• former Chicago mayor William Hale Thompson was cast in the 1927 silent exploitation film Is Your Daughter Safe? to ensure it would pass the city's censorship boards?
• during his days as a community organizer in Chicago, Barack Obama worked as a consultant and trainer for the Gamaliel Foundation?
• at the height of Wally Phillips' radio career, roughly half the entire Chicago listening audience, or about 1.5 million listeners, tuned into his show?
• in 1908, the Kinzie Street railroad bridge (pictured) in Chicago was the longest and heaviest bascule bridge in the world?
• in the 1950s Dr. Leonidas Berry started the Berry Plan to provide medical counseling clinics for young drug addicts in Chicago?
• portions of Chicago's Devon Avenue have been renamed in honor of Golda Meir, Mahatma Gandhi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and Sheik Mujib?
• overcrowding in Chicago's racially segregated Black Belt was so severe that in 1934 an estimated 6.8 people were living in the average kitchenette apartment?
• in the post-World War I business slump, Chicago meat packing magnate J. Ogden Armour lost a million dollars a day for 130 days?
• at the 1974 Coalition of Labor Union Women convention, Myra Wolfgang declared "...there are 3,000 women in Chicago and they didn't come here to swap recipes!"?
• after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the population of the neighboring Hyde Park Township exceeded that of the devastated Chicago?
• Rabbi Asher Lopatin supported a Chicago ban on foie gras on the grounds that the Torah prohibits cruelty to animals, noting that "chopped liver is good, but foie gras is bad"?
• American electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter Johnny B. Moore was once described as "one of Chicago's interesting secrets"?
• The Exile, the first African American talking film, was a semi-autobiographical film about a Black rancher in South Dakota, with elements of interracial romance and some nightclub scenes set in Chicago?
• a Chicago urban legend states that 90,000 people died in Chicago of typhoid fever and cholera in 1885?
• a Chicago championship basketball team from Wendell Phillips Academy High School was drafted to form the nucleus of the original Harlem Globetrotters?
• after the 1871 Great Chicago Fire, the Loop Retail Historic District (pictured) was Chicago's premier retailing district until it was replaced by commuter suburbs and the Magnificent Mile?
• after long-standing racketeering allegations, the FBI raided Chicago's Pui Tak Center, then known as the On Leong Merchants Association Building, in 1988?
• several private homes in the Los Cerritos neighborhood of Long Beach, California have been used in movies, including depicting the Bueller family's Chicago home in the 1986 comedy film Ferris Bueller's Day Off?
• the Chicago City Council revoked the McCarthy Building's Chicago Landmark status to make way for the controversial redevelopment of Chicago's Block 37 in the Chicago Loop?
• the Fountain of the Great Lakes, with semi-nude figures, was not dedicated until after Chicago changed its obscenity laws for public art in 1913?
• the William H. Copeland House (pictured) was one of three remodeling projects undertaken by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park between 1906 and 1909?
• the West Argyle Street Historic District in Chicago, Illinois, developed from a village named Argyle Park after the Dukes of Argyll in Scotland?
• the face of Chicago native Hazel Lavery (pictured) adorned the banknotes of Ireland for seventy years?
• the first tour of the touring company of Chicago's Black Ensemble Theater Company included a four-week run at the Apollo Theater?
• there are at least 296 historic places listed on the U.S. National Register in Chicago, including a German U-boat (pictured)?
• the once-standing Palmer Mansion in Chicago, Illinois, had a self-supported spiral staircase which rose 80 feet into a tower?
• the Streeterville neighborhood sits almost entirely on land that did not exist when the city of Chicago first incorporated?
• the Sky Ride at the 1933 Chicago Century of Progress carried 4.5 million fairgoers in "rocket cars" 60 m above ground, before being demolished in 1934?
• the Electrosport was a US$11,900 electric car in 1971, when gasoline was 36 cents per gallon, and the company established the “World’s First Electric Car Expressway” between Detroit and Chicago?
• the schooner Rouse Simmons, known as "The Christmas Tree Ship", was transporting over 5,000 Christmas trees to Chicago when it sank in 1912?
• the German newspaper Illinois Staats-Zeitung, published in Chicago, played an important role in building the Republican Party in Illinois in the 1850s?
• the Grant Park Music Festival, a Chicago tradition since its 1931 introduction by Anton Cermak, is America's only remaining free, outdoor concert series featuring classical music?
• the Michigan-Wacker Historic District (pictured) hosts Chicago's first permanent residence, Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable Homesite?
• the Oliver Typewriter Company of Chicago, Illinois produced and sold over one million of the first "visible print" typewriters?
• the Mission of the Guardian Angel was a Jesuit mission that existed in the vicinity of Chicago, Illinois, from 1696 to 1700?
• Man Enters the Cosmos (pictured) is one of four Henry Moore sculptures in Chicago, two of which are at National Historic Landmarks?
• Flamingo, a stabile by Alexander Calder located in Chicago, was the first piece of art commissioned by the General Services Administration under its Percent for Art program?
• Iraqi refugee Wafaa Bilal was shot by more than 60,000 paintballs in a month-long performance art piece in Chicago?
• Frank Lloyd Wright's 1915 Emil Bach House (pictured) in Chicago was originally a "country home" that now stands on a busy city street in the Rogers Park neighborhood?
• Chicago's defunct 58th station must be kept in operable condition because federal funds were used in its renovation?
• Irish-born Major League Baseball player Jimmy Archer (pictured) received a medal from the National Safety Council in 1931 for reviving two men overcome by carbon monoxide in the Chicago stockyards?
• Meigs Field in Chicago, Illinois, sits on the site of Burnham Park (pictured), which was a serious contender to host the United Nations Headquarters?
• Benjamin Ferguson bequeathed a fund to Chicago, Illinois that provided for seventeen of the city's most prominent sculptures?
• Thomas R. Kimball gutted the central part of the Burlington Headquarters Building in Omaha to make it resemble the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad headquarters in Chicago?
• Chicago's Fountain of Time by Lorado Taft is considered the earliest outdoor concrete sculpture?
• Chicago's Crown Fountain (pictured) displays LED images of faces, which typically create the illusion of puckered lips spouting water?
• Chicago alderman Sandi Jackson (pictured) transferred from Georgetown University Law Center to University of Illinois College of Law to be with her future husband, U.S. Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.?
• blues singer Jesse Fortune, better known as the "Fortune Tellin' Man," passed on performing in Europe because he did not want to disappoint customers at his Chicago barbershop?
• blues musician Henry Gray is credited as helping to create the distinctive sound of the Chicago blues piano?
• Chicago theater-owner Tony DeSantis survived two near-fatal explosions in his life?
• Chicago composer Margaret Bonds wrote her first work, the Marquette Street Blues, at the age of five?
• Chicago politician Giuseppe Esposito was shot and killed in front of his family during the 1928 Republican Pineapple Primary?
• Chicago hairstylist John Lanzendorf owned one of the world's largest collections of dinosaur-themed artwork?
• Bohemian National Cemetery in Chicago contains a columbarium specifically intended to hold the ashes of Chicago Cubs fans?
• chocolate covered bacon (pictured) is sold as "Pig Lickers" at the Minnesota State Fair, "Pig Candy" in New York City and "Mo's Bacon Bar" in Chicago?
• Schwa, an upscale restaurant in Chicago, employs no receptionist, waiters, or other support staff?
• Schulze Baking Company Plant (pictured) once housed the largest wholesale business in Chicago?
• Rush Street, now known for its nightlife, has had four bridges over the Chicago River connecting the Loop to the Near North Side and once handled 50% of Chicago's north-south traffic?
• Sixteen, the 16th-floor restaurant at Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, features an eye-level view of the Wrigley Building clock tower?
• The Berghoff restaurant in Chicago will close on 28 February 2006 after 107 years of operation by three generations of the Berghoff family?
• Wolf Point, which was part of the original 58-block 1830 plan of Chicago, was the original social center of the city and is now owned by the Kennedy family?
• The Bostonian Society was formed in 1881 to prevent the Old State House, site of the Boston Massacre, from being moved to Chicago?
• Rumaisa Rahman, born prematurely in Chicago on September 19, 2004, was 8 inches (20 cm) long and weighed 8½ oz. (244 g) at birth?
• Nollaig Ó Gadhra's biography of Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley is regarded as one of the most comprehensive biographies ever written in the Irish language?
• Indian Village, Chicago hosts the only 24-hour elevator operator building in Chicago, Illinois?
• Higgins Glass (pictured) refers to fused glass functional artwork produced by Michael and Frances Higgins of Chicago, in the latter half of the 20th century?
• Edward Hanrahan, groomed to succeed Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley, saw his elected career end after a 1969 police raid that resulted in the death of Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton?
• the word jazz was originally a California baseball slang term and was first applied to a style of music in Chicago?
• John Callaway created the award-winning news program Chicago Tonight and was awarded 10 honorary doctorates, despite being a college dropout who hitchhiked to Chicago with 71 cents in his pocket?
• Michael Jordan's Restaurant in Chicago received as many as 7,000 telephone calls per day during its first few months of operation?
• McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink (pictured) is both an ice skating rink and the largest alfresco dining venue in Chicago?
• architect John M. Van Osdel drafted the plans for the first architect-designed house in Chicago, formed Chicago's first architectural firm and ensured passage of Chicago's first building codes?

Facts on topics related to Chicago

Illinois

• bishop William McKendree (1757–1835) earned the nickname "Father of Western Methodism" for his travels through his vast see of Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri, and Illinois?
• Meigs Field in Chicago, Illinois, sits on the site of Burnham Park (pictured), which was a serious contender to host the United Nations Headquarters?
• Wilmette, Illinois's Chicago and Northwestern Depot has been described as the most historic building in the village?
• algific talus slope ecosystems exist only in the Driftless Area of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa?
• Augustus Louis Chetlain was said to have been the first man in Illinois to volunteer for the American Civil War?
• Benjamin Ferguson bequeathed a fund to Chicago, Illinois that provided for seventeen of the city's most prominent sculptures?
• David Moosman led his high school to the Illinois state championship in football and qualified for the state championships three times in wrestling?
• Indian Village, Chicago hosts the only 24-hour elevator operator building in Chicago, Illinois?
• Peotone Mill, a windmill built in 1871, was donated to the village of Peotone, Illinois in 1982 after being idle for nearly a century, and was registered on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in the same year?
• Spoon River College in Illinois was founded in 1959 as Canton Community College?

Chicago City Council

• Chicago City Council alderman Toni Preckwinkle has dissented against Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley more often than any other alderman in council votes?
• Patrick Nash helped change the city charter, which called for a special election in the case of death of the Chicago Mayor, so that the Chicago City Council could appoint Edward Joseph Kelly?
• the Chicago City Council revoked the McCarthy Building's Chicago Landmark status to make way for the controversial redevelopment of Chicago's Block 37 in the Chicago Loop?