A graphic that says “Chicago’s River Dyeing.” (WTTW News)

There’s no more iconic Chicago St. Patrick’s Day tradition than dyeing the Chicago River green.

Graphic that says “Chicago's Skyscrapers.” (WTTW News)

Chicago is a city of firsts — everything from the first Ferris wheel to the first brownie and the world’s very first skyscraper. WTTW News explains.

Chicago Art Auction, Paschke, Origin, 1995 (Courtesy of Rago/Wright/Toomey & Co.)

Toomey & Co. Auctioneers will devote an entire sale to Chicago artwork from the past 100+ years. The auction is titled “Elevated: Art Via Chicago.” 

A sign marks he Paul Powell Home and Museum, Oct. 8, 2020 photo in Vienna, Ill. For more than half a century, a Powell-established $250,000 trust sustained his legacy, for better or worse. But the account that maintained his birthplace as a museum will soon run dry. (AP Photo / John O’Connor, File)

For more than half a century, a Powell-established $250,000 trust sustained his legacy, for better or worse. But the account that maintained his birthplace as a museum will soon run dry. The fate of the home in Vienna, a town of 1,300 about 140 miles southeast of St. Louis, is uncertain. 

Fred Hampton (WTTW)

For the latest “Black Voices: A WTTW News Community Conversation,” Brandis Friedman met with leaders and researchers to discuss their push to memorialize the Illinois Black Panther Party and include its history in the National Register of Historic Places.

This stretch of hand-laid brick, completed as part of the once-grand U.S. Route 66 westward from Chicago to California, is preserved near the central Illinois town of Auburn. (Carol M. Highsmith)

“Route 66 was the first great American road trip,” said Amy Webb with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The trust is crowdsourcing Americans’ stories, memories and photos of the famous road that connected the Midwest to the West.

The Kiddieland Amusement Park sign at the Melrose Park Public Library, 801 N. Broadway in Melrose Park. (Marc Vitali / WTTW News)

“If we didn’t take it, it would’ve gone to the scrap heap,” Gary Marine, Melrose Park’s director of public works, said of the historic Kiddieland sign that now lives in the Melrose Park Public Library parking lot.

The Maybeland diorama by Ronald Konecki. (Erica Gunderson / WTTW News)

In suburban St. Charles, a whimsical Christmas fantasy of lollipop forests, root-beer oceans and glittering ice castles lies hidden away. The fanciful landscapes of “Maybeland” were handcrafted in intricate miniature by a Chicago father who made it all to display every Christmas season.

Richard Hunt is pictured working at his studio in 2021. (WTTW News)

Renowned sculptor Richard Hunt, whose work can be seen across his hometown of Chicago, died at age 88.

(Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)

We all know Chicago as the city of neighborhoods, but how exactly are those neighborhoods defined? And do those boundaries last mapped out in the 1920s still hold true? That’s what a group of scholars and researchers from the University of Chicago is venturing to find out.

As you travel a ways west from the lake in Chicago, it’s hard not to notice clusters of north-south streets that all start with the same letters – K, L, M, N, O. What gives? WTTW News Explains.

In her new book, Lauren Viera compiles a list of places to eat, buy food, drink, shop and sleep with a short description of why each location is a “hidden secret.” (Nicole Cardos / WTTW News)

In her new book, Lauren Viera compiles a list of places to eat, buy food, drink, shop and sleep with a short description of why each location is a “hidden secret.”

Danny Sotomayor speaks at a protest in May 1989. (Courtesy of Bill McMillan)

Reflecting on the impact political cartoonist and activist Danny Sotomayor had on the AIDS epidemic in Chicago during the 1980s and 1990s. 

(DesignOil / Pixabay)

“Political and government-related bribery, extortion, fraud, conflicts of interest, theft of campaign funds, and tax cheating continue to undermine the public’s trust in government,” according to the report.

(WTTW News)

Maybe it’s because the city’s actual name comes from a smelly wild onion, or maybe it’s because other cities like to drag our city through the mud, but Chicago has had a whole lot of nicknames over the years. We break down where they came from. 

(WTTW News)

Meet Ellis Chesbrough, Chicago’s first city engineer and designer of the water delivery system we still use today. WTTW News Explains how water cribs work out on Lake Michigan.