Neighborhood News: Strolling the history of Chicago’s Riverwalk
It’s one of the prettiest walks you’ll ever take…strolling on Wacker Drive on the south bank of the main branch of the Chicago River, extending from Lake Michigan and DuSable Lake Shore Drive westward to Lake Street. The Chicago Riverwalkis home to restaurants, bars, cafes, small parks, gardens, boat and kayak rentals, a Vietnam War memorial, public art, museums, outdoor wineries and spaces to enjoy Chicago at its best.
Public Art at the MART
Public art is on show throughout the pedestrian trail. ButArt on the MART is perhaps the Riverwalk’s most famous work. As Choose Chicago tells it, this is the largest video-projection art installation in the world, taking up approximately 2.5 acres of theMART’s river-facing façade. Curated video art can be viewed Wednesdays through Sundays, from March through December, 7:15pm — 9:15pm.
Take, for example, The Chicago Architecture Center, located just off the Chicago Riverwalk at One Illinois Center. As Choose Chicago notes, the building was designed by modernist Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The CAC is “a gateway to discovering Chicago’s architectural legacy.” The center offers over 85 docent-led tours, as well as exciting interactive exhibits, including the engaging Skyscraper Gallery and Building Tall exhibit.
They also mention the five-story McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum, celebrates Chicago’s famed moveable bridges and gives you the opportunity to peek inside a historic landmark bridgehouse. At river level, you can view the massive gears that move Chicago’s famous bridges.
From Marshy Swamp to Urban Oasis
According to Chicago.gov, the Riverwalk started life as a meandering marshy stream. Chicago’s phenomenal growth into a major urban center is due, in large part, to its strategic location on the Chicago River and Lake Michigan.
Following the famed reversal of the river, in which the city reversed the flow of the Main Branch and South Branch to improve sanitation, architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham’s 1909 Plan of Chicago introduced a new civic vision of riverside promenades with the addition of the Wacker Drive viaduct. The goal of embracing the river as a recreational amenity seemed impossible at the time, given the river’s high levels of pollution.
The first installment didn’t happen until the 1970’s. The Riverwalk Esplanade between Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Avenue was originally dedicated as park to the City in 1972 from the Illinois Central Railroad, together with a plat of subdivision to create Wacker Drive as part of the ‘Rails to Trails’ program.
As Chicago.gov explains, the Riverwalk design and engineering began as part of the design of the Wacker Drive Reconstruction project in the 1990’s. The intention of the Riverwalk Project was to complement the new roadway and bring residents and visitors down to the river level. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial originally was located in a median on Upper Wacker Drive. This portion of the roadway was reconfigured and the memorial was relocated between State Street and Wabash. The memorial was dedicated on Veterans Day 2005. The underbridge connections at Michigan and Wabash were completed in 2009. In addition to reconfiguring the roadway, the City of Chicago formally redefined the navigational channel of the Main Branch of the Chicago River. Working with The Volpe Institute and waterway stakeholders, including Friends of the River, the United States Coast Guard, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, tour boat companies and others, the build-out limits were established: 20’ beneath each bridge, 25’ between each bridge and 50’ between Franklin and Lake Streets.
That’s Not All, Folks!!
But that’s not the end of improvement or expansion. As Wikipedia sources note, the Riverwalk’s final extension will be beyond Wolf Point Towers, northward to the planned Bally’s Casino (now located temporarily in the former Medinah Temple) near the intersection of Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street.
Fall Fest on the Riverwalk
The best way to experience the beauty of the fall season, with the Chicago River as the backdrop, is at the Island Party Hut Fall Fest on the Chicago Riverwalk on Saturdays through October 28.
According to Chicago on the Cheap, the Fall Fest features autumn festivities like hay rides on the river, pumpkin patches and eating apple cider donuts along the Riverwalk. The Fall Fest will host live music and serve fall-themed cocktails and photo ops. For more information, click here.
Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago
