Beneath Chicago’s gleaming Cloud Gate lies the city’s most dramatic makeover. This episode traces Grant Park from marshland and post–Great Fire landfill to a soot-choked Illinois Central rail yard—and the century-long fight to keep the lakefront “forever open, clear and free.” We follow Daniel Burnham’s 1909 vision, Montgomery Ward’s lawsuits, and the philanthropists who turned coal dust into culture with Buckingham Fountain (1927) and a growing civic stage.
Then we jump to the 1990s deck-over that birthed Millennium Park: Frank Gehry’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Jaume Plensa’s Crown Fountain, and Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate—plus the hidden world beneath it all: Millennium Station, the Pedway, miles of garages, and relic freight tunnels. By the end, you’ll see why Chicago’s front yard is both a monument to beauty and a marvel of buried infrastructure.
#Chicago #GrantPark #MillenniumPark
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IT’S HISTORY – Weekly Tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.
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Scriptwriter – Ryan Socash
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Host – Ryan Socash
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Cindy's Rooftop, inside the Chicago Athletic Hotel, was designed after the industrial railroad times. You'll see the exposed beams and exposed brick upstairs.
great presentation. Ive got a new appreciation for Chicago.
I believe the picture you showed of Richard M Daly was actually his father, as opposed to the son, who was the mayor on two separate occasions
What a marvelous compilation of engneering achievements. Thanks for posting this interesting content.
I've loved the history of Chicago! Pretty cool that Seattle also lifted itself. Also boo to Kapoor to copyrighting colors
Smart. I just think of those underground roads and parking being great when there is a lot of snow.
Things don't stand the test of time, aways.
🤍🤍🤍💙💙🤍🤍🤍
Well done. However, you omitted one major aspect of the beginning of Grant Park. It was Aaron Montgomery Ward, of department store fame, who at the turn of the 20th century most vigorously fought to keep buildings out of Grant Park. The Ward building on Michigan Ave. faces the park and his office at the top provided him a clear view of the park. He spent millions of dollars of his money in court fighting intruding businesses and he won every case. The forever open, free and clear phrase began when the first three commissioners of the Illinois and Michigan Canal drew a map of Chicago in the 1830s and wrote a sentence on it to that effect.
2:49 where are the soldiers in this photos heading ?