“The windy city,” “the city of the big shoulders,” Chicago, is a world city which each year attracts almost 12 million domestic business travelers, 33 million domestic leisure visitors and more than one million international visitors. With a population of nearly 3 million people, the city is the anchor of the Chicago metropolitan area, commonly called Chicagoland, which has a population of over 9.7 million people in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, making it the third largest metropolitan area in the U.S.

Located at the site of a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed, Chicago was incorporated as a village in 1833 and then later as a city in March 1837. Within several decades, it would become a major transportation hub, as well as the business, financial, and cultural 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. It is rich in history and renowned for its architecture, museums and lakeshore location.

Relationship to Route 66:
Before the advent of Route 66, the Pontiac Trail, SBI 4, was a paved road linking Chicago and St. Louis. With the designation of numbered Federal highways in 1926, Route 4 was simply assigned as part of the great diagonal road called Route 66. Many tangible and intangible resources of Chicago Route 66 exist virtually unchanged from 80 years ago. Most important, it is the physical and sentimental beginning of the road. Route 66 begins in Chicago and ends in Los Angeles.

Any tour of the Mother Road should start in Chicago, the “Gateway to the West” (of course, there are those contrarians who travel east and end their tour there). Route 66 began in 1926 on the corner of Jackson and Michigan Boulevards. It traveled from Lake Michigan through skyscraper canyons, out to the suburbs and prairie farmland. For the whole existence of Route 66, travelers were fortified with breakfast (and Milk Duds) at Lou Mitchell’s before embarking on the journey. Many stayed a day or two to savor the architecture, history, culture, and cuisine of the city (including The Berghoff restaurant). Today, the magnificence of the “windy city” continues to attract travelers from around the world.