United States of America – Illinois

Postcard showing a beach on the shores of Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline in the background. Chicago is the third-largest city in the United States, although it is not the capital of Illinois, which is the small city of Springfield to the southwest. The city was founded in 1833 near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. Due to its location on the banks of the Chicago River, at one of the few natural harbours on southern Lake Michigan, and with the opening up of agricultural lands in the Midwest, Chicago was the fastest growing city in the world for much of the nineteenth century.

Thanks to Paul who was in Chicago for a short holiday.

Stamp commemorating José Ferrer, a Puerto Rican actor who was the first Hispanic person to win an Academy Award (in 1950, for Best Actor in Cyrano de Bergerac).