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?
Chicago’s first permanent non‑Native settler, he built a trading post near today’s Michigan Avenue.
Who was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable?
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?
This World’s Fair introduced America to the Ferris wheel and celebrated the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s voyage.
What was the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition?
This North Side beach sits on the southern edge of Lincoln Park.
What is North Avenue Beach?
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 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?
Elected in 1983, this man made history as Chicago’s first African American mayor.
Who was Harold Washington?
Lincoln Park is bordered to the east by this expressway.
What is Lake Shore Drive?
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?
This springtime event celebrates blooming flowers inside the Garfield Park and Lincoln Park Conservatory.
What is the Spring Flower Show?
This park was built atop a rail yard and opened in 2014.
What is Maggie Daley Park?
This tissue transports water upward from the roots.
What is xylem?
This clever animal of the Canidae family, has successfully adapted to many North American cities, including Chicago.
What is a coyote?