page_title: Chicago
section_title: Culture
hierarchical_section_title: Chicago / Culture
caption_attribution_description: Adler Planetarium, Chicago, Illinois, USA Deutsch: Adler-Planetarium
context_page_description: Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the third most populous city in the United States. It has an estimated population of 2,705,994, it is also the most populous city in the Midwestern United States. Chicago is the county seat of Cook County, the second most populous county in the United States, with a small portion of the northwest side of the city going into DuPage County near O'Hare Airport. Chicago is the main city of the Chicago metropolitan area, often referred to as Chicagoland. At nearly 10 million people, the metropolitan area is the third most populous in the United States.
  It is located on the shores of freshwater Lake Michigan, Chicago was made into a city in 1837 near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. It grew rapidly in the mid-19th century. After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which destroyed many square miles and left more than 100,000 homeless, the city made a huge effort to rebuild.
context_section_description: Chicago has a very well-known culture. Some of the many things Chicago is famous for are: Chicago-style hot dogs, Chicago-style (deep dish) pizza, Maxwell Street Polish Sausage, jazz music, and 1920s gangsters like Al Capone. Chicago is also known for interesting architecture like the Sears Tower, many museums, and many loyal sports fans.
  Chicago was home to the Bijou Theater, the longest-running gay adult theater and sex club in the United States. It opened in 1970, and it permanently closed its doors in September 2015.
  For many years, the Sears Tower was the tallest building in the world. It is the second tallest building in the United States.
  Chicago has the most Polish people inside its city limits outside of Warsaw. Historic U.S. Route 66 starts in Chicago by Grant Park in front of the Art Institute of Chicago.
caption: The Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum was the first planetarium in the Northern Hemisphere
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