About Chicago

Chicago (pronounced shi-cah-go or shi-caw-go) is the largest city in the state of Illinois, the largest in the Midwest, and, with a population of nearly 3 million people, is the third-most populous city in the United States. It is an alpha world city and the main city of Chicago metropolitan area (commonly referred to as Chicagoland), which has a population of over 9.5 million people in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, making it also the third largest metropolitan area in the U.S. Chicago is almost entirely located in Cook County, Illinois, except for a small part which is in DuPage County.

Founded in 1833 at the site of a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed, it soon became a transportation hub in North America and quickly became the business and financial capital of the Midwest. Since the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, it has been regarded as one of the ten most influential cities in the world.

The Chicagoland area has an estimated 400,000 Muslims served by over one hundred Mosques. The metropolis is home to one of the largest and most organized Muslim communities in the United States boasting top-rated Muslim schools, social services organizations, media venues, professional associations, and venues of higher education.

Source: CAIR-Chicago & Wikipedia

Proud to be Chicagoan

One of the biggest motivations behind MYLS is the desire to make the city of Chicago a better place for all Chicagoans. We find it fitting that we should share with our visitors a little bit about the place we love to call home...

Visually it's a stunning city, thanks in no small part to Frank Lloyd Wright.

Huge, granite, overwhelmingly beautiful buildings soar skywards, perched on the edge of a sparkling blue lake, a view that defines the image of Chicago on a million postcards. The city was home to the first skyscraper and even now boasts three of the world's tallest buildings. The Sears Tower, the John Hancock Building - where from the amazing Observatory on the 94th floor, you can see four states - and the Amoco Building.

More down to earth, but still above ground, is the famous rail Loop, known locally as the 'L', which rings downtown high above the street and has starred in more films than Mel Gibson. And then there's the city's free tourist trolleybus, a hop-on-and-off service that runs round the city's most famous landmarks.

Advertisement of course, Chicago is more than just a great view. There are 54 museums, including the Art Institute, which houses the biggest collection of French Impressionists outside the Louvre.

There it is, vast, sprawling at the end of Michigan Avenue, overlooking the Millennium Park. I'm not a great one for museums unless there's something special going on, but I make an exception for the brilliant Art Institute. It requires days to do it justice but if you do nothing else, find time to see the 68 miniatures in the Thorne Rooms.

Painstakingly constructed on a scale of one inch to one foot, they offer intricately detailed views of European home interiors from the 16th century through to 1930. And even if you can't see all the Impressionists, it would be a crime not to take in Seurat's masterpiece, A Sunday on the Grand Jette.

The city also has 200 theatres - shows destined for Broadway tend to be aired here first and tickets are a lot cheaper than in London or New York. If it's shopping that lures you, then Michigan Avenue, known as the Magnificent Mile, is right up there with Fifth Avenue in New York or the eight blocks of sheer extravagance around Newbury Street in Boston.

Chicago is home to some of the best jazz clubs in North America such as the Blue Chicago

In Marshall Field, the landmark department store on State Street, you'll find state-of-the-art shopping. And then there are the city's parades: each year Chicago finds more than 200 reasons to have one.

All this plus a shore line that stretches around Lake Michigan for 31 miles. In summer when the temperature soars and shady cafés are as vital as a coffee shop in winter, the constant wind drifting in off the lake makes things much more bearable. Indeed, there are some who believe the lake breeze is how the city got its Windy City nickname, inspired by a local councillor in the 1850s who was trying to sell the town to tourists and settlers by claiming that the breeze was a health advantage in sweltering summers. Others say Chicago owes its nickname to the long-winded politicians who endlessly talked up the city after the Great Fire of 1871.

There is a school of thought that if you only have two or three days in a city, you should stick to the centre, but I would argue that in Chicago there's a strong case for branching out, if only for a morning, to see some of the grandest houses on the outskirts. For example, if you take the train north-west out of the city, 45 minutes later you'll come to Lake Forest, where you'll find the finest examples of 19th-century residential architecture. You can also join a tour around the Lake Forest cemetery to hear stories of some of the affluent and influential residents who wound up there.

On the way back to midtown, it's worth taking a detour to Oak Park to see Frank Lloyd Wright's old house. This is where his notion of "open plan" living was spawned and his reputation as one of the world's most influential and celebrated architects was sealed. From there, head back to midtown and take a cab south of the Loop to 5757 Woodlawn Avenue, to the Robie House, the first of Lloyd Wright's Prairie-style dwellings.

After that, if you still have the energy, stroll to the city's landmark attraction, the Navy Pier, an outdoor landscaped complex of restaurants, theatres and concert halls that stretches down to the edge of the lake. This is also where the first Ferris wheel ever was erected. Or take a boat trip along the Chicago River (boats depart from Chicago's First Lady Dock located at the Michigan Avenue Bridge at Wacker Drive). And you can't leave Chicago without dropping into at least one of its hundreds of jazz and blues clubs - everyone, from the desk clerk to the head waiter, has a favourite. Just ask.

It would be wrong to say Chicago has no faults. Its winters are eye-wateringly cold and the crime rate, while it has fallen a little in recent years, remains high and ranks above both New York and Boston in North America's top 100 cities for crime (though it's a long way behind both Orlando and Miami). But go in summer and take the usual safety precautions, and Chicago could just be your kind of town. It's certainly mine.

Source: The Telegraph, Frankie McGowan.