Early Chicago › History

Fort Dearborn: the fort that came before the city

Before Chicago was a town, it was a small United States Army post on the south bank of the Chicago River.

Why a fort here

The fort was built in 1803 and named for Henry Dearborn, then Secretary of War. Its job was to hold the portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River system, a route that Native nations and French traders had used for generations.

August 1812

During the War of 1812 the garrison was ordered to evacuate. On August 15, 1812, the column of soldiers and civilians led by Captain Nathan Heald left the fort and was attacked by Potawatomi warriors a short distance to the south along the lakeshore. Many in the column were killed and the survivors were taken captive. The fort was burned the next day. The event has been known as the Fort Dearborn Massacre and, more recently, the Battle of Fort Dearborn.

The second fort

The Army rebuilt the fort in 1816. As settlement grew through the 1830s the post lost its purpose and was eventually given up. Its buildings were taken down or lost over the following decades.

Where it stood

The site is at Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive, at the south end of the DuSable Bridge. Bronze markers set into the sidewalk trace the outline of the fort. One of the four stars on the flag of Chicago stands for Fort Dearborn.