DuSable Park is a former commercial and industrial site, at the mouth of the
Chicago River
The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of that runs through the city of Chicago, including its center (the Chicago Loop). Though not especially long, the river is notable because it is one of the reasons for ...
that has been the subject of
environmental remediation
Environmental remediation deals with the removal of pollution or contaminants from environmental media such as soil, groundwater, sediment, or surface water. Remedial action is generally subject to an array of regulatory requirements, and may al ...
and is awaiting redevelopment into a park. The project, first announced in 1987 by Mayor
Harold Washington, is named in honor
Jean Baptiste Point du Sable
Jean Baptiste Point du Sable (also spelled ''Point de Sable'', ''Point au Sable'', ''Point Sable'', ''Pointe DuSable'', ''Pointe du Sable''; before 1750 – 28 August 1818) is regarded as the first permanent non-Indigenous settler of what would ...
, who settled nearby in the 1780s and is known as the "Founder of Chicago".
Location
The park is located directly east of North
Lake Shore Drive
Lake Shore Drive (officially Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable Lake Shore Drive, and called DuSable Lake Shore Drive, The Outer Drive, The Drive, or LSD) is a multilevel expressway that runs alongside the shoreline of Lake Michigan, and adjacent to ...
and south of
Lake Point Tower and
Navy Pier, with
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...
to its east. To its north is the entrance to the
Ogden Slip
The Ogden Slip is a canal and harbor in Chicago, Illinois.
History
In 1861, Chicago Dock and Canal Company constructed the Odgen Slip. It was among many real estate investments of the company that were overseen by William B. Ogden. The slip wa ...
and to its south is the mouth of the
Chicago River
The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of that runs through the city of Chicago, including its center (the Chicago Loop). Though not especially long, the river is notable because it is one of the reasons for ...
. The canceled
Chicago Spire
The Chicago Spire was a skyscraper project in Chicago that was partially built between 2007 and 2008 before being cancelled. Located at 400 N. Lake Shore Drive, it would have stood high with 150 floors and been the tallest building in the Weste ...
project had been planned for a site just west of DuSable Park, on the other side of Lake Shore Drive.
History
Formation
Following the construction of the original
jetty
A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying somet ...
for the
Chicago Harbor Lighthouse, lake currents were affected and soil was deposited at the area now known as DuSable Park.
[Palmer, L. (2002, March 11). ''3 Acres/Timeline''. Retrieved May 27, 2007, from http://www.saic.edu/~lpalmer/time.htm] In 1857, the
State of Illinois sold , including the site later to be known as DuSable Park, to the Chicago Dock and Canal Trust.
In 1893 the company dug out the Ogden Slip to allow boats to pull cargo from railroads at
North Pier
North Pier is the most northerly of the three coastal piers in Blackpool, England. Built in the 1860s, it is also the oldest and longest of the three. Although originally intended only as a promenade, competition forced the pier to widen its ...
and the DuSable Park site was filled in by the
.
[DuSable Heritage Association. (2006, September 30). ''DuSable Park''. from ]
In 1948 the Chicago Plan Commission passed a resolution excluding use of lakefront property to only recreation or for harbor or terminal facilities for passenger and freight vessels.
In 1964, the Chicago Dock and Canal trust leased the land to the developers of Lake Point Tower.
Chicago Dock and Canal Trust sold the land south of the tower to Centex (now
PulteGroup
PulteGroup, Inc. is an American residential home construction company based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The company is the 3rd largest home construction company in the United States based on the number of homes closed. In total, the compa ...
) with an option to build additional towers on the site that is now DuSable Park.
Becoming DuSable Park
In an effort to fight possible development, Mayor
Richard J. Daley
Richard Joseph Daley (May 15, 1902 – December 20, 1976) was an American politician who served as the Mayor of Chicago from 1955 and the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party Central Committee from 1953 until his death. He has been cal ...
's administration enacted the Lakefront Protection Ordinance which forbid the land east of Lake Shore Drive to be developed.
In 1972, Centex filed a lawsuit against the City of Chicago after the city purchased the land.
Eventually Centex dropped the option to build on DuSable Park.
The Chicago Dock and Canal Trust kept the option to build but agreed not to build on the site.
In 1987 Mayor Harold Washington dedicated the parcel as "DuSable Park" in honor of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, the first known settler of Chicago.
The
Chicago Park District took ownership of the land at DuSable Park in 1988 via a
quit claim deed
Generally, a quitclaim is a formal renunciation of a legal claim against some other person, or of a right to land. A person who quitclaims renounces or relinquishes a claim to some legal right, or transfers a legal interest in land. Originally a c ...
.
Eight years later Keer-McGee and River East L.L.C were named as companies responsible for investigating and cleaning up suspected
radioactive contamination at DuSable Park.
The next year, MCL Companies absorbed the holdings to Chicago Dock and Canal Trust of DuSable Park.
MCL Companies then gave the land to the Chicago Park District and agreed to pay $600,000 toward its development.
In July 2000 the Chicago Park District announced it was planning to lease the land to another developer to build a parking lot on the site.
Following public outcry and the formation of the DuSable Park Coalition, the Chicago Park District indefinitely postponed the parking lot plan.
Since that time two public
request for proposals were sent out on the topic of developing the property in 2001 and 2004.
Each of those public invitations ended in stalemates.
The
Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
tapped
Martin Puryear
Martin L. Puryear (born May 23, 1941) is an American artist known for his devotion to traditional craft. Working in wood and bronze, among other media, his reductive technique and meditative approach challenge the physical and poetic boundaries ...
to design a statue of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable which will be erected at DuSable Harbor, directly across the river.
["A DuSable park at last?"]
Herrmann, A. (2006, September 18). ''Chicago Sun-Times.'' Retrieved February 6, 2007
A new DuSable Park
In July 2005, Christopher Carley of the Fordham Company announced a new development project called the Fordham Spire.
[Bush, H. (2006, March 22). The coronation of Calatrava. ''Chicago Journal.'' Retrieved December 11, 2006, form ] The Fordham Company pledged nearly $500,000 to assist in the development of the park, which was to adjoin the site of their new tower.
[ But one year later Carley failed to obtain the necessary financing for his project, and the development of the adjacent tower was turned over to Garret Kelleher of Shelbourne Development and the building was renamed Chicago Spire.][Diesenhouse, S. (2007, April 20). Financial questions tower over Spire's political win. ''Chicago Tribune''. Retrieved April 21, 2007, fro]
Topic Galleries – Chicago Tribune
In late 2006, the ''Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' reported that the project may be going forward with a compromise on the design being reached, but no further financial assistance was promised.[ In March 2007 Shelbourne Development, the new development company which renamed the adjacent project Chicago Spire, offered $6 million to finish the development of DuSable Park.][Yue, L. (2007, March 26). More twists in final plans for Chicago Spire. ''Crain's Chicago Business''. Retrieved March 26, 2007, from http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=24369] In early May of the same year, that offer jumped to $9.6 million.[Spielman, F. (2007, May 9). City approves Chicago Spire design. ''Chicago Sun-Times''. Retrieved May 27, 2007 from http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/377686,CST-NWS-spire09.article ]
Shelbourne offered their own design of the park which included a northbound ramp onto Lake Shore Drive for the adjacent Chicago Spire.
– BusinessWeek
Redevelopment concerns
The riverside revetment
A revetment in stream restoration, river engineering or coastal engineering is a facing of impact-resistant material (such as stone, concrete, sandbags, or wooden piles) applied to a bank or wall in order to absorb the energy of incoming water
...
is in need of repair which may cost up to $5.7 million.radioactive
Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is consid ...
thorium
Thorium is a weakly radioactive metallic chemical element with the symbol Th and atomic number 90. Thorium is silvery and tarnishes black when it is exposed to air, forming thorium dioxide; it is moderately soft and malleable and has a high me ...
.["3 Acres/Site Description and Context"]
Palmer, L. (2002, August 8). Retrieved February 6, 2007 From 1904 through 1936, the Lindsay Light Company processed ore
Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ore". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 7 April 2 ...
s which contained thorium to manufacture thorium impregnated gas mantles.Environmental Protection Agency
A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
. (2006, March 7th). ''EPA Region 5 Regional Counsel''. Retrieved May 27, 2007, from ["3 acres on the lake : DuSable Park"]
Palmer, L. (Unknown Last Update). Retrieved February 6, 2007 It was reported that Shelbourne Development would take soil samples to determine the severity of the radioactive contamination.[Ahmed-Ullah, N. S. (2007, May 10). City lays groundwork for Spire: Condo tower's developer will help fund nearby park. ''Chicago Tribune''. Retrieved May 27, 2007 fro]
Topic Galleries – Chicago Tribune
/ref>
In 2012, the Chicago Park District received funding from the EPA
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...
for remediation of the site, bagging the radioactive soil and shipping it to a Superfund
Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...
site.[Report: DuSable Park Site Near Navy Pier Nearly Clear Of Radioactive Soil]
CBS, 2012/08/23 In summer 2013, the Park District website reported the remediation had been completed by September 2012.[Dusable Park]
Retrieved 24 June 2013
External links
DuSable Park Construction Photos
an
Slideshow
References
External links
DuSable Heritage Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dusable Park (Chicago)
DuSable Park
DuSable Park is a former commercial and industrial site, at the mouth of the Chicago River that has been the subject of environmental remediation and is awaiting redevelopment into a park. The project, first announced in 1987 by Mayor Harold Wash ...