I Love Chicago! – Chicago Boulevard System – VI
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(micro)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
Handicapped accessable. The coords will take you to a spot in front of an object. Be careful as the hint is a giveaway.
Even though this one is a quick drive-up I urge you to stop and read the back of the sign as information about the area which you stand.
You are working thru a series of 14 caches. Even though the Cache's can be done in any order, please do this series in order as it will give you a wonderful tour of the wonderful Chicago Boulevard System.
Have Fun and enjoy my City.
-----------------------
McKinley Park
In 1902, one year after the assassination of William McKinley (1843-1901), 25th president of the United States, the South Park Commission opened an experimental park, named in his honor, that proved to be nationally important. At the time, Chicago's existing parks were far away from the filthy, noisy, overcrowded tenement neighborhoods in the center of the city. Superintendent J. Frank Foster envisioned a new type of park that would provide social services as well as breathing spaces in these areas. To test the idea, in 1900 the park commission began acquiring property near the Union Stockyards. Composed of open prairie and cabbage patches, the site had previously been the Brighton Park Race Track.
The experimental McKinley Park originally offered ballfields, playgrounds, a swimming lagoon, and a building with changing rooms and bathrooms. More than 10,000 people attended the park's dedication on June 13, 1902. The effort was so successful that the following year the South Park Commission began creating a whole system of new neighborhood parks for the south side. Opened to the public in 1905, the first ten were: Sherman, Ogden, Palmer, Bessemer, and Hamilton Parks, and Mark White, Russell, Davis, Armour, and Cornell Squares. These innovative neighborhood parks influenced the development of other parks throughout the United States.
-----------------------
Partial History of the Chicago Boulevard System
1837 - The history of the Boulevard System of Chicago has its roots in 1837, when the newly incorporated city adopted as its motto "Urbs in Horto", which means "city set in a garden." It was intended to portray Chicago as a beautiful gateway to the fertile lands of the west. Originally Chicago had few public parks or plazas. The most notable was Michigan Avenue, the promenade street for the wealthy, who lived in mansions on the west side of the street facing Lake Michigan. In 1839, the only park was Dearborn Park, a half-mile square located at the current site of the Chicago Cultural Center. Washington Square was built three years later, followed by Jefferson, Union, Ellis, and Vernon parks.
1849 - In 1849 John S. Wright, an early developer, envisioned a need for beautification of the dusty, dirty neighborhoods, and he proposed a system of boulevards to completely encircle the city. He said "I foresee a time, not very distant, when Chicago will need for its fast increasing population a park or parks in each division (referring to the south, west and north sides of the city). Of these parks I have a vision. They are all improved and connected with a wide avenue extending to and along the Lake shore on the north and south, and so surrounding the city with a magnificent chain of parks and parkways that have not their equal in the World."
1870 - The South Park District commissioned the firm of Olmsted and Vaux, designers of Central Park in New York City, to design its park and boulevard system. William Shaler Cleveland, a landscape engineer, implemented Olmsted's plans. The design for Jackson and Washington parks included two connections-one via Midway Plaisance and the other a waterway connection from the lake through Jackson Park to Washington Park. A formal boulevard connected Gage Park and McKinley Park.
1870 - The West Park District commissioned William Le Baron Jenney to design Douglas, Garfield and Humboldt parks and the connecting boulevards. Jenney created a formal, regimented planting of trees along the boulevards with impressive squares (Independence, Garfield, Sacramento, Palmer and Logan) at the boulevard turning points. The parks on the other hand were more informal, breaking up the formality of the boulevards and providing recreational space. The boulevards were not constructed for recreation, but simply as formal promenades for carriage rides and leisurely walks. When Jenney resigned in 1874, he was succeeded by his assistant Oscar F. Dubuis. Dubuis was faced with a multitude of problems including moist, poorly drained land. He created a drainage system to replace the open ditches and installed gas lighting along the boulevards and entrances to the parks. To combat the dusty road conditions, he initiated a "street washer" system along the boulevards for irrigating the medians and watering the graveled streets to hold down dust.
1875 - The North (Lincoln) Park District plan was tied up in litigation over its taxing authority by land speculators who wanted large sums of money for their property. When the legal challenges were resolved in 1875 and the district was empowered to levy taxes and widen Diversey Parkway, commercial and residential development along the street had extended too far and purchasing and razing hundreds of buildings was prohibitive. Therefore, Diversey Parkway never became a formal boulevard and the system ended at Logan Boulevard.
World Columbian Exposition -1893 - By 1893 Chicago had recovered from the fire and it stood as a testament to man's resilience to disaster. To celebrate, the City hosted the World Columbian Exposition, commemorating the 400th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of America. Daniel Burnham transformed a swamp in Jackson Park into a "White City" with Frederick Law Olmsted as the landscape architect. Visitors to the fair were so impressed with the beauty of Chicago's parks and boulevards, they dubbed it the "Emerald necklace" of Chicago. Later similar boulevard systems were developed in Boston, Kansas City and Washington, D.C.
-----------------------
Dedication:
To Nervous Nick.
My often caching partner, collaborator, and inspiration for many of my caches.
Our conversations have been the genesis of many great ideas which have resulted in many fun caches.
My love for Chicago is only matched by his. Be sure to check out his caches in the Medical District and Neighborhoods of Chicago.
YOP
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Zntargvp xrl ubyqre, obggbz evtug bs gur fvta.