# Chicago, almost part of Wisconsin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 16, 2002, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-almost-part-of-wisconsin/103909 "2002-04-16T08:12:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-almost-part-of-wisconsin/103909/1 "2002-04-16T08:12:16Z")
I remember way back when I lived in Chicago, I went on one these one-hour boat tours on Lake Michigan. The tour guide stated that when the borders were being drawn between Wisconsin and Illinois that Chicago was almost lopped into Wisconsin. I had never heard that before or since. Is this true? (Personally, I’d prefer Chicago to be in Wisconsin than Illinois.) ---
**Author:** ![buckyogi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f17d59/32.png) [@buckyogi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buckyogi)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-almost-part-of-wisconsin/103909/2 "2002-04-16T16:01:20Z")
This may be what the tour guide was referring to: [http://www.chicagohistory.org/canal/canal.html](http://www.chicagohistory.org/canal/canal.html) The above link is part of the [Chicago Historical Society](http://www.chicagohistory.org/) 's Web site. You may want to search there or contact them for further information. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-almost-part-of-wisconsin/103909/3 "2002-04-16T16:03:46Z")
Along the same lines, the Feds weren’t sure where to put Toledo when they were dividing up Ohio and Michigan. They decided to give Toledo to Ohio, and gave Michigan the Upper Peninsula as a consolation prize. Most people in the UP, like pulykamell, would like to be allied with Wisconsin more that them trolls down there in the Lower Peninsula, but alas, 'tis not to be. ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-almost-part-of-wisconsin/103909/4 "2002-04-16T19:21:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Athena \* > \*\*Most people in the UP, like pulykamell, would like to be allied with Wisconsin more that them trolls down there in the Lower Peninsula, but alas, 'tis not to be. \*\* No we wouldn’t. It’s bad enough being next to them. (I know location says MN, I’m going to school here).😃 ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-almost-part-of-wisconsin/103909/5 "2002-04-16T19:29:43Z")
Oh yeah, the U.P. was given to Michigan after a heated dispute with Ohio over the Toledo Strip. The Michigan Territory and the State of Ohio both claimed the strip, and both sent militias. No shots were fired, though. The U.S. decided that Michigan needed to settle the dispute before it could be admitted as a state. Congress drew up a compromise where Ohio would get the Toledo strip and Michigan got the western 2/3 of the U.P. There’s some more info [here](http://www.sos.state.mi.us/history/museum/explore/museums/hismus/prehist/settling/toledo.html) ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-almost-part-of-wisconsin/103909/6 "2002-04-16T20:35:33Z")
To quote from the Chicago Historical Society [page](http://www.chicagohistory.org/canal/canal.html) cited by **buckyogi** , > [@](#): > > Ambitious Illinois politicians in 1818 succeeded in moving the state’s border forty-one miles north from the location specified in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 so that they would not have to share the envisioned Illinois & Michigan Canal with Wisconsin. To clarify, this presumably refers to _defining_ the State of Illinois at the time of its admission to the Union in 1818, rather than moving the border of an existing state. The whole business seems a bit messy and is discussed in more detail on this [page](http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/iht29502.html). But, yes, the northern border could have been different. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2002, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-almost-part-of-wisconsin/103909/7 "2002-04-17T00:08:29Z")
Not having been back to Chicago in a loooong time, I was wondering how it is now when you drive from Chicago to Milwaukee…can you see where one ends and the other starts or does it all look like one big suburb? ---
**Author:** ![Lure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@Lure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lure)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2002, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-almost-part-of-wisconsin/103909/8 "2002-04-17T01:17:50Z")
OK.Why is the UP part of Michigan (historically) other than the compromise.It seems they just cut off Wisconsin,since none of the UP is physically connected to the part that contains Detroit (lower peninsula?) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2002, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-almost-part-of-wisconsin/103909/9 "2002-04-17T01:19:31Z")
I try to nap from Chicago to Milwaukee, requesting that I am awakened by the time we get to Sheboygan, so’s I can order up a double brat with the works and a cold Leinenkugel. ---
**Author:** ![stockton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@stockton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stockton)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2002, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-almost-part-of-wisconsin/103909/10 "2002-04-17T03:40:14Z")
Uke’s hit the nail on the head again. I always re-tie my flys on the way up to that fishing paradise, and let old boundary disputes wither away in the amber glow of the Old Style signs along the way. What was I doing up here again?.. Dang, it’s cold. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2002, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-almost-part-of-wisconsin/103909/11 "2002-04-17T06:00:13Z")
Wow, Wisconsin really got the shaft coming and going. They certainly must have had some weak politicians. Mmmm… I miss Sprecher beer. Do they still have it in Milwaukee?