The Chicago River helped Chicago grow from a small trading outpost to a major hub of commerce and shipping. Today the river remains a major tourist attraction, lined with restaurants, shops and hotels.
The Chicago River starts in Lake Michigan and is 156 miles long. It flows through downtown Chicago before joining the Mississippi River.
Native Americans showed the Chicago River to explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette in 1673, according to Friends of the Chicago River. The French settled along the Chicago River in 1696 but abandoned the area a few years later due to raids by Native Americans.
Until the early 1900s, the Chicago River flowed into Lake Michigan. As the city's drinking water became more polluted, the city used a series of canal locks to reverse the flow of the river so that it emptied into the Mississippi River. This major engineering feat of the early 20th century prevented thousands of deaths from typhoid, cholera and dysentery.
More than 800 people died in 1915 when a boat chartered for an employee picnic rolled over while still at the dock. It was one of the worst maritime disasters in U.S. history, according to the Eastland Disaster Historical Society. There is a permanent outdoor exhibit along the Chicago Riverwalk between Clark and LaSalle Streets.
Since 1962, the city has dyed the river green to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. The best place to see the dyeing is at Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive. The dye is actually orange when dumped into the river.
