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Fort Dearborn (center) and the Kinzie mansion (right).
Engraving after Seth Eastman's original drawing made for the U. S. Army.
Established in 1803 and built by a detachment of regular troops from Fort Detroit. It was located within a few yards of Lake Michigan near the mouth of the main branch of the Chicago River at about what is now the junction of River Street and Michigan Avenue. At the time of its construction, Fort Dearborn was the extreme western outpost of Americans along the lakes. The fort was burned by the Potawatomie Indians in 1812 and rebuilt on the same spot in 1816. It was evacuated in 1823, reoccupied in 1828, and abandoned about 1838. The remains of the old fort were destroyed in the great fire of 1871.
