MIdwest Hub

Almost as soon as Chicago was established in 1833, it went through a remarkable transformation.

- Andrew Matthews

Much of Chicago’s rapid change occurred because of its location. In the early 1800s, before trains, automobiles, or airplanes were invented, boats traveling on natural waterways provided the fastest way to move people and things. Chicago quickly became a pivotal place of portage between two inland water routes—the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River.

The success of the Erie Canal also helped Chicago. Completed in 1825, the Erie Canal cut across New York from Lake Erie to the Hudson River, which flows to New York City and the Atlantic Ocean. For the first time, people and goods from the East Coast could travel by boat all the way to the Great Lakes. Illinois’s leaders decided to build a canal between the Chicago River, which flows through the city, and the Illinois River to the south, which feeds into the Mississippi River. Chicago would become the link to connect the Mississippi River and its tributaries to the Great Lakes.