Chicago, Illinois

Chicago, Illinois

Economy

Chicago has been a center for commerce in the United States for most of its modern history. Today, Chicago remains the United States' second financial center with the nation's second largest central business district and third largest gross metropolitan product. In fact, Chicago's gross metropolitan product would rank 18th in the world if it were a nation-state, at approximately 380 billion dollars.

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Before it was incorporated as a town in 1833, the primary industry was the fur trade. Chicago's early explosive growth led many land speculators and enterprising individuals to the area. Situated on the Great Lakes and with so many new people settling the area, Chicago became an ideal location for shipping and receiving goods. With that, many railroads started to be built from Chicago to other parts of the country, further aiding the growth of the city. Additionally, the building of the Illinois and Michigan Canal helped move goods south down the Mississippi River.

Related Topics:
Fur trade - Great Lakes - Railroad - Illinois and Michigan Canal - Mississippi River

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In the 1840s, Chicago became the largest grain port in the world, shipping food from the Mississippi Valley region which was also growing into the largest food-producing region in the world. In 1848, Chicago built its first grain elevator, and, in 1858 there were twelve grain elevators dotting the skyline. Carl Sandburg described Chicago as a "stacker of wheat", and some would argue that the grain elevators were Chicago's first skyscrapers.

Related Topics:
Grain - Mississippi Valley - Grain elevator - Carl Sandburg - Skyscrapers

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In the 1850s and 1860s Chicago's pork and beef industry exploded. Great entrepreneurs such as Gustavus Swift and Philip Armour helped the area to become the largest producer of meat products in the world at the time. By 1862, Chicago had displaced Cincinnati, Ohio, as "Porkopolis". During the 1860s two factors helped this development: first, the Civil War increased the demand for food products, and Chicago's transportation network ensured that goods could be delivered quickly to soldiers all over the northern United States; and second, meat packing plants began to utilize ice. Before this time, meat production and distribution facilities, otherwise known as disassembly plants, had to shut down in the hot summer months. More operating months meant hundreds of thousands of new man-hours in which people could work. The efficiency of Chicago's meat packing industry and its disassembly plants inspired others such as Henry Ford when he developed Model-T assembly lines. Today, we consider industries such as steel, oil, and banking to be the great global market segments, but in the 1860s Chicago's pork and beef industry represented the first global industry. As the major meat companies grew in Chicago many, such as Armour, created global enterprises and communicated with divisions spread across the globe via telegraph.

Related Topics:
Pork - Beef - Gustavus Swift - Philip Armour - Cincinnati - Ohio - Civil War - Transport - United States - Meat packing - Henry Ford - Model-T - Assembly line - Armour - Telegraph

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Modern-day futures and commodity trading markets were pioneered in Chicago. A number of events led to this, along with Chicago's transportation systems and geographic proximity to the rest of the country. Massive amounts of goods passed through Chicago from places in the Mississippi Valley such as St. Louis, Missouri. Grain was stored in Chicago, and people began buying contracts on it. Later, people as far away as New York City began buying contracts by telegraph on the goods that would be stored in Chicago in the future. From this were established the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), and the modern systems we use today for futures and commodity trading.

Related Topics:
St. Louis, Missouri - Chicago Board of Trade - Chicago Mercantile Exchange

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Related topics

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• Chicago Climate Exchange
• List of major companies in Chicagoland