Chicago's "First Civilian" Born Here - Chicago, IL
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 41° 53.358 W 087° 37.406
16T E 448279 N 4637673
This plaque is set adjacent to the Chicago River on Michigan Avenue.
Waymark Code: WMEEH6
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 05/16/2012
Views: 4
The plaque is set on a cement wall and below a lamp and reads:
"Kinzie Mansion - Near this site stood Kinzie Mansion 1784-1832, home of Pointe Du Saible, Le Mai, and John Kinzie. Chicago`s `First Civilian` - Here was born, in 1805, the city`s first white child, Ellen Marion Kinzie. - Erected by Chicago`s Charter Jubilee - Authenticated by Chicago Historical Society - 1937."
The Wkipedia article for John Kinzie (
visit link) adds:
"John Kinzie (December 3, 1763 – January 6, 1828) was one of Chicago's first permanent European settlers...
Kinzie married his second wife, Eleanor Lytle McKillip in 1800. By the time they moved to Chicago, they already had a son, John H. Kinzie. Once living in Chicago, they had three other children. Ellen Marion Kinzie, who is believed to be the first Caucasian born in Chicago, was born to John and Eleanor in 1805.
Kinzie settled in Chicago in 1804, where he purchased the house and lands of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable near the mouth of the Chicago River. That same year, Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory appointed Kinzie as a justice of the peace."
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