Chicago is the largest city in the state of Illinois, the largest in the Midwest, and, with a population of three million people, it is the third-most populous city in the United States. The Chicago metropolitan area has a population of over 9.5 million in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, making it also the third largest metropolitan area in the United States. Chicago is located along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan and is a major center of transportation, industry, politics, culture, finance, medicine and higher education. Chicago's monikers include the "Windy City," "Chi-Town," the "Second City," and the "City of the Big Shoulders" . Chicago is the financial, business, and cultural capital of the Midwest. Founded in 1833 at the site of a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed, it soon became a transportation hub of North America. By the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, it was one of the ten most influential world cities, a distinction it continu More »