Way before Silicon Valley, Boston or any of the other “innovation incubation centers” Chicago was a hot bed for new innovative and ground breaking ideas.

I must add one more event which is almost forgotten by all Chicagoans: it’s the production of the very first silent movie in Chicago at the S&A (Essanay) Movie Studio in 1908. Yes, Chicago was way ahead of Hollywood even in the movie business…

Here is the list of Innovations that changed the world:

The Nuclear reactor (1942)

The First Skyscraper (1884)

The first cell phone (1973)

First Open-heart surgery (1893)

Balloon frame construction (1833)

First Mass-producing the McCormick Harvest Reaper (1848) (Changed agriculture forever)

First gay rights group in the US (1924)

Reversing the Chicago River (1900)

First Televised political debate (1960)

Fermi Lab Linux language (1998)

The Ferris wheel (1893)

The farm silo (1873)

Deep dish pizza (1943)

Consumer preference research (1928) (Oh no, the start of marketing…)

The mechanical dishwasher (1886)

The Pullman sleeper car (1864)

The softball game (1887)

The Zipper (1893)

Mail-order retail (1872)

The vacuum cleaner (1868)

The first Commercial silent movie (1908) http://www.chicagotribune.com/videogallery/71745128/Entertainment/Inside-Chicago-s-historic-Essanay-Studios

And the Deep Dish Pizza! (1943)

Link to the list and descriptions: http://bluesky.chicagotribune.com/originals/chi-countdown-to-20-top-chicago-innovations-bsi-20131015,0,0.htmlstory?