Your NPR news source
Curious City New York Chicago Rivalry

Katherine Nagasawa

Chicago's rivalry with New York shaped both cities

Ask anybody you meet on a Chicago street who the city’s chief rival is, and you’ll almost always hear “New York.”

Where did that rivalry come from? And how did Chicago end up as the Second City?

This week on the podcast, we revisit a story about just that. Plus, we look into what tourists in Chicago in 1910 might have done in the city: from watching hogs get butchered to enjoying the majesty of Lake Michigan.

More From This Show
Chicago’s geological history stretches back more than 400 million years. The region was once an underwater reef and, later, covered in ice.
Native Americans have always lived in Chicago, but in the mid-20th century they established a cultural enclave in Uptown, anchored by community centers and social connections.