retired hardware dealer, a country storekeeper and a farmer. Judge Wilkerson substituted this jury for the original jury to prevent tampering. (CHS DN 97016) The jury found Capone not guilty on eighteen of the twenty-three counts. Judge Wilkerson sentenced him to a total of ten years in federal prison and one year in the county jail. In addition, Capone had to serve an earlier six-month contempt of court sentence for failing to appear in court. The fines were a cumulative $50,000 and Capone had to pay the prosecution costs of $7,692.29. In May 1932, Capone was sent to Atlanta, the toughest of the federal prisons, to begin his eleven-year sentence. Even in prison Capone took control, obtaining special privileges from the authorities such as furnishing his cell with a mirror, typewriter, rugs, and a set of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Because word spread that Capone had taken over in Atlanta, he was sent to Alcatraz. There were no other outfit members in Alcatraz, and security was so tight that he had no knowledge of the outside world. He was unable to control anyone or anything and could not buy influence or friends. In an attempt to earn time off for good behavior, Capone became the ideal prisoner and refused to participate in prisoner rebellions or strikes. While at Alcatraz, he exhibited signs of syphilitic dementia. Capone spent the rest of his felony sentence in the hospital. On January 6, 1939, his prison term expired and he was transferred to Terminal Island, a Federal Correctional Institution in California, to serve his one-year misdemeanor sentence. He was finally released on November 16, 1939, but still had to pay fines and court costs of $37,617.51. After his release, Capone spent a short time in the hospital. He returned to his home in Palm Island where the rest of his life was relaxed and quiet. His mind and body continued to deteriorate so that he could no longer run the outfit. On January 21, 1947, he had an apoplectic stoke that was probably unrelated to his syphilis. He regained consciousness and began to improve until pneumonia set in on January 24. He died the next day from cardiac arrest. Capone was first buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Chicago's far South Side between the graves of his father, Gabriele, and brother, Frank, but in March of 1950 the remains of all three were moved to Mount Carmel Cemetery on the far West Side.
Welcome to New Orleans, Louisiana! Group work: 1.) Give information about New Orleans in general by descirbing the photos. Choose three of the four pictures given. Use at least 150 words for each desciption. You can write some information down, but speak freely in class! Do not read a text to the course!
(e.g. “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” written by Mark Twain.) New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans, the largest city in Louisiana, is located in the southeast part of the state, between the Mississippi River and Lake Ponchartrain. Some historical information: One of the few cities of the nation that has been under three flags, New Orleans has belonged to Spain, France and the United States. The French founded it in 1718 and named it in honor of the Duke of Orleans. In 1762, France ceded the city and the territory to Spain. In 1800, the territory was returned to France, but government authorities did not take over until 1803, just 20 days before the region became part of the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. New Orleans is famous for its French Quarter, with its mixture of French, Spanish, and native architectural styles. The Mardi Gras - a week of carnival held in New Orleans before the beginning of Lent - is the most spectacular festival in the U.S. and is a popular tourist attraction. Tourism has grown rapidly in recent years, and New Orleans hosts more than seven million visitors annually. New Orleans has one of the world's greatest international ports, one of the largest in the nation, and it is a major focus of the city's economy. New Orleans is home to the corporate offices of oil companies with major offshore operations in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the distribution and service centers of offshore equipment suppliers and fabricators. The manufacturing industry is a significant part of the economy, with petroleum, petrochemical, shipbuilding, and aerospace industries all playing a role. The New Orleans region also functions as a mining, processing, and transportation center for other minerals, principally sulfur. Service industries are playing a larger role, with health care and telecommunications leading the way. The New Orleans region is widely regarded as a leading center of medicine and health care in the South.
New Orleans is the most sensuous, soulful city in the world. It's the delicious tingle of excitement you get from singing out loud in public, from dancing down the middle of the street, in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week. It's an afternoon reverie riding on the St. Charles Streetcar, swaying beneath the massive arms of oak trees, rolling by magnolias in bloom in the front yards of antebellum mansions. Bourbon Street is, by far, the most famous and popular tourist attraction in New Orleans. Bourbon Street is like no other street in the world. On Bourbon one will find everything from five star hotels to strip joints. Bourbon Street is open twenty four hours a day. All day and all night there are people partying up and down the street. Synonymous throughout the world with fun, good times and non-stop sensory pleasures, the tourist and commercial Bourbon Street of today started out in an entirely different direction. In 1722, the French Capital in the "New World" was moved from Biloxi, Mississippi to New Orleans, Louisiana. French Engineer Adrien de Pauger laid out the master plan for the city and Bourbon Street became one of the La Nouvelle Orleans first streets. It was named to honor the great ruling dynasty of the time, The Bourbons. The Bourbons were one of Europe's most enduring and powerful ruling families. In France, Spain, and Naples, they ruled through various eras from 1589-1860. France was under the rule of Louis XIV at the time, and New Orleans was a Bourbon Colony. Bourbon Street was so named to honor him. It remained a stately residential and local shopping street well into the 20th century. The commercial expansion of Bourbon Street began to accelerate in the 1920's and 30's. After the war, it became known as primarily a commercial street that catered to the entertainment and purchasing preferences of out of town visitors. It gained international attention in the 50's when "strip clubs" offered carnal viewing pleasures to people from far and wide. Since then it has grown into one of the biggest and most successful entertainment and retailing areas of the world. Millions of visitors pour through Bourbon Street annually. If you asked most people in the world to name one street that comes to mind when you mention New Orleans and the French Quarter, they'll say Bourbon Street.
"Mardi Gras" is French for "Fat Tuesday." It is the day before Ash Wednesday, a day of celebration and partying before the rigors of Lent's forty days of fasting and sacrifice. While the calendar shows Mardi Gras as a Tuesday, the festivities begin much earlier, on January 6th (Kings Day), and most of the celebration is in the form of Balls and Parades for two weeks or more before Mardi Gras Day. Mardi Gras is celebrated in many cities of the country, and in many countries of the world. In New Orleans it is a holiday, and the City is shut down. The Mardi Gras customs of today have evolved over several hundred years. If you are not native to the area, you will have to learn the lingo, customs, rules and philosophy to truly appreciate what Mardi Gras is about.
Early riverboats in China on the Yangtze River were hauled upstream by crews of towmen pulling ropes. In the shear canyons of the Three Gorges the towmen used paths carved into sheer cliffs or struggled through streambeds in places of low water. The most famous early riverboats were on the rivers of the midwestern and central southern United States, on the Mississippi, Ohio and Missouri rivers in the early 19th century. It is these early steam driven river craft that typically come to mind when "steamboat" is mentioned, as these were powered by burning wood, with iron boilers drafted by a pair of tall smokestacks belching smoke and cinders, and twin double acting pistons driving a large paddlewheel at the stern churning foam. This type of propulsion was an advantage as a rear paddlewheel operates in an area clear of snags, is easily repaired, and is not likely to suffer damage in a grounding, while by burning wood, the boat could consume fuel provided by woodcutters along the shore of the river. These early boats would carry a brow (a short bridge) on the bow, so they could head in to an unimproved shore for transfer of cargo and passengers.
The French Quarter is the oldest and most famous section of the city of New Orleans, stretching along the Mississippi River from Iberville Street to Esplanade Avenue (12 blocks) and back from Decatur Street to Rampart Street (7 blocks). The area is also known as the Vieux Carré ("Old Quarter" in French) and the Barrio Latino ("Latin Section" in Spanish). To many it is simply called "The Quarter". St. Louis Cathedral, located in the historic French Quarter, is the oldest continuously active Roman Catholic Cathedral in the United States. It was originally built in 1724 and rebuilt twice after a hurricane and a fire. The present church overlooks beautiful Jackson Square and was dedicated in 1794. Jackson Square: Jackson Square (formerly Place des Armes) is a city-block sized open park, at the old center of the city. After the Battle of New Orleans it was named after victorious general Andrew Jackson, an equestrian statue of whom is in the center of the park. To the front, the square originally overlooked the Mississippi across Decatur Street, but the view was blocked in the 19th century by the building of larger levees. The riverfront was long given to shipping, but the administration of Mayor Moon Landrieu put in a scenic boardwalk along the river across from the Square; it is known as the "Moon Walk" in his honor. On the opposite side of the square are three 18th century historic buildings which were the city's heart in the colonial era. The center of the three is Saint Louis Cathedral. To its left is the Cabildo, the old city hall, now a museum, where the finalization of the Louisiana Purchase was signed. To the Cathedral's right is the Presbytere, built to match the Cabildo. The Presbytere originally housed the city's Roman Catholic priests and authorities, it was then turned into a courthouse at the start of the 19th century, and in the 20th century became a museum. Directly across from Jackson Square is the Jax Brewery building, the original home of a favorite local beer. From the 1920s through the 1980s the square was famous as a gathering place of painters of widely varying talents, including proficient professionals, talented young art students, hacks, and dreadful caricaturists. In the 1990s the artists were largely driven away by tarot card readers, mimes, and fortune tellers. Live music is a regular feature of the square. Occasional formal concerts are held here, but for a century or more musicians playing for tips have set up in the square, the subject of unending controversy with nearby residents. Diagonally across the square from the Cabildo is Café du Monde, open 24 hours a day, well known for the café au lait with chicory and beignets served there continuously since the 19th century.
First-time visitors are often struck by the European flavor of New Orleans, and little wonder. It's everywhere! Visitors see it in our architecture, taste it in our food, hear it in the music that abounds, and experience it in the hospitality and characteristic accent of our locals. Louisiana was claimed for French king Louis XIV in 1699 and is the only state that was once a French royal colony. "La Nouvelle Orleans" was founded in 1718 and ruled by France and then Spain for nearly 100 years. It is the only U.S. city where French was the predominant language for more than one century. In a unique partitioning in 1835, the City of New Orleans was literally split into three separate municipalities, each with its own mayor and council. After 17 years, the city was reunited, becoming the third largest and second richest in the nation. New Orleans is often called the "Crescent City" because it was founded on the bend of the Mississippi River. This unusual shape causes locals and visitors to become confused occasionally, as there is no traditional "north, south, east, or west" mode of getting around. Some streets in the city begin at one end parallel, and end up perpendicular. Many of the tens of thousands of live oak trees that line our streets and boulevards date back to before the Civil War. They have survived hurricanes, droughts, insects and fires. The New Orleans Streetcar line is the oldest continuously operating rail system in the world. It currently transports locals and tourists from uptown to the business district along St. Charles Avenue. New Orleans is known as the birthplace of jazz, and rightfully so. Early jazz greats like Louis Armstrong, Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton and King Oliver got their starts in the nightclubs of Storyville, a red-light district that flourished between 1897 and 1917. New Orleans has a well-deserved reputation for food. There are more than 3000 restaurants in the city, many of which have been owned and operated by the same families for generations. The predominant foods are Creole and Cajun, but there are many ethnic restaurants that feature foods from throughout the world. The city consistently is rated one of the top cities for food by national and international publications.
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