February 24, 1992 – In a guest column in the Chicago Tribune Gerald W. Adelmann, the
Executive Director of Openlands Project, a non-profit organization with a
mission of protecting open space in northeastern Illinois, writes of the
opportunities the city has in such vacant lots as Block 37. “For the first time since the Great Fire of
1871,” Adelmann writes, “a number of major parcels in downtown Chicago stand
vacant. Three of the lots – Block 37,
the old Montgomery Ward’s site and the temporary park by the Washington library
– face directly onto State Street … Openlands Project urges the city and civic
leaders to transform one or more of the vacant parcels into permanent public
space.” [Chicago Tribune, February 24,
1992] Citing an earlier inventory that the city’s Department of Planning
published, Adelmann notes that only 3.3 percent of the land area within the
Central Area of the city is given over to public space. “While much attention correctly should be
focused on business development,” Adelmann continues, “creating high-quality
open space can help make Chicago competitive in attracting businesses and the
qualified workers who sustain them. Open
land contributes to an economically healthy urban environment as much as do
roads and utilities, and must be planned for similarly.” Adelmann concludes by saying that the downturn
in the economy and the resultant lag in construction of the period provides an
opportunity for such planning. Pritzker Park on the northwest corner of State and Van Buren is shown above.
February 24, 2009 – United States Interior Secretary Ken Salazar initiates the transfer of the Chicago Harbor lighthouse, previously under the control of the U. S. Coast Guard, to Chicago. The lighthouse, which stands 48 feet above the lake, was built in 1893 and transferred to its current location east of Navy Pier in 1917.
February 24, 1920 -- With three out of every four voters favoring six South Park bond issue propositions on the ballot, Charles H. Wacker, chairman of the city's plan commission, says, "The victory of the South Park Commissions' bond proposals is the biggest, finest, and most far-reaching undertaking for the public good Chicago has launched in its entire history." The financing would allow for grading and completion of Grant Park at a cost of $3,700,000. Also forthcoming would be creation of the two levels of what is now Wacker Drive running east and west along the river, the building of the southern portion of Lake Shore Drive, the widening and improvement of Ashland Avenue, and at least a half-dozen other plans that within the space of a half-dozen years would change the city. The photo above shows the south section of Lake Shore Drive from about Thirty-Ninth Street just after it opened in the spring of 1930.
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