The area's reputation as an upscale residential spot dates back to 1882, right after the Great Chicago Fire, when wealthy businessmen began building castle-like mansions along the waterfront––some of which still stand today. Just north of the Loop, the Gold Coast neighborhood hugs the shore of Lake Michigan, occupying some of the city's most desirable real estate. To the east lies Lake Michigan and the Museum Campus, a 57-acre lakefront park that's home to the city's trio of natural-sciences museums: the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Adler Planetarium. Here you'll find some of the buildings that made Chicago one of the world's leaders in architecture in the 1880s and '90s-a title it's held ever since. A recent cultural renaissance has seen Chicago's South Loop turn into one of the city's most vibrant residential and industrial centers. This part of town is also home to award-winning waterfront parks and a glitzy theater district, along with a spectacular array of public art, including outdoor sculptures from Picasso and Joan Miro. Skyscrapers loom large here, including the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) and the Chicago Board of Trade. The pulse of industry and progress beats through The Loop, Chicago's historic commercial center and the country’s second-largest business district. Today, that resilient spirit can be felt throughout the city's diverse neighborhoods, but especially in its bustling downtown.

The same century that witnessed the burning of Fort Dearborn and the mass destruction of the Great Chicago Fire also saw the completion of the Illinois-Michigan Canal, the arrival of the World's Columbian Exposition, and the building of the nation's first skyscraper. Liebling, but taken another way, it inadvertently captures one of the town's greatest legacies: its ability to rebuild and reinvent itself.

The nickname 'The Second City' was intended as a slight by writer and proud New Yorker A.J.

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