December 6, 1892 – In the wake of the United States Supreme Court deciding
for the State of Illinois and Chicago in its suit against the Illinois Central
Railroad over the right to submerged lands, the Chicago Daily Tribune tempers elation with a warning: “This decision does not give the Lake-Front
to the city for Aldermen to speculate with and enrich themselves. It is given to the city for ‘public uses’ . .
. The land south of Monroe street, including that which may be reclaimed from
the water between the government dock line and the shore, should be converted
into a beautiful park. There should be
no building there except the Art Institute which is now erecting . . . Boodle
Aldermen must keep their hands off. They
must not be allowed to make private profit out of this property of the people,
the use of which they have been deprived of for nearly a quarter of a century,
but which has been saved to them.” [Chicago Daily Tribune, December 6, 1892] The above photo shows the Lake-Front park two years later, a year after the Art Institute was completed.
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