pying, on a remarkably level site, an area of about 190 square miles, at a mean elevation of 25 feet above the lake and of 582 feet above sea-level. Within the municipal limits are several bodies of water, the largest of which—Calumet, Hyde, and Wolf lakes—are near the Indiana line, the last one lying partly in that State. Chicago was originally built on a flat prairie, which was but slightly elevated above the lake, and characterized by sand and swamp; but the grade of a large portion has been raised, block after block of buildings being lifted to the required level, streets elevated, and vast areas of solid masonry substructure laid.
Nature made of the lake-shore a level line of sand. The city's lake-front is protected south from Twelfth Street by the Illinois Central Railroad, and north from Twelfth Street to Chicago Avenue by the Government Pier, which protects the harbor. North from Chicago Avenue the Lake Shore Drive and Lincoln Park are secured by a massive sea-wall. Chicago is situated upon both sides of the Chicago River (q.v.), which, at a point little more than half a mile from its mouth, is formed by the junction of two streams or branches, one flowing from the northwest and the other from the southwest. The river and branches divide the city into three natural parts, legally known as the South, West, and North divisions. The South Division includes all the territory south of the main river, and the North Division the area north of the river: while the West Division comprises all that part of the city west of the two branches. These sections are connected by 60 or more bridges and several tunnels.
The bridges, of both the swinging and lift types, are operated mostly by steam, though with some of the more recent the motive power is electricity and compressed air. Grade crossings of the steam-railroads are obviated by numerous bridges, viaducts, and by track-elevation—the city containing more than twice as many miles of elevated tracks as are to be found in the combined mileage of all other cities in the United States. The street-railroad system, comprising cable, electric, and elevated roads, operates over 1000 miles of track. There are four elevated roads, having six terminal stations. There is a loop in the business centre, with stations two blocks apart, around which all trains must pass. These lines connect all parts of the city and suburbs, and are extremely efficient, the system probably being the best in the country. The various steam railroads, which have over 1500 miles of track within the city limits, offer additional transportation facilities; and a belt line, encircling the city on three sides, affords intercommunication between the many lines, and serves to unify the entire system.
The business centre is found wholly in the South Division, and extends from the river south to Twelfth Street. It contains the passenger-stations of several railroads, administration buildings, hotels, banks, commercial houses. Board of Trade, theatres, the newspapers, and the ‘skyscrapers,’ which have made of the Chicago office-buildings an architectural type. State, Clark, Dearborn, La Salle, Market, and Madison streets and Fifth and Wabash avenues are typical business streets. Fifth Avenue and Market Street being prominent centres of the wholesale dry-goods interests, and State Street the centre of the retail trade. In Chicago there has been a noteworthy development of the department store, establishments here ranking among the largest and most complete in the United States. Manufacturing establishments are found in various parts of the city, while the great live-stock and packing industry centres in the famous Union Stockyards, 475 acres in extent, some five miles southwest of the City Hall. On the waterways, among the objects of particular interest, are the great grain-elevators, of which there are thirty or more. The produce-market, South Water Street, presents a scene of great animation in the early hours of the day.
The streets, with few exceptions, cross at right angles, and are generally wide, some of the boulevards being 120 feet in width. Some of the long thoroughfares, notably Western Avenue and Halsted Street, nearly equal the length of the city. There are over 4000 miles of streets, over 1300 of which are paved, principally with wooden blocks, macadam, and asphalt, the mileage of the last-named material having increased rapidly in the last few years. Most of the main avenues are parallel with the lake. Of these, the Lake Shore Drive, Michigan, Drexel, and Grand boulevards, Prairie and Calumet avenues, Pine, Rush, and Cass streets, and La Salle Avenue, with Washington and Jackson boulevards running east and west, are conspicuous representatives of Chicago's more attractive residence avenues.
Detached houses mark the purely residence districts, which, together with the more recently acquired suburban areas where rural conditions to some extent still prevail, and the magnificent parks and boulevards of the public-park system, are noticeable in contrast with the congested business area, with its noise, dust, and smoke, and scattered tall office-buildings. Of these varying mammoth structures, the tallest reaches 21 stories in height, and the largest has a capacity for 6000 tenants. They are constructed of a structural steel frame with an exterior shell of masonry, generally of terra-cotta. For some time a municipal ordinance limited the height of buildings to 150 feet, but this restriction was removed in 1902.
Buildings. In the centre of the business quarter, and covering an entire square, is the Court-House and City Hall—a magnificent twin building of limestone, with fine granite columns, in a free rendering of French Renaissance, erected at a cost of $4,500,000. The east half is used for county purposes, and the west half by the city. In a space between the buildings is the Drake Fountain, with a bronze statue of Columbus, erected in 1892. On La Salle Street, running south from the City Hall, are some of the finest office-buildings. The Chamber of Commerce, one of the finest commercial structures in the world, costing more than $1,000,000, is 14 stories high, with a great central court roofed by an immense skylight, and a richly furnished interior. The Temple, of French-Gothic architecture, 13 stories high, consists of two great wings united by a narrow vinculum, forming interior courts which admit light and air. The first two stories are faced with red granite, the rest with red brick; and from the roof springs a bronze spire, 70 feet high, surmounted by a female figure. The Rookery, a Romanesque building of granite, brick, and terracotta, contains 600 offices. The Board of Trade, at the foot of La Salle Street, is a massive granite building. Other large structures
