Chicago Was Almost In Wisconsin-- Part 1: Northwest Ordinance

From November 30, 2015, Wisconsin Public Radio  "Chicago, Wisconsin? How the Windy City Almost Ended Up In the Badger State" by Erika Janik.

Illinois became a state on December 3, 1818,  But, while doing so, some 8,500 square miles of territory that had been allotted to Wisconsin did not become a part of Wisconsin.  This covered the whole northern part of what is today Illinois.

In the late 1700s American statesmen drew up plans of how new states would join the Union and a map was made.  This was called the Northwest Ordinance.  One of the men who drew it up was Nathan Dane, a Massachusetts attorney, for whom Wisconsin's Dane County, envisioned a straight line from the southern tip of Lake Michigan straight out to the Mississippi River.

North of it would be Wisconsin.  South of it would be Illinois.

--RoadDog