Grant Park in Chicago

Friday, 27 July 2018 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks
Reading Time:  4 minutes

Spirit of Music Garden © Alanscottwalker/cc-by-sa-3.0

Spirit of Music Garden © Alanscottwalker/cc-by-sa-3.0

Grant Park is a large urban park (319 acres or 1.29 km²) in the Loop community area of Chicago. Located in Chicago’s central business district, the park’s most notable features are Millennium Park, Buckingham Fountain, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum Campus. Originally known as Lake Park, and dating from the city’s founding, it was renamed in 1901 to honor Ulysses S. Grant.

The park’s area has been expanded several times through land reclamation, and was the focus of several disputes in the late 19th century and early 20th century over open space use. It is bordered on the north by Randolph Street, on the south by Roosevelt Road and McFetridge Drive, on the west by Michigan Avenue and on the east by Lake Michigan. The park contains performance venues, gardens, art work, sporting, and harbor facilities. It hosts public gatherings, and several large annual events. Grant Park is popularly referred to as “Chicago’s front yard”. It is governed by the Chicago Park District. Annually, the park hosts some of Chicago’s biggest festivals including the The Taste of Chicago—a large food and music festival held each summer; the Grant Park Music Festival; Chicago Jazz Festival and the Chicago Blues Festival. The park is also the site of the start and finish lines of the Chicago Marathon. Since 2005, Lollapalooza, a popular multi-stage, multi-day, limited admission, festival of rock concerts has taken place in the park.

© Daniel Schwen/cc-by-sa-4.0 © Daniel Schwen/cc-by-sa-4.0 Beaux Arts garden © Alanscottwalker/cc-by-sa-3.0 Buckingham Fountain © Kkmd/cc-by-sa-3.0 Buckingham Fountain © Michael Barera/cc-by-sa-4.0 © Diego Delso/cc-by-sa-3.0 Lincoln Monument © Alanscottwalker Museum Campus © Kelly Martin/cc-by-sa-3.0 Petrillo Music Shell © Torsodog/cc-by-sa-3.0 Seasonal planting at Buckingham Fountain © Marmstrong21 Spirit of Music Garden © Alanscottwalker/cc-by-sa-3.0 Map of Grant Park © Alanscottwalker/cc-by-sa-2.0
<
>
Seasonal planting at Buckingham Fountain © Marmstrong21
Grant Park, with 319 acres (1.29 km2) between the downtown Chicago Loop and Lake Michigan, offers many different attractions in its large open space. The park is generally flat. It is also crossed by large boulevards and even a bed of sunken railroad tracks. While bridges are used to span the tracks, and also used to connect with Millennium Park, the rest of the park must be reached by pedestrians at traffic crossings, except for a spacious underpass connection to the Museum Campus. There are also several parking garages under the park, along Michigan Avenue and east of Columbus Drive.

When it was landscaped in the early 20th century in a formal beaux arts style, tall American Elms were planted in allées and rectangular patterns. While hundreds of these trees still exist, reaching 60 feet tall, they were devastated in the late 1970s by Dutch elm disease. Hybrid elms have since been used to replace lost trees. The park holds a great deal of public art, much of it sculpture, in many areas including in Millennium Park, near Buckingham Fountain, the several gardens, and Congress Plaza.

Read more on ChicagoParkDistrict.com – Grant Park, ChooseChicago.com – Grant Park, Lollapalooza.com, GrantParkMusicFestival.com, Taste of Chicago, Chicago Blues Festival, Chicago Jazz Festival and Wikipedia Grant Park (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.




Recommended posts:

Share this post: (Please note data protection regulations before using buttons)

Theme Week United Arab Emirates - Emirate of Umm al-Quwain

Theme Week United Arab Emirates - Emirate of Umm al-Quwain

[caption id="attachment_168459" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Mangroves with the city of Umm al-Quwain © flickr.com - Peter Dowley/cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Umm al-Quwain is the least populous of the seven emirates, loca...

[ read more ]

Gallipoli in Apulia

Gallipoli in Apulia

[caption id="attachment_214918" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Colar/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Gallipoli ('Beautiful City') is a southern Italian town and comune in the province of Lecce, in Apulia. It has a populati...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Vienna - Schönbrunn Palace

Theme Week Vienna - Schönbrunn Palace

[caption id="attachment_160573" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Manfred Werner[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Schönbrunn Palace is a former imperial 1,400-room Rococo summer residence in Vienna, Austria. One of the most important cult...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Corsica - Ajaccio

Theme Week Corsica - Ajaccio

[caption id="attachment_192286" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Koudkeu/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Ajaccio is a French commune, prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud, and head office of the Collectivité territo...

[ read more ]

The Wind Surf

The Wind Surf

[caption id="attachment_242561" align="aligncenter" width="590"] at the Virgin Islands © Windstar cruises/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]MSY Wind Surf is a five-mast staysail schooner that is one of the largest sailing cruise...

[ read more ]

Diamond Quarter in Antwerp

Diamond Quarter in Antwerp

[caption id="attachment_242287" align="aligncenter" width="569"] Diamond Exchange Building © panoramio.com - agracier/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Antwerp's diamond district, also known as the Diamond Quarter (Diamantkwarti...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Warsaw - College of Europe

Theme Week Warsaw - College of Europe

[caption id="attachment_162811" align="aligncenter" width="590"] College of Europe © Diderotresurrected/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The College of Europe (French: Collège d'Europe) is an independent university institute o...

[ read more ]

Cluj-Napoca, in the historic region of Transylvania

Cluj-Napoca, in the historic region of Transylvania

[caption id="attachment_151427" align="aligncenter" width="590"] City Centre © Alexmandru[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Cluj-Napoca (German: Klausenburg; Hungarian: Kolozsvár), commonly known as Cluj, is the second most populous city in...

[ read more ]

Palace of Westminster in London

Palace of Westminster in London

[caption id="attachment_206235" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Michael D Beckwith[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of t...

[ read more ]

Drottningholm Palace on Island Lovön in Lake Mälaren

Drottningholm Palace on Island Lovön in Lake Mälaren

[caption id="attachment_24966" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Drottningholm Palace © Sxenko/cc-by-2.5[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Drottningholm Palace (Swedish: Drottningholms slott) is the private residence of the Swedish royal ...

[ read more ]

Grand Bazaar in Tehran

Grand Bazaar in Tehran

[caption id="attachment_163291" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Antoine Taveneaux/cc-by-sa-4.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Grand Bazaar (Persian: Bāzār e Bozorg) is an old historical market in Tehran, the capital of Iran. Loca...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Sardinia - Alghero

Theme Week Sardinia - Alghero

[caption id="attachment_151116" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Alghero from the Lido's beach © flickr.com - jimmyroq/cc-by-sa-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Alghero is a town of about 44,000 inhabitants. It lies in the province of S...

[ read more ]

Return to TopReturn to Top