Wells Street is a major north–south street in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. It is officially designated as 200 West, and is named in honor of
William Wells, a United States Army Captain who died in the
Battle of Fort Dearborn
The Battle of Fort Dearborn (sometimes called the Fort Dearborn Massacre) was an engagement between United States troops and Potawatomi Native Americans that occurred on August 15, 1812, near Fort Dearborn in what is now Chicago, Illinois (at that ...
. Between 1870 and 1912, it was named 5th Avenue so as not to tarnish the name of Wells during a period when the street had a bad reputation.
Wells Street is interrupted by
Guaranteed Rate Field,
Interstate 55
Interstate 55 (I-55) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The h ...
, and
Lincoln Park
Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US President Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, ...
. Wells Street crosses 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 ...
at the
Wells Street Bridge Wells Street Bridge may refer to:
* Wells Street Bridge (Chicago), a bascule bridge over the Chicago River, in downtown Chicago, Illinois
*Wells Street Bridge (Fort Wayne, Indiana)
Wells Street Bridge is a historic Whipple truss bridge spanning t ...
.
Some downtown blocks of Wells Street are located beneath the
Chicago 'L'
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train system. The first
Crate & Barrel
Euromarket Designs Inc., doing business as Crate & Barrel (stylized as Crate&Barrel), is an international furniture and home décor retail store headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois. They employ 8200 employees across over 100 stores in the Uni ...
store, which opened in 1962, was located on Wells Street.
Wells Street was named in ''Time'' Magazine's 1976 article "The Porno Plague".
Old Town Neighborhood
Wells Street on the north side often refers to a strip of retail shops, bars and restaurants in the Old Town neighborhood in the Near North neighborhood.
Intersections
This only shows part of Wells Street between the North Side and the Loop.
References
Streets in Chicago
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