Timeline

 

Timeline Creation of the City After the Fire Between the Fairs The Red City Dissolution and Renaissance

 

This is a rough timeline of important events in Chicago history, both mortal and vampiric. Wherever possible, you'll find links to more in-depth articles on the characters, events and places mentioned.

 

Creation of the City

1600

Swampy region at the edge of Lake Michigan becomes populated by the Potawatomi (meaning "Keepers of the Fire") Indian tribe, who move to the region to escape attacks from the Iriquois Nation during the French and Iriquois War. The region is called She-Ka-Gan, "Land of Smelly Onions".

1673

Region discovered by Europeans. Father Jacques Marquette, a French-born missionary of the Jesuit order, and Louis Joliet discover the area returning from their expedition to find the Mississippi River- portaging up the Illinois River.

1696-1700

Francois Pinet, a Jesuit missionary, founded the Mission of the Guardian Angel. The mission was abandoned in 1700 when missionary efforts proved fruitless

1779

Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, an African American from Sainte-Domingue (Haiti), builds the first permanent settlement at the mouth of the river just east of the present Michigan Avenue Bridge on the north bank.

The home served as a stopping point for regional traders and soldiers over time. In Du Sable's home, which he shared with his Indian wife, the first marriage in Chicago was performed, the first election was held and the first court handed down justice.

1795

The Treaty of Greenville cedes the land of Chicago to America from the Indians

1812

The Fort Dearborn Massacre occurs

1818

Illinois admitted to statehood.

1833

Chicago incorporated as a town

1837

Chicago incorporated as a city, William Butler Ogden elected as Chicago’s first mayor (a Democrat).

1848

Illinois & Michigan Canal completed, Galena & Chicago Union Railroad completed to Elgin, first City Hall on State Street completed. Telegraph lines reach Chicago and the Chicago Board of Trade is established.

1855

Project begins to raise street level 6 feet off swamp ground to improve drainage. Technology and engineering organized by George M. Pullman. Project completed in 1860. Northwestern University opens, set up by the Methodist Episcopal Church.

 

The Lager Beer Riot took place after Mayor Levi Boone, great-nephew of Daniel Boone, proposed an ordinance which would close taverns on Sundays and raise the cost of a liquor license from $50 per year to $300 quarterly. This move was seen as targeting German immigrants. On April 21, after several tavern-owners were arrested for selling beer on Sunday, protesters clashed with police near the Cook County Court House. Waves of angry immigrants stormed the downtown area and the mayor ordered the swing bridges opened to stop further waves of protestors from crossing the river. This left some trapped on the bridges, police then fired shots at protesters stuck on the Clark Street Bridge over the Chicago River. Rumors flew throughout the city that some of the protesters were killed, although there is no evidence to support this. The following year, after Boone was turned out of office, the prohibition was repealed.

1856

The University of Chicago is founded

1860

Abraham Lincoln is nominated at the Chicago's first national political convention.

1861-65

The Civil War, Camp Douglas established on the south side (Cottage Grove between 31st and 33rd streets). Used as a training facility early on, it was also infamously used as a Confederate prisoner of war camp. Roughly 6,000 prisoners died at the camp during the war.

1865

Chicago Union Stockyards completed

1869

Chicago Water Tower built

1871

The Great Fire–the majority of downtown Chicago burns to the ground in a blaze that starts on the south side and spreads northeast, aided by extremely strong winds. In the wake of the Fire and the rebuilding stages afterward, Kindred from all over the expanding nation flock to Chicago, eager to stake a claim in the city’s future. Only one Kindred, Arthur Farragut, is known to have survived the fire. Among the first Kindred to arrive during the rebuilding, James “Big Jim” Milligan and Stack "Stagger" O’Lee, rise to the top of Chicago’s budding vampiric society.

After the Fire

1879

Carter Harrison is elected mayor (Democrat). Harrison will serve as one of Chicago’s most popular mayors until 1887, only losing re-election after the Haymarket Riot. Harrison will be re-elected in 1893 again.

1880

George Pullman opens Pullman-town, an experiment in social engineering and labor relations. The town was built for workers at the Pullman Sleeper Car factories. The town collapsed as a workers strike turned violent and the National Guard was called in.

1882

The Art Institute founded. The majority of the Institute’s opening collection is donated by Bertha Palmer.

1885

The first skyscraper, the Home Insurance Building, erected at the northeast corner of LaSalle and Adams streets

1886

The Haymarket Riot occurs as workers demonstrate in favor of an eight-hour workday. Although attended by a large number of anarchists, the demonstration was planned to be a peaceful one; many anarchist leaders brought their wives and children as a testimony to this. However, the event turned bloody when an unknown person set off a bomb in the crowd, igniting a bloody clash between police and protestors.

1889

Jane Addams' Hull House opens to aid and educate the poorer citizens of the city. The Auditorium Theatre opens, designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan (interior by Frank Lloyd Wright).

1890

Aaron Montgomery Ward begins legal battle to keep Chicago’s lakeshore public ground. The Illinois Supreme Court will rule in his favor in 1909.

1893

World's Columbian Exposition Fair opens. Joseph Prendergast, a madman seeking a city job, murders Mayor Carter Harrison in his home. Serial murderer Herman Mudgett kills somewhere between 20 and 100 people, mostly foreign visitors to the Exposition, in his Englewood hotel, often referred to as the Murder House. Along with thousands of foreign visitors come a number of Kindred from elsewhere in the country and the globe. During the course of the fair, many of these outlander Kindred chose to stay or to Embrace childer in Chicago, causing the largest increase in the Kindred population since the Fire.

1894

A majority of the Exposition site in Hyde Park burns down due to carelessness. The Exposition, in a rare situation where a Chicago fire did not kill hundreds of people, had been closed for several months.

Between the Fairs

1895

Herman Mudgett is arrested and put on trial in Philadelphia. He confesses to 28 murders, though is rumored to have committed many more.

1900

The Ship & Sanitary Canal is excavated, which reverses the flow of the Chicago River away from Lake Michigan, vastly improving sanitation and ending the city’s persistent typhoid outbreaks.

1901

Construction begins on the Chicago freight tunnels 40 feet beneath the city. Now abandoned, they were lined with electric power and trolleys on two-foot tracks. Along with the Stockyards, the abandoned tunnels become a haven for large numbers of dispossessed and unaligned Kindred. Over the years, some of these Kindred became fully recognized members of society (most of these by joining the Carthian Movement), but many remain in the tunnels, feeding from cattle and the occasional stray mortal.

1903

Iroquois Theater Fire kills over 600 people (many children) in less than 15 minutes

1909

Chicago “Burnham Plan” Published to beautify and strengthen the city. The “Burnham committee,” the Chicago Plan Commission, continues to advise the City government of Chicago in methods to “improve the physical structure of the city; strengthen its economic base; and open its opportunities to all.”

1911

Grant Park opens, built on rubble pushed into the lake from the Chicago Fire

1915

The lake steamer Eastland capsizes and sinks in the Chicago River with 2,500 passengers on board. All but 844 passengers died.

1919

The Goodyear dirigible Wing Foot crashes into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building, exploding and killing 20 people. The White Sox go to the World Series and lose, and a conspiracy among players to throw the games is uncovered.

1924

Irish-Italian Mob war brings Al Capone into power as the premier bootlegger and crime boss in America. Among Kindred, this is recognized as a major victory in the Carthian/Invictus influence wars that had been going on since the Fire. The Carthian Movement, having backed the Italian and eastern European gangs against their Irish counterparts, parlayed this influence into pull in nearly every aspect of city government and business.

1925

The Tribune Tower completed

1926

Leopold and Loeb attempt the “Perfect Crime” by kidnapping and killing Loeb’s distant cousin Bobby Franks. Both are caught and sent to prison for life.

1927

Municipal Airport of Chicago (Midway) opened

1929

The St. Valentines Day Massacre signals the slow decline of the Capone crime empire

1933-34

A Century of Progress Fair opens. As happened during the 1893 Fair, mortal visitors to the city brought along Kindred outsiders, who again embraced and/or made permanent havens.

The Red City

1942

First controlled atomic reaction performed by Enrico Fermi at Stagg Field at the University of Chicago. The Ordo Dracul takes a noticeable interest in the south shore region of Chicago, and in short order, this becomes recognized as their de facto territory.

1943

Chicago's first subway opens.

Also, 1943 sees Prince Farragut's first declarations of Regency. At first, the Regencies merely represent hunting rights, split along covenant lines. In exchange for these rights, the Regents each were responsible to look after any violations of the traditions or the Prince's edicts within their territory, unless the situation was dire enough to require Farragut's personal attentions.

1946

The dismembered body of Suzanne Degnan found in a sewer in Edgewater. After brutal interrogation, William Heirens confesses.

1949

Chicago O’Hare airport opens, was Orchard Field

Dissolution and Renaissance

1955

Mayor Richard J. Daley elected

1958

Our Lady of the Angels School fire kills 90 students and 3 nuns. Several Sanctified Kindred begin a mini-Inquisition, searching in vain for some Kindred involvement in the blaze. The questioning, led by Antonio Fontano, fizzles out due to a lack of evidence.

1959

International Trade Fair celebrates opening of St. Lawrence Seaway—Queen Elizabeth visits Chicago. With her entourage come a number of British and European Kindred, but having learned from experience, the Kindred of Chicago are diligent in preventing the embrace of any of Chicago’s residents, and very few of the foreign Kindred choose to remain.

1964

Teamster Boss Jimmy Hoffa put on trial for corruption charges

1966

Richard Speck caught for killing 8 student nurses

1967

Picasso Statue Unveiled In Civic Center Plaza.

1968

Democratic National Convention held in Chicago, protestors riot in Grant Park; rumors circulate wildly about Kindred involvement in instigation and continuation of the violence. Due to inaccurate wording in Prince Farragut’s declaration of Regencies, there are disputes between Carthians and the Ordo Dracul as to who was responsible for maintenance of order during the convention. James Milligan and Professor East reach an accord, stating that the entirety of Grant Park, as far north as the main branch of the river, would be ceded to the Ordo Dracul. The declaration of Elysium surrounding Buckingham Fountain would be extended to the whole park, however, thus making maintenance of peace there a citywide matter and not a local one. The agreement was approved but not initiated by Prince Farragut. To many Kindred, this deference to his own Regents signals the decline of the Prince’s rule/desire to rule.

1969

Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Marl Clark “assassinated” by Chicago police and FBI agents. The Hancock Center is completed.

1970

Chicago and Cook County begin the Deep Tunnel program

1971

Union Stockyards officially close. Large numbers of unaligned Kindred are forced out of the city, a move largely initiated by Carthian boss Diggs Foulworth; being that the unaligned had been de facto allies of the Carthian Movement for decades, this comes as a welcome surprise, especially to the Sanctified and Ordo Dracul who claim Regency over the area. The displaced Kindred mainly flee to Gary and Joliet, where it is believed they encountered and were absorbed by a more “traditional” revolutionary wing of the Carthian Movement. Joliet remains a thorn in the side of Chicago’s ruling class to this night.

1973

Sears Tower Completed

1983

Harold Washington is Elected Mayor

1986

The Chicago Bears win Super Bowl.

1989

Richard M. Daley is elected Mayor

1991

Prince Farragut makes his final public appearance, untill September of 2006, though he no doubt made several more private appointments before disappearing. He declares a new law for Chicago: that no Kindred shall make a recording of the actions of themselves or another.

 

1994

Years after the last public appearance of Prince Farragut, a small gang of unknown Kindred are caught attempting to break into the Prince’s meeting chamber on Goose Island. From the tools they carried, it appeared that they planned to etch a new proclamation onto Farragut’s Pillar, possibly carrying out a hoax about the Prince’s return.

Goose Island had been left out of the Prince’s original declarations of Regency; his wording used the Chicago River as a boundary, not specifying into which Regency the island should fall. While he was active, the Prince’s personal interests in the area kept this from being a major concern, but without him to look over the island now, the Regents gathered to see what would have to be done. Again, a council of Regents was called. Roman Zelenka of the Carthians successfully presents the case that they would be most able to control Goose Island; neither the Invictus nor the Circle of the Crone had the resources, though their Regencies bordered the island as well.

Wounded pride on all sides, however, turned this meeting into something more than a land dispute. The assembled Regents, noting the Prince’s absence officially for the first time, created the Goose Island Compact to establish how the city would function under their charge.

First and foremost, the present Regency boundaries were agreed as immutable; the entire city was under the sway of one Regent or another, so there would be no future need to change anything. Within their territories, the Regents agreed to control any outbreaks that might threaten the greater good of Kindred everywhere in the city; the exceptions were any sites agreed to as Elysium, which would be the responsibility of all Kindred to maintain. Regents agreed to mutual support of each others’ decisions, so long as those decisions don’t threaten the greater good. A Kindred accepted in one area of the city would be allowed to travel anywhere within the limits, but would require permission of the local Regent to set up a haven (business interests and allies were not included, however). Notably, however, no provision was made for the removal or replacement of a Regent.

1995

Following a series of disasters on the south side, Bishop Eamon Pryce of the Lancaea Sanctum leaves Chicago. Due to the efforts of other Sanctified within the city, this did not become public knowledge until many months after. The Bishop is now known to have left town to haven in one of the suburbs, participating in his Regency through couriers and letters. The reasons for his departure are the source of much speculation; some say that he intended to claim Praxis of Chicago, but was thwarted by unknown opponents, either Carthians, the Prince’s agents working in his stead or the Prince himself.

1996

Over the course of eight months, three Sanctified Kindred — Antonio Fontano, Julia Pierce and Bronson MacKenzie — vanish from the streets. Their disappearances are discovered to be the work of an diablerist, the Joliet “Yardie” Carthian, Ted Bryczinski. The Kindred who discovers this crime, Diggs Foulworth, a Carthian local who was originally involved in the closing of the Union Stockyards, consults with a number of Lancaea Sanctum Kindred before putting the diablerist to a painful destruction. Foulworth makes several private political advances toward the Sanctified and their territory on the south side, but is rebuked; his allies in the Carthian Movement fail to back his plan, and Diggs leaves Chicago in disgrace.

2003

Meigs Field bulldozed by unknown assailants in the middle of the night

2004

Millennium Park Opens.

2005

White Sox win the World Series. White Sox win the World Series. White Sox win the World Series. White Sox win the World Series. White Sox win the World Series.

2006

Following the attempted Praxis by Arctos and a successive attempt by Featherby Prince Farragut makes an appearance in elysium. A massive power outage brings the entire el system down for about six weeks starting in June.