September 27, 1991 – The largest public works deal in the history of the city is awarded to a
team of firms led by real estate developer Richard Stein as a $675 million
contract for the design and construction of an exhibition hall and galleria
west of the current McCormick Place. The
contract is signed just two days after Illinois Governor Jim Edgar signs into
law a $987 million expansion program that the General Assembly approved in
July. Edgar says, “This expansion will
allow shows to stay in Chicago and allow millions of dollars to come into our
economy. This legislation is a plus for
all the people of Illinois.” [Chicago
Tribune, September 28, 1991] Work on the new complex is expected to begin
in February of 1993 with completion by August of 1996. Stein’s group, known as
Mc3D, is the only one of the three proposals submitted that puts all the
exhibition space in the new building on one floor. The group also will be
responsible for constructing an 80-foot galleria that will connect the new
south building with the north building and the original east building. The whole package of nearly a billion dollars
of work also includes a modest $60 million-dollar plan that will dramatically
enhance the lakefront – the rerouting of the northbound lanes of Lake Shore
Drive to the west of Soldier Field, creating a beautiful swath of green space
and a campus for the three great cultural attractions on the lakefront, the
Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum of Natural History and the Adler Planetarium.
September 27, 1910 – As 200,000 people look on, Walter L. Brookins circles his Wright biplane 2,500 feet above the city for a sustained flight of 20 minutes. Taking off from Grant Park, which was “black with humanity,” [Chicago Daily Tribune, September 28, 1910] the aviator thrills the crowd as he soars south to Twelfth Street, over the Loop to the Federal Building on Dearborn Street, and back over the lake. “Chicago looks for all the world like the picture on a postal card when you are 2,000 feet above it,” Brookins says at the end of the flight. “I could look down between my legs and see everything, but of course could recognize only a few of the buildings. I knew the federal building as soon as I saw it and I stopped my westward flight as I looked directly beneath me.” The next day Brookins would attempt a sustained trip from Chicago to Springfield in an attempt to outrun an Illinois Central passenger train.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment