“City of the Big Shoulders” – Carl Sandburg, 1916

Happy 173rd birthday to Chicago, the great American city where I met and married my wife and where each of my children was born.

For many people, particularly those who have never been to Chicago, conceptions of the city were built by its portrayal in Carl Sandburg’s 1916 poem, Chicago, that begins:

Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders

The Chicago of Sandburg’s poem has changed significantly in the nearly 100 years since it was written, but it has also maintained several characteristics that make it a place of unmistakable charm.  Chicago is–as it was then–tough, strong, and vibrant.  It is also smart, proud, and unconventionally beautiful.  To be in Chicago, especially in the summer, is to feel and know that you are somewhere truly distinctive.