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.
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.
