In the mid-1780s, Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable located his home and an extensive trading post near the banks of the Chicago River. This residence is generally considered to be the first permanent, non-native home in Chicago, Illinois. Du Sable’s home was a 22-by-40-foot log cabin filled with fine furniture and paintings, where he lived with his wife, Kitihawa, and their children.
Point du Sable sold the property in 1800, and it later became the property of John Kinzie. The land was platted in 1834, creating the 'Kinzie addition' to Chicago. This area, assumed to be coterminous with Point du Sable's estate, extended from the banks of the Chicago River north to Chicago Avenue, and from State Street east to Lake Michigan.
Today, the site is a National Historic Landmark, partially occupied by Pioneer Court off DuSable Bridge. A commemorative plaque installed in 1965 marks the location of the Kinzie Mansion, which stood from 1784 to 1832. The plaque notes that John Kinzie, Chicago's first civilian, was born here in 1805. While the plaque identifies Ellen Marion Kinzie as the city's first white child, records show that Du Sable's granddaughter, Eulalie Pelletier, was the first non-native child born in the city in 1796.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Friendly Jane
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