CPL response on "Windy City"
Bapopik at AOL.COM
Bapopik at AOL.COM
Fri Sep 28 18:27:34 UTC 2001
The Chicago Public Library responded on "Windy City."
"Windy City" is explained in _two_ places on the CPL web site. They are correcting the place where it says that Charles A. Dana "coined" the term.
However, the other explanation must also be corrected. Charles A. Dana didn't even "popularize" the term. SPORTING LIFE had "Windy City" in a list of city nicknames in 1886.
It is wrong to state that "Windy City" comes from early 19th-century Chicago boosterism. No one seems to be bothered that there is not one single citation to support this.
Chicago's wind was known for a long time ("windy city of Chicago" was in 1880s PUCK). However, I did extensive checking of the 1884 political conventions in Chicago, and "Windy City" was _not_ used. It was not until the Chicago Tribune's extensive pushing of Chicago's summer breeze making it an excellent summer resort (later explained by the Tribune on September 11, 1886) that the city nickname came to be applied.
The Chicago Tribune still won't respond to me. Write to their Public Editor (Don Wycliff at dwycliff at tribune.com) and try for yourself.
--Barry Popik
Bapopik at aol.com
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