‘We were continental travelers’: Chicago, Northwest Indiana were Potawatomi lands

Chicagoans and Northwest Indiana residents should know they are living on land that once belonged to Potawatomi Indians.

In fact, some of the land still rightfully belongs to the tribe, according to retired Ohio State University professor and Pokagon Band member John Low. That’s the land east of Lake Shore Drive, which was the bed of Lake Michigan until debris from the Great Chicago Fire of 1817 was shoved into the lake, creating new land.

Michael Williams, secretary of the Tribal Council, sued the city of Chicago over the lakefront in 1917. The Potawatomi never gave up their claim to the lake bed, Low said. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the city won. “Our lawyer said the law was with us, but the court was against us,” Low said.

“It’s unceded territory. We never signed