Episode 11: The First Star
Did you realize each of the four stars on the Chicago Flag represent important dates in Chicago history? The two blue stripes on the flag have a special meaning as well. In this Episode we will discuss the events running up to the Fort Dearborn Massacre which is represented by the first star on Chicago’s...
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:49 — 54.8MB)
Episode 10: The First Murder
Founded in 1803, Chicago’s Fort Dearborn is the western most outpost on the frontier, and by 1812 still the most isolated fort in Indian Country. The garrison and few settlers are outnumbered five-to-one by the neighboring tribes within a day’s ride. A pivotal year in Chicago history the corner of today’s Wacker Drive and Michigan...
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:01:14 — 56.1MB)
Episode 9: The First Scandal
Early settlement of Chicago begins, Fort Dearborn is established at this outpost in Indian Country and it gets entangled in Chicago's first scandal.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:00:21 — 55.3MB)
Episode 8 : The First Settler
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines settler as, “a person who goes to live in a new place where usually there are few or no people”. Native Americans have lived in the greater Chicago area for approximately 10,000 years dating back to the last ice age. Dependent on long lost oral histories we have no clear records...
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:06:47 — 61.2MB)
Episode 7: Jolliet & Marquette by Reenactment
Perhaps nothing in Chicago history is as fundamental as Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette’s expedition of 1673. Their voyage by canoe from St. Anglace down Lake Michigan to the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers and the mighty Mississippi was of epic scale. On the way back north they paddled up the Illinois River passing through the...
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:36 — 54.6MB)
Episode 6: Mississippi by Canoe
“Unquestionably the discovery of the Mississippi is a datable fact which considerably mellows and modifies the shiny newness of our country, and gives her a most respectable outside-aspect of rustiness and antiquity.” — Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi For the new country of the United States, the river that bisected it was old. This...
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:12 — 54.3MB)
Episode 5: Missing at Death’s Door
Our examination of René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle continues in this episode, as we follow the progress of the 1976-77 La Salle II Expedition, which ran into rough weather in Door County, Wisconsin and plot their progress as winter forces the crew out of their canoes to walk or portage the frozen rivers and...
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:02:28 — 57.3MB)
Episode 4: La Salle and the Voyageurs
The name La Salle is ubiquitous throughout the United States, with streets, parks, towns, universities, parishes, schools and even counties named for this French explorer. In this episode, “La Salle and the Voyageurs”, we examine the influence of La Salle, as well as interview Reid Lewis, the founder of a 1976-77 reenactment of La Salle’s...
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:03 — 51.4MB)
Episode 3: Urbs in Horto?
Released Friday, May 31, 2019 – What’s in a name? “Urbs in Horto” or as translated from Latin “City in the Garden” is the motto on the seal of the City of Chicago, which nicely ties together the third interview with historian and retired attorney John Swenson. Swenson presents the final and most amazing piece...
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:58 — 53.1MB)
Episode 2: The Place Called Chicagoua
Listening to the first episode you learned the ground-breaking, new story of Chicago’s discovery and who truly was the first European to pass through Chicago. In this second part of our interview with historian John Swenson, he says, “if you know where the portage is, then Marquette tells you where he was,” and that is...
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:08:14 — 55.7MB)
Episode 1: Who Was First?
Released Friday, March 29, 2019 – On the 344 Anniversary of Father Marquette getting flooded out of his winter camp in 1675, at the place the Indians called Chicaogua. In real estate it’s all about “Location, Location, Location.” So what happens if our Chicago isn’t really in Chicago? Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet explored a...
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:01:41 — 56.5MB)