| What makes it historical? |
Early planners of the city of Chicago wanted to make sure its citizens had a large, lakeside space where they could enjoy the outdoors and the view over the waters! It opened in 1847 as Lake Park, but the lake eroded away the shores very quickly! Around 1852, the Illinois Central Railroad built a trestle on the shore, enclosing the park and creating a lagoon that protected it from waves. After the great Chicago Fire of 1871, a lot of the building debris got dumped into the lagoon and expanded the edge of Lake Park further onto the water. For many years, the edge of Grant Park was basically a landfill until 1897 when Aaron Montgomery Ward filed four lawsuits to end the dumping practices!
From there, the industrialized park was set aside as a public art and learning space! Though the Chicago Art Institute welcomed guests to the World’s Columbian Exposition as early as 1893, legal disputes kept most of the park’s plans in limbo until the 1920s. Along the way, it changed its name to Grant Park, after Ulysses S. Grant, and by the dawn of the Great Depression, came to include such famous features as the Buckingham Fountain! Originally, the no famous FIeld Museum was supposed to be located in Grant Park, but after decades of legal battles, it was moved further south to Burnham Park! |
