Chicagoist: It All Began Here

Chicago 2016

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 08:44:41 -0600

Yeah, I love those bridges. Here's a piece I wrote about a tour I got of the Michigan Ave. and Lake St. bridges. It's not the best I've written, but eh.

navin

Sat, 09 Jun 2007 18:04:00 -0600

It would be really cool to see a map of the lakefront of 1812 or so laid over a map of the city as it is today. I think that's an excellent idea. I think at the cultural center there's a plaque like this on the michigan ave side mentioning that the lake used to come this far or something.

JP

Sat, 09 Jun 2007 15:39:34 -0600

Didja ever check out the four frescoes or friezes or whatever ya call them on the four different corners of the Michigan Avenue bridge? A bit interesting once attention is called to them. Exploration, recover, industrialization, and the massacre. Er, at least I think that's the four themes. And Fort Dearborn? Phhhhh. What the city needs to mark at some point is the old lakefront at the time, and the route the settlers and soldiers took along the lakefront until they were massacred at 18th street at what is not Prairie or Calumet. It would be really cool to see a map of the lakefront of 1812 or so laid over a map of the city as it is today.

Tony C

Sat, 09 Jun 2007 12:53:29 -0600

It's interesting... There's a LOT that began in relation to that place, more than just one of the world's great cities. There is a really great chapter in Sarah Vowell's book "Take the Cannoli" called "Michigan and Wacker" where she discusses basically all that happened at that point, within a few blocks of it. She basically sets out saying that "I had accumulated a few random facts about the bridge that coalesced into an actual hypothesis. Namely, that I could tell the whole history of America standing on that bridge." It gets really interesting from there. A highly recommended read.