Chicago Millennium Park Tour

Dear friends, welcome to parks of Chicago!

It is where the high-rise was born and American architecture got its start. Chicago owes its remarkable architectural history to the Great Chicago Fire, which destroyed a huge swathe of the city, including all of downtown, in 1871. In the late 1800s, a booming city that needed an entire new downtown seemed like the best place to start experimenting with new ideas in architecture. Armed with affordable steel, Elisha Graves Otis’s new elevators, big dreams, and ambition, architects came from all over the world, ready to rebuild Chicago. And thus was born, not only American architecture, but also the “skyscraper,” as the tall buildings would be called.

Chicago has a lot more to offer than tall buildings, however. The city’s motto is Urbs in Horto—City in a Garden—and this is not wishful thinking; the city has more than 7,300 acres of parkland, 552 parks, 33 beaches, 16 historic lagoons, and 10 bird and wildlife gardens. Among the best known of Chicago’s parks is Grant Park, which parallels South Michigan Avenue for most of its length.

During this tour, you will discover parks and lakefront of this beautiful city.

Licenses:

Photo Lurie Garden at Millennium Park – Chicago by Stefano Rugolo is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0