Chicago
The Great Loop Flood, the river that runs backward, the Biograph, the Eastland and the pile under the stands.
19 places
29th Street Beach
A drowning, a refused arrest, and a week of rioting.
Auditorium Building Walkout
A college president refused to count his students, and his college left with him.
Biograph Theater
She gave the FBI John Dillinger, and asked for one thing back.
Bobby Seale in Chains
A defendant asked for his lawyer, and the judge's answer went into the appeals record.
Cap Streeter's Kingdom
He claimed the city's richest shore as his own country, and it still has his name.
Iroquois Theatre Fire
A comedian stayed on a burning stage, asking two thousand people not to panic.
Mrs O'Leary's Barn
A reporter later boasted that he had invented the most famous cow in America.
Stock Exchange Arch
This doorway is what is left of the building that killed the man who fought for it.
Sue the T. Rex
A five-thousand-dollar cheque turned out to be worth nothing, and the bones worth eight million.
The Eastland Disaster
844 dead, six men charged, and no one ever tried.
The Great Loop Flood
A small repair was waiting its turn, and it ran out of days.
The Pile Under the Stands
The first nuclear reactor went up in the middle of a city, and the university's president was not asked.
The Reporter Behind Chicago
The woman who invented Roxie Hart spent her life turning down the musical.
The River Runs Backward
A city sent its sewage to someone else's drinking water, and beat the lawyers to it.
The Wigwam Site
The candidate sent an order, and his own men laughed at it.
Tribune Tower's Secret
One cabin, one reporter, and the biggest secret of the Pacific war in the Sunday paper.
U-505's Secret Crew
A captain captured a German submarine, and it nearly cost him his career.
Ward's Open Lakefront
Why Chicago's lakefront park has so little built on it.
X on the Runway
A city closed its own airport with bulldozers, in the dark.