} LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN Gift of Martha Landis .INOIS HISTORICAL SURVEY Published by C. C. Mitchell & Co. 69 W. Washington Street Chicago Copyright, 1920 C. C. Mitchell &. Co. Chicago /-f The New Chicago ONLY a few short years ago it was looked upon as a visionary dream this Plan for a new, rebuilt Chicago. The far-sighted builders who conceived and fostered it were laughed at for their labors, and the skeptics shook their heads. The scheme was too revolutionary, too idealistic, too stupendous, and impossible of achievement. Yet today Chicago is already enjoying many benefits which are the outgrowth of this Plan, and the work is far along the road to completion. The dreams of past years are assuming actual form, and Chicago is unfolding with new glory and new promise. To tell of the Plan and its progress and to indicate how it affects the future of the world's third city, is the main purpose of this booklet. When retrospect tells us that for many years Chicago was mostly a series of loose-jointed villages and not a well planned and carefully laid out city, we can more truly appreciate the progress made. Like Topsy in "Uncle Tom's Cabin," Chicago just grew. To build a new lake front, to cut new streets through solidly built-up sections, to straighten and widen streets into boulevards, to develop and build new parks and public buildings, to re-route the traffic of the city, to rearrange and rebuild its intricate system of railroad trackage and terminals, to work improvements which affect not only the physical well-being of the city and its people but also the moral, mental, and spiritual characteristics this, in short, is the Chicago Plan. And all this development is going on while Chicago is growing greater! The priceless assets Nature has given this lakeside city are being realized upon to the fullest extent. The lake-shore development now in progress, will give Chicago the most beautiful lake-shore park, and make it the greatest inland seaside resort in the world. The $15,000,000 Michigan Boulevard link and the two-level bridge (opened to the public May 14, 1920), the widening of Roosevelt Road to a 108 foot boulevard these units of the Plan are already completed. City appropriations and bond issues authorized, together with plans of private corporations, call for improvements aggregating several hundred millions, and much of this work is now under way. Completion of the entire project is no longer uncertain. So much has already been accomplished that the day of realization is not far distant. In the broad, far-sighted scope of this Plan of Chicago is provided a foundation and nucleus for Chicago's inev- itable destiny the world's largest, and most attractive, healthful and prosperous city. Page three The "old" and the "new* CH OWING the ^ Chicago River and South Water Street. State Street is on the left and Dearborn Street on the right. Chicago was incorpor- ated as a city in 1837. ( Reproduction of drawing, by courtesy Chicago Historical Society) Chicago in 1837 > C*K&*>ff* The new two-level bridge now spanning the Chicago River (opened to public May 14, 1920), a part of the Michigan Avenue boulevard link. (Center) View showing proposed improvements looking north of the South Branch of the Chicago River. (Jllustrations by courtesy Chicago Plan Commission) Page four For future Olympic Qames "CRECTION of this gigantic stadium adjoining the new Field Museum is to L^ be started this year. The new Museum is already completed, and appears in the background. The stadium, which will provide ample facilities for any event the world of outdoor sports may offer, will have a permanent seating capacity of 60,000 people, and with the addition of temporary seats when required, provision can be made for 100,000. It will have an arena 1000 feet long and 300 feet wide. The picture below shows South Water Street as it will appear when the present produce market is removed from the great central district. Note the wide two-level street (boulevard on upper level, heavy traffic road on lower), and the great possibilities for what is the logical north boundary of the Loop District. (Illustrations by courtesy Chicago Plan Commission) Page five New Union Station New Post-Office Northwestern Station Transforming the World's Qreatest Railroad Center HOW some of the prob- lems that grow out of the thirty-nine railways which terminate in Chi- cago are being met is indi- cated here, together with an important part of its internal traffic system, the new two-level Michigan Boulevard bridge. This two-level bridge, now in operation, forms the most important connection between the north and south sections of the city. ( Illustrations by courtesy Chicago Plan Commission) New Field Museum New Illinois Central Terminal Page six Chicago, the Qreat Central Market fifty million people within a night's ride NEARLY half the population of the United States lives so near to Chicago that they can reach the city in a night's ride. This single fact is a most striking commentary on Chicago's future. For the middle west, long noted as the richest agricultural district in the world, is also rapidly becoming the greatest industrial terri- tory. And as the Central West grows and develops, Chicago, its natural center, is destined to become the leading city of the world. The network of railroads which bind the Central West to Chicago, the largest railroad center and terminal in the world, has been considered in the plans for the new city, and changes of vast proportion are being made. The new Union Station, shown on the opposite page, is now under construction. Another great factor in Chicago's connection with the Central territory will be the new post-office, shown on the left page. Its strategic position between the two terminals, and its size (once more the "biggest in the world"), will constitute an important tie between the city and its tributary fifty million. Two billion pieces of mail are handled annually by the Chicago post-office, and the receipts are greater than those of any other post- office in the world. The parcel-post business exceeds that of any other five cities in the United States. (Statistics by courtesy of the Chicago Association of Commerce) Page seven The stability and growth of Chicago ( Illustration by courtesy Chicago Plan Commission) "THE Continental and Commercial I Bank Building in Chicago's financial district is twenty-one stories in height, with a total floor area of 25.5 acres. There are two thousand offices, three and one- half miles of corridors and twenty-four elevators. One hundred fifty thousand people enter this building during a busi- ness day, and the elevators carry sixty thousand persons daily. The lower picture shows new Roose- velt Road, one of the principal east and west thoroughfares joining Michigan Avenue and the Lake front with the West side. At an expense of five million dollars, buildings were raised and moved back and a splendid thoroughfare, wid- ened to 108 feet, developed from the old, narrow, and cluttered Twelfth Street. Page eight Two Michigan Avenue Office Buildings and the Hotel La Salle "~T HE Peoples Gas Build- ing is shown directly opposite, with the lions of the Art Institute in the foreground. Directly below is the Michigan Boulevard Building. A part of the Chicago Public Library shows at the right of it. In the lower left corner is the Hotel La Salle, one of America's finest hotels. Page nine A section of the World's Busiest Retail Shopping District The upper picture shows, from left to right, the Columbus Memorial Building, Chas. A. Stevens & Bros., Mandel Bros., and Carson Pirie Scott & Co. The lower picture shows the building of Marshall Field fit Co., with their Annex or Men's Store in the background on the right. Chicago is proud of her recognized "largest and finest retail department store in the world." : > :: ; ::: ^H^^ : Cl: <; ^ -I"-*? 1TH-1 1 i44 rT "^ ^' '- i r^ ^ : -.- " -1