- Type
- Ruin
- Origins
- 1803 · 19th century per Wikidata: founding, first mention or construction
- Location
- Illinois, United States
- Architect
- John Whistler
- Coordinates
- 41.8881°, -87.6239°
History
In 1803 Captain John Whistler's company built a wooden fort at the mouth of the Chicago River and named it after the Secretary of War, Henry Dearborn. During the War of 1812, on 15 August 1812, Captain Nathan Heald's garrison evacuated the fort and was attacked by Potawatomi warriors; several dozen soldiers and settlers were killed, and the fort was burned. It was rebuilt in 1816 and its garrison became the nucleus around which the city grew. The army finally left in the late 1830s, and the buildings were demolished by the middle of the century.
What to see
Nothing of the fort remains. Its outline is marked with brass markers in the sidewalk and roadway at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive, beside the bridge over the Chicago River. A plaque hangs on a nearby building, and reliefs on the bridge depict events including those of 1812. Downtown skyscrapers rise all around.
Wikipedia article Wikidata Q305286
Popularity: articles about this site in 13 Wikimedia projects (Wikipedia language editions and others).