Murals: I - Exploration II - Fort Dearborn III - The New City IV - Float Bridge and I & M Canal V - Three Swing Bridges VI - The Great Fire VII - Three Bridges VIII - Columbian Exposition IX - Reversal of the Waters X - Michigan Avenue Bridge XI - Grant Park and the Burnham Plan XII - A Century of Progress XIII - The South Branch XIV - The North Branch XV - The Main Branch XVI - The Riverwalk Artwork copyright 2000 Ellen Lanyon All rights reserved Acknowledgements by Ellen Lanyon Essay by Michael Rooks

II - Fort Dearborn 1803: Fort Dearborn was built by the order of the Secretary of War, General Henry Dearborn. It was destroyed in the War of 1812. Above images (shown on mural as insets, lower left) 1782: Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, an Afro-French trader settled on the north bank of the river with the Potawatomi Indians and married Catherine, a member of the tribe. The couple left in 1803 when the Louisiana Purchase opened up the territory to the United States. 1804: John Kinzie, who arrived in Chicago to trade with the Indians, purchased DuSable's cabin and enlarged it for his family. 1816: The Potawatomi tribe ceded a strip of land ten miles wide on each side of the river from the river mouth to the head waters of the Illinois, giving the United States control of the portage. That same year, Fort Dearborn was rebuilt. At right (shown in mural at upper right) 1818:Wolf Point Tavern was the center of social activity. Originally, it existed where the river split to the north and to the south and could be reached by canoe or the first barge ferry established on the river.