Checkerboard urbanization: The visual imprint of federal policy in Chicago

Using digitized records from the U.S. General Land Office, we produce a time series map of land sales in early Chicago from 1810 to 1890. The graphic illuminates a checkerboard pattern of land sales adjacent to the Chicago River, which stemmed from a Congressional Act in 1827 funding the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Urban historians credit canal construction with positioning Chicago as a hub for global trade. Our graphic, based on historical geospatial data, visualizes and confirms the role of federal intervention and global trade in Chicago’s urbanization.