The "Windy City" & other nicknames

It is said that the name does not originate from the gusts of winds ...

BUT according to historians... the name originates from few local boosters (windbags), who went up and down the East Coast yelling about the wonders of Chicago ... So Chicago was dubbed the "Windy City" after its "windy" citizenry in the 1850s who boasted about the virtues of the city [A Chicago Daily News article from Sept. 22, 1969]


Some other NICKNAMES ...
- The name "Second City" comes from Chicago's historical position as America's second largest city after New York. however now it’s America’s third largest city after New York City & Los Angeles.

- "Paris of the Prarie" Daniel Burnham had designed a visionary plan for a city in 1909 named the “Chicago Plan”. The city was nicknamed 'Paris on the Prairie' as the plan incorporated wide boulevards and parks ...

- The "City in a Garden" ... After the motto on its seal "Urbs in Horto."; which is Latin for “city in a garden”.

- "Pride of the Rustbelt"... for its once thriving heavy industries.

- "City of Big Shoulders" & "Hog Butcher to the World"
HOG Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders .......
[ A poem by Carl Sandburg; about the city of Chicago - a tribute to the steelworkers and meat packers of the past]