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Northerly Island is a
man-made Artificiality (the state of being artificial or manmade) is the state of being the product of intentional human manufacture, rather than occurring naturally through processes not involving or requiring human activity. Connotations Artificiality ...
peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...
along
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
's
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 ...
lakefront. The site of the
Adler Planetarium The Adler Planetarium is a public museum in Chicago, Illinois, dedicated to astronomy and astrophysics. It was founded in 1930 by local businessman Max Adler. Located on the northeastern tip of Northerly Island on Lake Michigan in the city, t ...
, Northerly Island connects to the mainland through a narrow isthmus along Solidarity Drive. This street is dominated by
Neoclassical sculpture Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism w ...
s of
Tadeusz Kościuszko Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko ( be, Andréj Tadévuš Banavientúra Kasciúška, en, Andrew Thaddeus Bonaventure Kosciuszko; 4 or 12 February 174615 October 1817) was a Polish Military engineering, military engineer, statesman, an ...
,
Karel Havlíček Borovský Karel Havlíček Borovský (; Borová, today ''Havlíčkova Borová;'' 31 October 1821 – 29 July 1856) was a Czech writer, poet, critic, politician, journalist, and publisher. Early life and education He lived and studied at the Gymnasium ...
and
Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formulated ...
. With the demolition of Meigs Field Airport, Northerly Island is now a part of the
Museum Campus Museum Campus is a park in Chicago that sits alongside Lake Michigan in Grant Park and encompasses five of the city's most notable attractions: the Adler Planetarium, America's first planetarium; the Shedd Aquarium; the Field Museum of Natura ...
and has been converted into parkland. A semi-temporary concert venue, the Huntington Bank Pavilion, occupies part of the site of the former airport.


History

The idea for Northerly Island began with
Daniel Burnham Daniel Hudson Burnham (September 4, 1846 – June 1, 1912) was an American architect and urban designer. A proponent of the '' Beaux-Arts'' movement, he may have been, "the most successful power broker the American architectural profession has ...
's "
Plan of Chicago The Burnham Plan is a popular name for the 1909 ''Plan of Chicago'', co-authored by Daniel Burnham and Edward H. Bennett and published in 1909. It recommended an integrated series of projects including new and widened streets, parks, new railr ...
" which called for the creation of Northerly Island as a lakefront park at the northern end of a five-island chain between Jackson Park and 12th Street. It was the only lakefront structure to be built based on Burnham's 1909 Plan. Northerly Island forms the southern end of
Chicago Harbor Generally, the Chicago Harbor comprises the public rivers, canals, and lakes within the territorial limits of the City of Chicago and all connecting slips, basins, piers, breakwaters, and permanent structures therein for a distance of three miles ...
(now Monroe Harbor), and the eastern boundary of Burnham Harbor. As indicated by the color green on the original plan, the island was to be populated by trees and grass for the public enjoyment. Daniel Burnham died in 1912. By 1916, Edward H. Bennett, co-author of the Plan of Chicago, wrote that a lakefront location would be most suitable for an airport serving the central business district. By 1922, Chicago Mayor William Hale Thompson recommended locating the downtown airport at Northerly Island. Work on the island began in 1920 when
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
voters approved a $20 million bond issue to create Northerly Island, with construction completed by 1925. Due to the Great Depression and WW II, the proposed airport, later named
Meigs Field Merrill C. Meigs Field Airport (pronounced , formerly ) was a single-runway airport in Chicago that was in operation from December 1948 until March 2003 on Northerly Island, an artificial peninsula on Lake Michigan. The airport sat adjacent to ...
, did not open until 1946. A short time later in 1930
Adler Planetarium The Adler Planetarium is a public museum in Chicago, Illinois, dedicated to astronomy and astrophysics. It was founded in 1930 by local businessman Max Adler. Located on the northeastern tip of Northerly Island on Lake Michigan in the city, t ...
was built, and in 1933–34 the island was at the center of festivities at the "
Century of Progress A Century of Progress International Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, from 1933 to 1934. The fair, registered under the Bureau International des Expositi ...
" World's Fair. Taking part in the Century of Progress Exposition, 24 Italian Savoia-Marchetti S55X flying boats, under the command of General Italo Balbo, make the first transatlantic formation flight between Italy and Chicago. Only flying boats could be used because Chicago did not yet have a suitable nearby airport, except for Grant Park, which was occasionally used as a landing strip. Local publishing mogul Merrill C. Meigs supported earlier recommendations for converting Northerly Island into an airport, but construction did not begin for numerous reasons, such as lack of funds during the Great Depression and WW II. Construction did not begin until after a competing proposal to host the
United Nations Headquarters The United Nations is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States, and the complex has served as the official headquarters of the United Nations since its completion in 1951. It is in the Turtle Bay, Manhattan, Turtle Bay neig ...
on the island was lost in 1946. The
Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
connected the island to the mainland via a
causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tra ...
at 12th Street in 1938. During this period Northerly Island was full of paths and walkways as well as a beach at 12th Street.


Transformation from an airport into a park

Although 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 ...
unofficially proposed converting
Meigs Field Merrill C. Meigs Field Airport (pronounced , formerly ) was a single-runway airport in Chicago that was in operation from December 1948 until March 2003 on Northerly Island, an artificial peninsula on Lake Michigan. The airport sat adjacent to ...
into a lakefront park, the airport's lease was not set to expire until 1996 (twenty years after he died). His son, Mayor
Richard M. Daley Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh term ...
, who had pledged to keep the airport open until 2006, reneged and tore up the runways at Meigs Field in the middle of the night, in 2003, purportedly in the name of
homeland security Homeland security is an American national security term for "the national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive" to ...
. Plans followed to convert the area into green space and expand upon the neighboring
Museum Campus Museum Campus is a park in Chicago that sits alongside Lake Michigan in Grant Park and encompasses five of the city's most notable attractions: the Adler Planetarium, America's first planetarium; the Shedd Aquarium; the Field Museum of Natura ...
.


Today

In 2005, an outdoor concert venue opened on the northern part of Northerly Island. Originally named Charter One Pavilion, it was expanded in 2013 and renamed to FirstMerit Bank Pavilion, and as of January 2017 it is named Huntington Bank Pavilion. In December 2010, the Chicago Parks District unveiled its framework plan for Northerly Island, to be completed over the next 20–30 years. The park will provide a variety of uses year-round with ecology and education central themes. A reef will be built, and the park will be designated into zones of "passive" and "active" relating to the amount of human activity. In 2015, a 40-acre park opened on the southern part of the island. The park features a concrete trail for walking and bicycle riding, a lagoon, and landscaped wildlife habitats. Northerly Island's nature preserve is meant to revitalize the environment that was originally there. The new park is now home to migratory birds and natural wildlife. To protect its new inhabitants, dogs are not allowed on the park. The mile of paved paths has no lighting to create as natural of an environment as possible. The park is open until 11:00 PM, and it is advised by park security to bring a flashlight. The park is home to many of Illinois' natural wildlife, including monarch butterflies and herons. The park's 5-acre lagoon welcomes many kinds of animals. To make the park as inviting to these animals as possible, over 11,000 shrubs and 400 trees were planted. File:Northerly Island Beach - Chicago, Illinois.JPG, Northerly Island Beach File:Northerly Island South.JPG, Looking North File:FirstMerit Bank Pavilion Sign - Northerly Island, Chicago, Illinois.JPG, FirstMerit Bank Pavilion File:20070110 12th St. Beach House.JPG, Twelfth Street Beach House FILE:KOSCIUSZKO statue Northerly Island Chicago 2015.jpg, Statue of
Tadeusz Kościuszko Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko ( be, Andréj Tadévuš Banavientúra Kasciúška, en, Andrew Thaddeus Bonaventure Kosciuszko; 4 or 12 February 174615 October 1817) was a Polish Military engineering, military engineer, statesman, an ...
on Northerly Island,
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...


Climate


Events and activities


The Great Chicago Fire Festival

On September 26, 2015, the closing ceremonies of the second annual Great Chicago Fire Festival were held on Northerly Island after the festival was moved from its original location on the Chicago Riverfront in 2014. This event is put on by
Redmoon Theater Redmoon Theater was a Chicago based not-for-profit theatrical company under the direction of Jim Lasko and Frank Maugeri that specialized in site-specific productions emphasizing visual spectacle. Productions were often out of doors, sometimes ti ...
in conjunction with the
City of Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
and
Chicago Park District The Chicago Park District is one of the oldest and the largest park districts in the United States. As of 2016, there are over 600 parks included in the Chicago Park District as well as 27 beaches, several boat harbors, two botanic conservatories ...
and is meant to commemorate the
Great Chicago Fire of 1871 The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 10 ...
. The closing ceremony includes a dramatic burning of the "GRIT House," food concessions, performance stages, and a dramatic fireworks finale, among other things.


Community events

The Chicago Park District hosts many events on Northerly Island to allow individuals and families to take advantage of all the natural area the park has to offer.


Polar Adventure Days

During the winter months, the Chicago Park District hosts Polar Adventure Days, allowing parents to bring their children and experience nature in ways that would normally not be possible for those living in a city environment. On these Polar Adventure Days, the Park District offers free snowshoe rental (when there are 3 or more inches of snow) and cross country skiing, as well as a host of indoor activities in the Northerly Island Visitors Center.


References


External links


Northerly Island
{{coord, 41.8604, -87.6083, type:isle_region:US-IL, display=title Parks in Chicago Land reclamation Works Progress Administration in Illinois Peninsulas of Illinois Landforms of Cook County, Illinois Lake Michigan 1925 establishments in Illinois