The Land Of Smelly Onions refers to the swampy area next to Lake Michigan that existed around the 18th century in present day Chicago. The name Chicago is originally a Potawatomi name prounounced 'She-Ka-Gan', and was written down for the first time by French explorers in the 1680's [1] as 'Chekagou'. Today the area is a parkland, and no trace of the onions or swamp exist. Chicago (officially named the City of Chicago) is the third largest city in the United States (after New York City and Los Angeles), with an official population of 2,896,016, as of the 2000 census. ... Rain dance, Kansas, c. ...