Michigan & Monroe

The very first automobile race in America was held in Chicago on Thanksgiving Day, 1895. It was the world's second such event. The first race was held from Paris to Bordeaux just a few months earlier, in June of the same year. The Chicago race started near what is now the Museum of Science and Industry in Jackson Park, and finished in Evanston. Of the six machines lurching forward in four inches of snow, only two actually crossed the finish line. Charles Duryea took first place in a car he built himself. His winning speed was seven and a half miles per hour, which is about the same speed these rush-hour gridlocked cars are crawling down Michigan Avenue.