Chicago was surpassed by Los Angeles as this country's second city long ago. But the syndrome still exists and the name "Second City" has stuck. The following is an unsubstantiated list of some of the biggest, the greatest, the firsts, the onlys, and other superlatives that Chicagoans have claimed over the years.

• World's Tallest Building
      The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
      overall are taller than the Sears Tower. However the Sears Tower's highest
      occupiable floor is some 200 feet higher causing some controversy
      among those who care about such things.
      Currently there are plans to build a tower at
      the intersection of Madison and Dearborn Streets which would
      be taller than the Petronas Towers. Fittingly, a few weeks
      later, a still taller building was proposed for Hong Kong.
  
• World's Busiest Arirport
      O'hare International Airport, built in the late fifties, by many accounts
      holds this somewhat dubious distinction to this day. However it has strong
      competition from its counterparts in Denver and Atlanta.
  
• World's Best Symphony Orchestra
      The Chicago Symphony, is certainly among the world's leading
      orchestras. The distiction of "World's Best" is usually found in local publications
      and in bars where this pronouncement often will be heard:
      "Yah, we got da greatest symphonic orchtestra in
       da world over by dere."
  
• World's Busiest Intersection
      Old timers still remember a time when the intersection of
      State and Madison Streets, the dead center of Chicago's
      street system grid, was considered the world's busiest intersection. I'm not sure if
      this distincion was fact or mere bluster. But the creation
      of the State Street Mall in the late sevnties
      certainly made the discussion a moot point.
  
• World's Largest Commercial Building
      Until the construction of the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia,
      Chicago's Merchandise Mart was the world's largest building.
      With over four million square feet of space, it retains the
      distinction stated above.
  
• World's Greatest Basketball Player
      Michael Jordan joined the Chicago Bulls in 1984 and retired
      twice, once in 1993 and again in 1999. During his career,
      he led his team to six NBA Championships, for ten years he led the
      league in scoring, set numerous other records, won the league MVP
      five times and Championship MVP six. That said you still hear arguments
      for Wilt Chamberlain, who holds far more personal records,
      or a handful of other NBA stars, but you will not hear those arguments
      in Chicago.
      All over the world he has surpassed Al Capone as Chicago's
      most famous citizen.
  
• World's Greatest Football Player
      The late Walter Payton was eulogised by coach Mike Ditka
      as being the best football player he ever saw.
      During his illustrious career, Payton shattered virtually every NFL
      rushing record.
      He was not especially big, or fast, but was the complete player.
      He could do it all, run, block, pass, receive passes, even punt.
      During the championship 1985 season, Payton was the undisputed leader
      of a team that had one of the most impressive seasons in NFL history.
      On top of all that, Payton is remembered for his incredible generosity,
      and civic mindedness.
      The outpouring of grief in Chicago following his death was rivaled only
      by the passing of mayors Daley and Washington.
  
• World's Best Pizza
      Chicago's unique style of deep dish pizza is a matter of taste.
      This superlative is an oft debated topic in bars, and stated as a fact
      in the visitor brochures, just as the claim of
      world's best symphony and best basketball player.
  
• World's Largest Post Office
      The old Central Post Office Building , straddling the Eisenhower Expressway
      has been replaced by a newer, but smaller facility just to the south.
  
• World's Largest Public Library
      The main branch of the Chicago Public Library,
      The Harold Washington Library, was built in 1990. Previous to its
      construction, the Chicago library system was without a main
      branch for at least 15 years, which was truly a blot on the city's record.
  
• World's Largest Indoor Marine Mammal Pavilion AND World's Largest Indoor Aquarium
      The John G. Shedd Acquarium.
  
• Country's Largest Free Outdoor Food Festival
      The Taste of Chicago, an intensly miserable experience, held in the
      dead of summer, where in 100 drgree heat you can sample
      such delecacies as tasty chicken fingers
      with a million or so of your closest friends.
  
• World's Largest Collection of Impressionist Paintings (outside of the Louvre)
      The Art Institute of Chicago benefitted from its patrons of the
      late 19th Century who bought the works of Monet, Manet, Renoir
      Pissaro, not to mention Van Gogh, Seurat, Cezanne, Gaugin, et al,
      at bargain basement prices.
  
• World's Largest Population of Poles (outside of Warsaw)
       The Poles are one of the many ethnic groups who can claim Chicago to be their
      "second city" You can trace their influence, and their migration
      througout the city by observing the numerous entablitures and cornerstones
      of churches that are written in Polish, espcially on the
      northwest and southwest sides.
  
• World's Largest Tiffany Dome
      In the Preston Bradley Hall of
      The Chicago Cultural Center, (formerly the Main Branch of the
      Chicago Public Library).
  
• Country's Oldest and Most Popular Zoo
      The Lincoln Park Zoo. I read this somewhere and don't know
      exactly what constitutes the distincion of "most popular zoo"
  
• Western Hemishpere's First Planetarium
      The Adler Planetarium.
  
• World's Only River that Flows Backwards
      The Chicago River once flowed into Lake Michigan.
      The Lake supplies the city's drinking water while the river
      transports all the city's waste, a bad combination. The waste included
      effluence from stockyards which were once located not far from the
      river's mouth at the Lake. This situation created a massive health
      disaster which was in part relieved by the re-direction of the
      flow of the river from the lake and into the
      Mississippi River system.
  
• World's First Skyscraper
      This one depends on your definition of a skyscraper. If it is a
      building with a steel skeleton upon which is supported the walls
      of a building, then the Home Insurance Building (William Le Baron
      Jenney architect) gets the nod. This landmark was demolished
      in the twenties to make way for the current La Salle Bank
      Building, an Art Deco masterpiece.
  
• World's Largest Collection of Movable Span Bridges
      The Chicago River being narrow for a working river,
      is crossed by virtually every major through street
      that it intersects, resulting in a tremendous variety of
      bridge design. Since there has been a steady decline in the
      industrial use of the river, especially along the North Branch,
      many of the once movable span
      bridges have either replaced or have had their machinery
      removed.
  
• World's Highest Flying Buttresses
      Those of the Chicago Tribune Tower Building, (Raymond Hood
      architect).
  
• World's Longest Continuous Subway Platform
      The platform underneath State Street (The Red Line), extending
      from Van Buren on the south to Lake Street on the north,
      seven eights of a mile.
  
• World's Largest Cookie and Biscuit Factory
      The National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) Factory.
  
  not to mention that Chicago is the...
  
  
• Birthplace of the Zipper
• Birthplace of Cracker Jack
• Birthplace of Roller Skates
• Birthplace of the Window Envelope
  
  ...to name but a few.
  
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