Using digitized records from the U.S. General Land Office, we produce a time series map of land sales in early Chicago from 1810 to 1890. The graphic illuminates a checkerboard pattern of land sales adjacent to the Chicago River, which stemmed from a Congressional Act in 1827 funding the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Urban historians credit canal construction with positioning Chicago as a hub for global trade. Our graphic, based on historical geospatial data, visualizes and confirms the role of federal intervention and global trade in Chicago’s urbanization.
CrononW (1991) Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West, 1848-1893. New York: W. W. Norton.
2.
DraffanG (1998) Taking back our land: a history of railroad land grant reform. Transitions: Journal of the Lands Council12(4): 5–31.
3.
GatesPW (1968) History of Public Land Law Development. Washington, DC: Public Land Law Review Commission.
4.
SchroederEK (1994) “The public domain lands in Illinois, 1813–1870.” Poster presented at the ESRI users conference.
5.
U.S. Congress (1827) An Act to Grant a Quantity of Land to the State of Illinois, for the Purpose of Aiding in Opening a Canal to Connect the Waters of the Illinois River With Those of Lake Michigan. 19th Congress, 2nd session, March 2, 1827. Statutes at Large 4: 234.
