Checkerboard urbanization: The visual imprint of federal policy in Chicago

Robert Vargas and David Hackett

Environment and Planning B, 2025, vol. 52, issue 7, 1785-1787

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: Urbanization; urban form; United States; Chicago (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envirb:v:52:y:2025:i:7:p:1785-1787

DOI: 10.1177/23998083251330363

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