Incorporation of Chicago

Date: March 4, 1837 • Location: Chicago Loop, United States

Chicago was incorporated as a city.

Chicago is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the third-most populous city in the United States and the fifth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2.74 million at the 2020 census. The Chicago metropolitan area has approximately 9.62 million residents according to the 2020 census and is the third-largest metropolitan statistical area in the country and part of the fourth-largest combined statistical area in the United States, spanning 19 counties in three states and with a population of nearly 10 million. Chicago is the county seat of Cook County, the second-most populous county in the U.S.