17 year cicadas

Special Episode – Buzzing Through Time

September 9, 2024 50:22

In this Special Episode we take a view of Chicago History — Cicada style. For in the world of entomology, 2024 was a big year.  As two cicada broods The Great Southern Brood, which emerge every 13-years and is the largest of all periodical cicada broods and The Northern Illinois Brood which emerges every 17-years, coincided in 2024.  In places like Springfield, Illinois one could witness both broods in a cacophony of ear-shattering buzzing.  

The last time these broods coincided was in 1803, the same year Fort Dearborn was built near the lakefront at a bend in the Chicago River — what is now the intersection of Wacker Drive and Michigan Avenue.  For those paying attention walking through this intersection will see rectangular brass inserts marking the boundaries of Fort Dearborn.

It turns out the arrival of the 17-year cicadas offers an interesting metronome for the study of Chicago history.  These emergences have come at momentous times throughout the city’s history, and coincide with at least two events memorialized as stars on the Chicago flag. Join the Windy City Historians as we buzz through 221 years of history to see how cicadas left their mark on Chicago’s history. 

Links to Research and Historic Sources: