This is one of the best areas of Chicago and Historic: its called Streeterville: Despite the rather pedestrian name, Streeterville is full of expensive high rises, great breakfast places, taverns, restaurants and shops. The cache is an easy stop on your way to Navy Pier.
In the late 1880s, George Streeter claimed that his newly acquired boat struck a sandbar just off the Chicago shoreline during a storm. Landfill dumped in an effort to create land on which to build Lake Shore Drive by the Lincoln Park Board created 186 acres of new land along the lake front, which Streeter attempted to claim. Streeter claimed that this newly created land was his and that it was an independent territory which he called the District of Lake Michigan.
For the next few decades, Streeter persisted in his claims, sometimes supporting them through criminal means. A witness in Streeter's 1902 land fraud trial testified that Streeter had purposely set out to contest the claims of the wealthy shoreline owners. Contractor Hank Brusser told the court that Streeter asked him to fill in portions of the shoreline in order to create confusion over land titles. According to Brusser, Streeter said that: "They [the owners of the shoreline] will have to buy us off" and that "We'll get a million out of it". Streeter was also motivated by the profit he gained by selling and taxing the land he claimed.
The local press became enamored with the story of Streeter's brash personality and his self-proclaimed district. Mayor William Hale Thompson tried to evict the Streeters for selling liquor, and after several eviction attempts and gun battles, Streeter landed in jail. In 1918, the courts ruled against his claim of sovereignty. Today, the district is home to some of the most expensive real estate in Chicago.