{"product_id":"13109","title":"1918 Chicago Lakefront, Burnham Harbor, and Illinois Central Plan","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis 1918 plan, titled Plat A, illustrates a critical stage in Chicago’s ambitious lakefront redevelopment. Issued to accompany an ordinance, the map delineates proposed harbor facilities, landfill expansions, and park improvements along the central shoreline, a vision rooted in Daniel Burnham’s 1909 Plan of Chicago. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eBurnham Harbor and Lakefront Lakefront Reclamation Plan\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCentral to the design is Burnham Harbor, here shown as a lagoon bordered by new landfill with several bathing beaches and open on both sides to Lake Michigan. While not yet constructed in 1918, the harbor would eventually open in 1927, providing protected mooring space and fulfilling Burnham’s vision of a working but beautified lakefront. The map’s depiction of extensive lake=fill underscores Chicago’s commitment to reshaping its shoreline, creating both functional harbor space and landscaped parkland that would frame the expanding central business district.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe map emphasizes recreation and beautification alongside commercial use, with lagoons and broad green park areas stretching southward from Grant Park. Notably absent, however, is Soldier Field, which was approved in 1919 and completed in the early 1920s. Its omission highlights the transitional character of this map: a moment when the land was envisioned primarily for harbor and park uses, just before the city resolved to site its great civic stadium here.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eThe Field Museum and Columbian Exposition Legacy\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInterestingly, the Field Museum appears twice on the sheet: once on the lakefront, where its monumental new building was under construction, and again in Jackson Park, within the grounds of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. This dual presence reflects the museum’s origins as the Columbian Museum, founded to house the Exposition’s collections. From 1894 to 1920, the institution occupied the Palace of Fine Arts in Jackson Park, which is now the Museum of Science and Industry, before relocating to its new home in Grant Park, completed in 1921.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eProposed New Illinois Central Passenger Station Plan and Railway Electrification\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn this 1918 plat the red band along the lakefront marks the Illinois Central right-of-way and yard, and the caption at the bottom calls for a “New Passenger Station for the Illinois Central Railway” together with the electrification of certain lines. The drawing concentrates the approaches just west of the proposed Burnham Harbor, indicating a modern terminal that would replace or supersede the older Central Station at 12th Street and, by using electric traction, remove smoke from the new park and lagoon landscape the ordinance was creating.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat actually occurred was only part of that program. The Illinois Central did electrify its suburban lines in the mid-1920s (public service began in 1926), which greatly reduced smoke along Grant Park and harmonized the railroad with the lakefront parks. The grand new passenger terminal envisioned here was never realized; Central Station remained the intercity depot until the early 1970s, while the electrified commuter service operated from the Randolph Street terminal. Thus, the electrification goal of the map was achieved and shaped the lakefront environment, but the proposed consolidated passenger station did not come to pass.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eSignificance and Rarity of the Map\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis map captures Chicago at a moment of transformation. It documents how the city balanced its role as a major industrial and transportation hub with Burnham’s civic ideals of beauty and order. Though never realized exactly as drawn, its outlines anticipated both Burnham Harbor and the landscaped park system that defines Chicago’s lakefront today. At the same time, its omission of Soldier Field underscore the shifting priorities of the era, when civic, cultural, and recreational ambitions converged on newly created land at the city’s edge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGiven this map was not commercially published and would have been intended for city and park officials responsible for adopting and building the lakefront plan, it is very rare to the market. We could not locate any identical institutional examples or prior auction \/ dealer listings of this important map.\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"New World Cartographic","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42560002490429,"sku":"13109","price":800.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0390\/9705\/files\/13109a.jpg?v=1756320167","url":"https:\/\/nwcartographic.com\/products\/13109","provider":"New World Cartographic","version":"1.0","type":"link"}