Chicago History
This 1871 event destroyed more than 17,000 buildings and reshaped the city's architecture.
What is the Great Chicago Fire?
This zoo is one of the nation’s oldest and is always free to the public.
What is Lincoln Park Zoo?
At 110 stories, this building was once called the Sears Tower.
What is Willis Tower?
This process allows plants to make food using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide.
What is photosynthesis?
This bushy‑tailed mammal is commonly seen gathering food in city parks.
What is a squirrel?
Opened in 1991, this Loop building is Chicago's main public library and is one of the largest libraries in the world.
What is the Harold Washington Library Center?
This Victorian-era glass structure houses tropical plants year-round.
What is the Lincoln Park Conservatory?
This reflective sculpture by Anish Kapoor is nicknamed “The Bean.”
What is Cloud Gate?
These plant parts absorb water and nutrients from the soil.
What are roots?
These birds are famous for their adaptability and “cooing” sounds in urban areas.
What are pigeons?
Elected in 1983, this man made history as Chicago's first African American mayor.
Who is Harold Washington?
This North Side beach sits on the southern edge of Lincoln Park.
What is North Avenue Beach?
This park was built atop a rail yard and opened in 2014.
What is Maggie Daley Park?
This green pigment gives plants their color and helps capture light energy.
What is chlorophyll?
This nocturnal mammal often raids garbage cans in neighborhoods.
What is a raccoon?
This labor protest in Chicago's Haymarket Square in 1886 became a pivotal event in the international labor movement.
What is the Haymarket Affair?
This North Side beach sits on the southern edge of Lincoln Park.
What is North Avenue Beach?
This curvy Chicago skyscraper, completed in 1968, is the only skyscraper that exists east of Lake Shore Drive.
What is Lake Point Tower?
After fertilization, the ovary of a flower develops into this.
What is a fruit?
This large waterfowl, easily recognized by its black head and white chinstrap, is commonly seen year‑round in city parks and along lakeshores.
What is a Canada goose?
In 1900, this massive engineering project reversed the flow of the Chicago River.
What is the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal?
Established in 1860, this cemetery occupied land that later became much of present-day Lincoln Park before graves were relocated.
What is City Cemetery?
Designed by Daniel Burnham and completed in 1895, this landmark was once the tallest building in Chicago.
What is the Reliance Building?
This tissue transports water upward from the roots.
What is xylem?
This raptor, once endangered in North America, now nests on Chicago skyscrapers and is renowned for being the world's fastest animal.
What is a peregrine falcon?