Windy City (nickname)
The “Windy City” name has nothing to do with Chicago weather. Chicago’s nickname was coined by 19th-century journalists who were referring to the fact that its residents were “windbags” and “full of hot air.”
The city of Chicago has been known by many nicknames, but it is most widely recognized as the "Windy City". The earliest known reference to the "Windy City" was actually to Green Bay in 1856. The first known repeated effort to label Chicago with this nickname is from 1876 and involves Chicago's rivalry with Cincinnati. The popularity of the nickname endures to this day—126 years after the Cincinnati rivalry ended. == Origins == There are four main possibilities to explain the city's nickname: the World's Fair; politics; the weather, as Chicago is near Lake Michigan; and the rivalry with Cincinnati. === Weather === While Chicago is widely known as the "Windy City", it is not the windiest city in the United States. Some of the windier cities recorded by the NOAA/NCDC are Dodge City, Kansas, at 13.9 mph (22.3 km/h);Amarillo, Texas, at 13.5 mph (21.7 km/h); and Lubbock, Texas, at 12.4 mph (20 km/h). Chicago is significantly windier than no other U.S. city. For example, the average annual wind speed of Chicago is 10.3 mph (16.6 km/h); Boston: 12.4 mph (20.0 km/h); Central Park, New York City: 9.3 mph (15.0 km/h); and Los Angeles: 7.5 mph (12.1 km/h).The following "windy city" explanation involving a "wind tunnel" effect is from the Freeborn County Standard of Albert Lea, Minnesota, on November 20, 1892: Chicago has been called the "windy" city, the term being used metaphorically to make out that Chicagoans were braggarts. The city is losing this reputation, for the reason that as people got used to it they found most of her claims to be backed up by facts.