CHAPTER VI_Plan of Chicago

NATURAL FEATURES OF CHICAGO: NECESSITY FOR COMPREHENSIVE TREATMENT

OF THE STREET SYSTEM: STREETS WITHIN THE CITY: THE RESIDENCE

STREET, THE AVENUE, AND THE BOULEVARD: STREET ARCHITECTURE: THE

STREETS OF CHICAGO: PROPOSED NEW CIRCUITS

Chicago has two dominant natural features: the expanse of Lake

Michigan, which stretches, unbroken by islands or peninsulas, to

the horizon; and a corresponding area of land extending north,

west, and south without hills or any marked elevation. These two

features, each immeasurable by the senses, give the scale. Whatever

man undertakes here should be either actually or seemingly without

limit. Great thoroughfares may lead from the water back into the

country interminably; broad boulevards may skirt the Lake front, or

sweep through the city; but their beginnings on the north, on the

south, or on the west must of necessity be points that move along

determined lines with the growth of population. Other harbors have

channels winding among islands or around jutting promontories until

the landlocked basin is reached; but Chicago must throw out into

the open water her long arms of piled-up rock in order to gather

in safety the storm-tossed vessels. Other cities may climb hills

and build around them, crowning the elevations with some dominating

structure; but the people of Chicago must ever recognize the fact

that their city is without bounds or limits. Elsewhere, indeed, man

and his works may be taken as the measure; but here the city appears

as that portion of illimitable space now occupied by a population

capable of indefinite expansion.

Whatever may be the forms which the treatment of the city shall take,

therefore, the effects must of necessity be obtained by repetition

of the unit. If the characteristics set forth suggest monotony,

nevertheless such are the limitations which nature has imposed; and

unless the problem is faced squarely no treatment proposed will seem

adequate or will prove lastingly satisfactory. On the other hand, the

opportunity now exists to create out of these very conditions a city

which shall grow into both convenience and order, and shall possess

all the means of making its citizens prosperous and contented.

It is in the grouping of buildings united by a common purpose—whether

administrative, educational, or commercial—that one must find an

adequate method of treatment; or again, in far-stretching lines of

lagoons, inviting the multitudes to seek recreation along the endless

miles of water front; or in broad avenues where the vista seemingly

terminates with a tower by day, or in the converging lines of lights

by night, in each case the mind recognizing that there is still space

beyond. Always there must be the feeling of those broad surfaces of

water reflecting the clouds of heaven; always the sense of breadth

and freedom which are the very spirit of the prairies.

At no period in its history has the city looked far enough ahead.

The mistakes of the past should be warnings for the future. There

can be no reasonable fear lest any plans that may be adopted shall

prove too broad and comprehensive. That idea may be dismissed as

unworthy a moment’s consideration. Rather let it be understood that

the broadest plans which the city can be brought to adopt to-day must

prove inadequate and limited before the end of the next quarter of a

century. The mind of man, at least as expressed in works he actually

undertakes, finds itself unable to rise to the full comprehension

of the needs of a city growing at the rate now assured for Chicago.

Therefore, no one should hesitate to commit himself to the largest

and most comprehensive undertaking; because before any particular

plan can be carried out, a still larger conception will begin to

dawn, and even greater necessities will develop.

The two prime considerations for every large city are, first,

adequate means of circulation; and second, a sufficient park area

to insure good health and good order. In those portions of the

city where congestion has brought about hindrances to traffic and

consequent waste, new streets must be created at whatever present

cost. Chicago has now reached that point in its growth when the

congestion within the city demands new and enlarged channels of

circulation, in order to accommodate the increasing throngs that

choke the narrow and inadequate thoroughfares. There is need, also,

for an orderly arrangement of public and semi-public buildings,

and for proper approaches to such structures, to express the power

and dignity of the city. One thinks of Paris, not as a place of so

many millions of people, but as the beautiful capital, in which the

artistic sense of the French people has found fullest expression.

London impresses one, not so much on account of its size, but because

of those monuments which the genius of the Anglo-Saxon race has

reared to mark great events and to commemorate great names in the

progress of civilization. In Berlin, in Vienna, and in every great

city of Europe it is the plan of the city, the character of its

monuments, the impressive location of its public buildings, the

picturesqueness of its thoroughfares, the development of its parks

and gardens, or the treatment of its water front that give the

character and charm which create individuality and interest.

[Illustration: LXXXV. CHICAGO. PLAN OF A COMPLETE SYSTEM OF STREET

CIRCULATION AND SYSTEM OF PARKS AND PLAYGROUNDS, PRESENTING THE CITY

AS AN ORGANISM IN WHICH ALL THE FUNCTIONS ARE RELATED ONE TO ANOTHER.

[Illustration: LXXXVI. CHICAGO. PLAN OF THE STREET AND BOULEVARD

SYSTEM PRESENT AND PROPOSED.

Proposed additional arteries and street widenings (orange); the

present park system (green); the proposed new parks and playgrounds

(hatched green). The proposed diagonal arteries are in every instance

extensions of those already existing, and around the center of the

city they serve to create, in conjunction with rectangular streets,

the proposed circuit boulevards.

[Illustration: LXXXVII. CHICAGO. VIEW LOOKING WEST OVER THE CITY,

SHOWING THE PROPOSED CIVIC CENTER, THE GRAND AXIS, GRANT PARK, AND

THE HARBOR.

Painted for the Commercial Club by Jules Guerin.

[Illustration: LXXXVIII. CHICAGO. MAP SHOWING THE SUCCESSIVE CITY

LIMITS, AND A LINE TRACED FROM THE SITE OF FORT DEARBORN THROUGH THE

PRESENT CENTER OF POPULATION, REPRESENTING THE GENERAL TENDENCY OF

GROWTH.

In all growing cities it has been necessary, as it is now necessary

in Chicago, to break through the conditions imposed by the lack of

an adequate and comprehensive plan at the beginning, and to create,

at large expense, those thoroughfares and boulevards and public

squares which the increasing demands of population and the larger

requirements of civic life require. The longer the beginning has been

postponed the harder has been the task and the greater the expense;

but whatever the labor and however large the cost, the result has

always been found more than compensation for the outlay. And so it

will be with Chicago. Every year of postponement will deprive its

citizens of advantages they might have enjoyed had they carried

out improvements the necessities of which have been universally

acknowledged.

People flock to those cities where conditions of work are good, where

means of recreation abound, and where there are attractions for the

senses and the intellect. Persons of wealth and refinement seek

such cities as their abiding-places; and those who have accumulated

wealth in a city bent on improvement remain there. Moreover, there

is no stronger appeal made to the American citizen of to-day than

comes from the call of one’s native or adopted city to enter upon the

service of creating better surroundings not only for one’s self, but

for all those who must of necessity earn their bread in the sweat

of their brows. Nor is the call of posterity to be denied. To love

and render service to one’s city, to have a part in its advancement,

to seek to better its conditions and to promote its highest

interests,—these are both the duty and the privilege of the patriot

of peace.

[Illustration: LXXXIX. CHICAGO. DIAGRAM OF GENERAL SCHEME OF STREET

CIRCULATION AND PARKS IN RELATION TO THE POPULATION.

The various densities of population, ranging from 0 to 25 persons per

acre to 250 to 300 per acre are indicated by different densities of

red color. The center of population is indicated by a star. Railroads

are shown in blue.

The thoroughfares of a city may be divided into three classes: the

street, by which is meant the general type of artery; the avenue,

on which tides of traffic and travel surge back and forth; and the

boulevard, designed primarily as a combination of park and driveway.

The first consideration for all thoroughfares is cleanliness,

which is the result of a good roadbed kept in thorough repair, and

unremitting care on the part of the city cleaning department. In the

congested retail district the desirable street width is from 80 to

100 feet, about equally divided between sidewalks and roadway. Here

the pavement should be smooth and noiseless; there should be frequent

islands of safety for the pedestrian crossing from side to side,

and occasional subway crossings; and the lighting, the signs, and

every accessory of the street should be arranged with regard to the

dictates of good taste. For streets carrying heavy tonnage a width

of from 70 to 90 feet is desirable, with a roadway width of a little

more than one-half the entire space, and here the pavements should be

of the most enduring character, regardless of noise.[22]

[Illustration: XC. CHICAGO. THEORETICAL DIAGRAM OF STREET

CIRCULATION, SHOWING EXISTING LINES OF TRAVEL (BLACK), AND PROPOSED

SUPPLEMENTARY LINES (ORANGE).

Circulation from north to south and east to west is already

established by the rectilinear system of streets. There is need of

additional facilities to be provided by street widenings and new

arteries. Circulation towards the center is partially established,

but the arteries need extending and developing, and circulation

across the city from the northwest to the south and east and from the

southwest to the north is lacking. It is proposed to remedy this lack

by extending existing diagonal streets.

On residence streets the area devoted to pavement may well be

lessened to from 20 to 36 feet, according to the amount of traffic,

in order that greater area may be obtained for trees and grass plots.

This is highly desirable where, as in some sections is inevitable,

houses are crowded together or apartment buildings abound, so

that the smaller children may have playgrounds close at hand, and

restful shade may prevail. A well-kept grass plot in front of the

house induces habits of neatness and comfort within; and cool shade

brings people from cellars and dark rooms out into the light, thus

contributing to good order and a higher morality.

The greatest disfigurement of the residence street is found in the

varied assortment of poles which crowd out the trees along the

space between curb and sidewalk. There are trolley-poles, electric

lighting poles, poles for telephone wires, and poles for police

and fire-alarm purposes. The natural development of the city will

relegate the greater portion of such service into conduits controlled

by the municipality and occupied in common by the city and the

various public service corporations. So fast as streets are cleared

from these obstructions, the municipality should take over the

planting and maintenance of all trees in street spaces; so that the

planting may be effective and attractive throughout the entire way.

The present method of leaving such work to individuals necessarily

results in a ragged appearance of the street, and also fails to

provide that diversity in variety of trees which gives beauty and

individuality to the thoroughfare.

The avenue or traffic street should be of sufficient width to draw

to itself the streams of traffic passing from one point in a city to

distant points. Provision should here be made not only for vehicular

traffic, but also for street-car lines; and the two currents may well

be separated, so as to avoid interference with each other. This end

may be obtained as in Paris by a road lined with trees, or there may

be subdivision into various roadways, of which one is dominant. These

thoroughfares, when conforming to the rectilinear street system,

should be developed at intervals sufficiently frequent to accommodate

the traffic that naturally would be drained into them from the

narrower parallel streets and from the intersecting streets. In

order, however, to care for the traffic which flows from northeast to

southwest, and from northwest to southeast, and vice versa, diagonal

avenues become a necessity, in order to save time and consequent

expense.

Few cities have been laid out with sufficient foresight to provide

for such diagonals. It has usually happened that at first a small

city area has been developed, in which the need of diagonal

thoroughfares was not felt; and then as the city expanded subdivision

after subdivision has been added, wherein the original street system

has been followed, with no care or thought for the increased traffic

which growth begets. The one idea of those who make new subdivisions

is to secure the utmost space to sell immediately, leaving the future

to take care of itself. Hence it happens that, as a rule, when

diagonal streets become of prime necessity they must be created at

large expense, and with great temporary inconvenience. Yet whatever

the expense, such thoroughfares must be opened; and the city itself

is the gainer in each instance, not alone by the saving of time, but

also in the increased valuations for taxation which such improvements

inevitably bring about. Fortunately for Chicago a considerable number

of diagonals already exist, and the large part which they play in

promoting circulation offers the best argument for their extension

and completion. Blue Island and Milwaukee avenues, the happy

survivals of old country roads, now carry great streams of traffic,

while Ogden and Archer avenues and other lesser diagonals are of

large utility as time-savers.

[Illustration: XCI. CHICAGO. EXISTING AND (IN RED) PROPOSED DIAGONAL

ARTERIES.

The third class of thoroughfares are the boulevards properly so

called; the streets from which all heavier traffic is excluded; the

streets lined with commodious and even fine dwellings; the streets

where grass and shrubs and trees assert themselves, and where

there may well be continuous playgrounds for the children of the

neighborhood, such as many Chicago boulevards now provide. If in

certain sections buildings for light manufactures abut upon these

thoroughfares, the working people will then enjoy a maximum of fresh

air and light; and so will work with greatest effectiveness. The

boulevard also affords appropriate sites for statues and fountains,

and all other forms of adornment pleasing to the eye, making

attractive the city. The smaller parks may well be adjacent to the

boulevards, or may be expansions of them, thus providing for larger

playgrounds, for places of assembly, and for displays of plants and

flowers, and rare and beautiful trees, which appeal to the almost

universal love of nature. The principle governing the grouping of

boulevards and avenues is the establishment of through connection, so

that one thoroughfare shall lead into another, and that circulation

shall be everywhere promoted but never impeded.

[Illustration: XCII. PARIS. THE AVENUE DU BOIS DE BOULOGNE, LOOKING

TOWARDS THE ARC DE TRIOMPHE.]

[Illustration: XCIII. PARIS. THE TUILERIES GARDENS, AND CHAMPS

ÉLYSEÉS BEYOND, FORMING THE MAIN AXIS OF THE CITY.]

Along the curved avenues and the diagonals the architectural design

should avoid the building up of the thoroughfare structure by

structure, each one following the whim of its owner or the struggle

for novelty on the part of its architect. Without attempting to

secure formality, or to insist on uniformity of design on a large

scale, there should be a constant display of teamwork, so to

speak, on the part of the architects. The former days when each

architect strove to build his cornice higher or more elaborate

than the adjoining cornice are giving place, happily, to the saner

idea of accepting existing conditions when a reasonable line has

been established. There is as much reason why façades should live

together in harmony as there is for peace among neighbors. In the

case of open spaces, effectiveness of architectural design is to

be obtained only by a large unity in the entire composition. The

harmonious treatment of the buildings facing the circle opposite

the railway station in Rome and on the Place Vendôme in Paris, and

the plan adopted for the plaza in front of the Union Station at

Washington, all prove that an imposing effect can be produced by a

unified and grandly simple design. In Paris when attempt was made

to alter some of the houses in the Place Vendôme, the owners were

forbidden to do so, because the proposed alterations would have

spoiled the architectural symmetry of that circle.

[Illustration: XCIV. PARIS. THE CHAMPS ÉLYSEÉS, FROM THE PLACE DE LA

CONCORDE, SHOWING THE ARC DE TRIOMPHE IN VISTA.]

[Illustration: XCV. PARIS. VIEW FROM THE ARC DE TRIOMPHE ALONG THE

AVENUE DU BOIS DE BOULOGNE.]

Chicago, being a comparatively new city, escapes one difficulty

experienced in the re-formation of cities of the Old World; here

there are no buildings possessing either historical or picturesque

value which must be sacrificed in order to carry out the plans

necessary to provide circulation for a growing metropolis. The

absence of monumental structures, however, imposes other obligations

on the city planner. All the boulevards of Paris were established on

the models of the boulevards of Louis XIV., with two lines of trees

bordering the driveways, and lines of houses on each side of the

street, so that the mass of verdure almost entirely obscures the view

of the façades. In the new streets the houses are to have a different

system of alignment, so as to form a broken line which will admit of

alternate masses of masonry, and masses of green. In this manner the

boulevards will gain in artistic effect; while at the same time the

line of the façades will be lengthened, thereby making the interior

of the dwellings more healthful and agreeable. Much the same effect

is produced in many Boston and some Washington apartment buildings,

which are constructed on three sides of a court, leaving a mass of

green open to the street.

In laying out new thoroughfares or treating old ones it must be

remembered that with respect to traffic streets the increase in

population is constantly making larger demands for width, and that

on residence streets the city should not be burdened unnecessarily

with the cost of street construction and maintenance. Moreover,

there is great economy in the distinct separation of residence

streets from traffic streets. Whenever a street railway seizes upon

a residence street of ordinary size, that street immediately begins

to undergo transformation into a business street; and this change

while working its slow way causes depreciation in land values which,

save on favorably located corners, amounts to virtual confiscation.

With good planning these ruinous transformations become unnecessary,

and the purchase of a home then becomes a stable investment and not

a gambling hazard. Again, in every country experience has proved

that the clear and even remorseless cutting of main lines through

the district to be developed, and the division of great blocks into

traffic arteries and service streets is the soundest economy, as well

as the most effective means of reaching the sought-for end.

The second form of traffic interruption, arising from the

intersection of lines of movement, is complicated by reason of the

fact that here the pedestrian movement, as well as the vehicular

movement, must be taken into consideration. There are times when men

gather in the streets for patriotic purposes, as on the Fourth of

July and Decoration Day; or because of an eager desire to learn the

news of great events, like election results. The right of the people

to assemble for discussion is fundamental. All these requirements

must be met by the creation of open spaces, which appropriately may

be adorned by the statues of men of achievement, or may be ornamented

with fountains and memorials of various kinds. These spaces for

assembly and for embellishment should be arranged so as to allow

traffic to flow unvexing and unvexed. Nothing could be more of a

makeshift than the arbitrary regulations of the police in many of our

cities, where long detours are imposed on the wayfarer and vehicle

alike, in order to diminish that congestion which it is the task of

the city planner to prevent. Yet in no city in the world has this

intricate and perplexing problem been completely solved.

It is charged against the French system of “star-places” that they

invite congestion by concentrating traffic; and doubtless they are

open to this accusation when placed on great traffic thoroughfares,

unless pains are taken to insist on a movement similar to that of

a whirlpool, so that each entering vehicle shall be required to

move around the circumference until its particular street shall be

reached. The solution of a gentle junction of two lines in a common

line for a certain distance, like that of a railway, has advantages

which the city planner will not overlook. Whatever the form taken

in a particular instance, the angles in the lots produced by the

junction should be studied in order that the open space may not seem

to be unfinished, and also that the architect may not be compelled to

utilize sharp points unfitted for architectural treatment.

It should be borne in mind that directness is not the only

consideration. Traffic wagons when loaded naturally seek the shortest

course, but the great majority of vehicles and of pedestrians as

well are lured out of the direct line to streets made attractive

by the shops, the trees, or other embellishments. Often it happens

that unattractive streets, in spite of being shorter, are quite

deserted because they are spotted with vacant sites, ugly buildings,

and dreary spaces. Beauty allures while ugliness repels in city

architecture as in everything else. Moreover, every consideration

which affects the planning of a city as a whole is truly

architecture, and wherever there is evidence of foresight and the

relation of one part to another, there the mind finds the highest

satisfaction. Paris is the international capital because in its

planning the universal mind recognizes that complete articulation

which satisfies the craving for good order and symmetry in every part.

[Illustration: XCVI. SYSTEM OF TRAFFIC CIRCULATION PROPOSED BY M.

HÉNARD FOR PUBLIC PLACES.

A continuous gyratory movement reduces conflict of currents to the

minimum.]

If Chicago were to be relocated to-day, it would still be placed

at the spot where it now is; and if the streets were again to be

mapped, the same general system would be adopted, because the present

rectilinear street system best comports with the line of the Lake

front which nature has unalterably fixed. The rectilinear system

certainly accords with the ideas of rightness inherent in the human

mind; and also it involves a minimum waste of ground space. Moreover,

the River, for the most part, allows the use of the right-angled

system without playing havoc with the orderly arrangement of the

streets. It is only when and as the city increases in population that

diagonals become necessary in order to save considerable amounts

of time and to prevent congestion by dividing and segregating the

traffic. Thus it happens that no rectilinear city is perfect without

the diagonal streets; and conversely, having the rectilinear system,

the creation of diagonals produces the greatest convenience.

Now, while it happens that the planning of a new city imposes

straightness as a duty, and diagonals as a necessity, it is equally

true that a virtue should be made of these hard-and-fast conditions.

There is a true glory in mere length, in vistas longer than the eye

can reach, in roads of arrow-like purpose that speed unswerving in

their flight; and when and where the opportunity of level ground

permits, this glory should be sought after. Older cities may indeed

bend and curve their new streets to preserve what is picturesque or

historic; but new cities, built on level country, should see to it

that as subdivisions are platted, the streets and avenues shall be

adequate to bear the traffic which will come to them from the city

itself, and that such thoroughfares shall form an integral part of

the entire system of circulation.

[Illustration: XCVII. THEORETICAL DIAGRAM OF THE STREETS OF PARIS.

REPRODUCED FROM “LES TRANSFORMATIONS DE PARIS,” BY M. E. HÉNARD]

At the same time the elliptical avenue may be used to introduce

variety, and especially to serve as a link to connect parks. Chicago

had no encircling fortifications to turn into boulevards such as

those which beautify and distinguish the cities of Vienna, Brussels,

Rouen, Milan, and especially Paris; but such avenues may well be

created in order to relieve the monotony of the straight streets.

One such great parkway is shown on the plans, and it requires but a

glance to recognize the effectiveness of such a thoroughfare.

[Illustration: XCVIII. THEORETICAL DIAGRAM OF THE STREETS OF MOSCOW.

REPRODUCED FROM “LES TRANSFORMATIONS DE PARIS,” BY M. E. HÉNARD ]

Having discussed the general principles applicable to the arrangement

and development of streets within a city, we come to the specific

problem. The city of Chicago now extends for about twenty-six miles

along the Lake front, and has a width of not more than seven miles.

It is apparent that as population increases, the entire territory

between the present western boundaries and the Des Plaines River

will become thickly settled, and that as this occupation proceeds

the pressure of the increased numbers to reach the business district

and the Lake front will work serious congestion, unless additional

thoroughfares shall be created in order to add to transit facilities

inadequate even at the present time. Obviously it is idle to expect

those who plat subdivisions for the mere purpose of selling land to

make provision for a circulatory system sufficiently comprehensive

to meet the requirements of a growing city. That task belongs to the

city itself, and the only way in which it can be accomplished is by

the preparation and adoption of a plan for platting all those lands

adjacent to the city which are reasonably certain to be included

within the enlarged boundaries. The entire territory extending

westward to the Des Plaines should be laid out to meet future

requirements, with the requisite area for residences, as well as

wide thoroughfares for traffic, well-planned diagonals to gather and

distribute the travel, and adequate park spaces. As the architects of

Louis XIV. laid out streets and avenues of Paris far in advance of

occupation, and as the United States government adopted a plan for

the development of the entire District of Columbia in accord with

the original L’Enfant plan, so the authorities of Chicago should see

to it that when and as new subdivisions are platted in any portion

of Cook County not now included within the city boundaries, the

thoroughfares in those subdivisions shall be fitted to care for the

traffic that will be imposed upon them by reason of their location in

relation to the business district.

[Illustration: XCIX. THEORETICAL DIAGRAM OF THE STREETS OF BERLIN.

REPRODUCED FROM “LES TRANSFORMATIONS DE PARIS,” BY M. E. HÉNARD]

The functions of the diagonals and circuits proposed for the area

impinging upon the business district are three in number: first,

to allow traffic seeking the center to reach its destination

expeditiously; secondly, to divert from the center traffic not having

its objective point within the central area; and, thirdly, to afford

direct passage through the center in those cases where such crossing

is necessary.

[Illustration: C. THEORETICAL DIAGRAM OF THE STREETS OF LONDON.

REPRODUCED FROM “LES TRANSFORMATIONS DE PARIS,” BY M. E. HÉNARD]

The matter of widening avenues by means of regulating the frontage

is largely one of conservation. That is to say, along streets

where residences predominate the thoroughfare should be widened by

acquiring all the property to the line of the buildings, so that

as the street changes its character from a residence to a business

thoroughfare it shall not be narrowed at the very time when greater

width is desirable. In short, the city should acquire and own the

front yards, just as the Federal government owns the space between

houses and sidewalks in Washington. For example, Chicago Avenue gives

one the impression of a splendid boulevard, owing to the fact that

the buildings are set well back from the street; but eventually the

avenue will be narrowed to 100 feet, unless the yard spaces shall be

acquired, as acquired they can be at small expense, so long as the

purpose is to keep the space open.

[Illustration: CI. CHICAGO. VIEW OF GRAND BOULEVARD.]

The diagonals are the most useful and necessary arteries. Those

belonging to the first circuit passing around the business center are

as follows:

Chicago Avenue and Lincoln Park Boulevard to Milwaukee Avenue and

Canal Street, crossing the river north of the junction of its three

branches;

From the intersection of Washington and Canal streets running to

Halsted and Congress streets;

From Halsted and Congress streets to Twelfth and Canal streets,

and from the latter intersection across the river at Sixteenth

Street to Archer Avenue at State Street and Cottage Grove Avenue at

Twenty-second Street.

For the most part, these diagonals would run through wholesale

and manufacturing districts, passing near some of the railroad

freight yards and intercepting the traffic to the city from the

other outlying freight yards. This traffic, once having reached

the circuit, would make use of it as a means of getting around the

congested district.

[Illustration: CII. CHICAGO. VIEW OF THE LAKE SHORE DRIVE.]

[Illustration: CIII. CHICAGO. PLAN OF THE CITY, SHOWING THE GENERAL

SYSTEM OF BOULEVARDS AND PARKS EXISTING AND PROPOSED.

The boulevards are planned to form a continuous system of

circulation; the parks are related closely to the boulevard system,

and are located, wherever possible, in connection with them.

As the city increases in population, its retail and business district

necessarily expands also, the rise in values of the real estate

forcing the wholesale interests farther away from the center.

Traffic on these circuit arteries would thus change in character,

and they might eventually be made boulevards to carry traffic of

every description except that of heavy teaming. The argument for the

circuit as described is equally strong when considered with regard

to any form of traffic. It is based on a general experience in other

cities, which proves that there is a gradual evolution from mere

utility to a service of a lighter and more agreeable character. For

example, the Square of the Innocents in Paris, once a cloistered

cemetery, is now a playground, and serves as a breathing space for

the densely populated neighborhood. Some such evolution will come

in the case of the present freight yards lying along the river,

which ultimately will be abandoned for freight purposes, just as

the fortifications of Paris and Vienna have been transformed from

absolute utility to useful purposes of an entirely different nature.

When the freight yards shall be abandoned as industrial sites a large

tract of territory will be available for public purposes, and the

growing population might easily demand the space for recreation; and

the fact that the available space lies along the river will be of

double advantage, since river banks furnish an agreeable variety when

they extend throughout a city.

[Illustration: CIV. CHICAGO. VIEW OF DREXEL BOULEVARD.]

In addition to the diagonals shown on the diagram are the existing

roads running beside the great railway rights-of-way. Some of these

already extend far out in the country, and also penetrate inside the

city. All of them should be improved, and missing links should be

supplied. When, at perhaps no distant day, the railroads entering the

city come to be operated by electricity, no better highways can be

imagined. They should be broadened, ornamented, and made to serve as

great arteries. Outside the city limits, and often inside them, these

highways beside the railways penetrate populous districts, where they

are of increasing importance. They should be drained, paved, and

planted in the best manner, and it is of first importance that there

should be no grade crossings of carriageways and railways. This work

of improvement which is already in progress inside the city should

be carried on until every crossing within the territory shown on the

main diagram or encircling highways shall be eliminated.

[Illustration: CV. CHICAGO. VIEW OF MICHIGAN AVENUE, LOOKING NORTH.]

In time the streets within the business center will be taxed to the

utmost on the surface, on the overhead tramways, and underneath the

present grades. Knowing this, it is important to provide means to

divert as much as possible the movement of people around the center

when business or pleasure does not necessitate passing into or through

it. The topography of Chicago is such that this may be accomplished

readily. The shore of the Lake bends rapidly away toward the northwest

north of North Avenue, thus placing the center of population of that

section so far west that traffic can go directly to the South Side

without passing through the business district, if only means to this

end be provided; and at the same time the people of the West side

can easily reach the North and South Sides, south of the business

districts, without passing through the center.

The streets should be arranged and improved so as to provide for such

lines of travel. At present, nearly every one going from one section

of the city lying outside of the center to another section outside

of the center comes into the business district and passes through it

on his way. This movement includes pedestrians, passengers on the

elevated and surface cars, and wheeled vehicles; it also includes

teams and trucks of every description, including those for fire

and police services. It is obvious that direct and well-improved

thoroughfares should enable this traffic to pass outside the

congested center from one section to another.

[Illustration: CVI. CHICAGO. INTERSECTION OF THE THREE BRANCHES OF

THE CHICAGO RIVER.

Plan suggested to facilitate traffic circulation by means of two

additional bridges placed as proposed for the north-and-south

boulevard at Michigan Avenue, on a level above the present street,

and connected eventually with streets to be built on either side of

the River.

The main portion of the proposed grand circuit would extend from a

park at the intersection of Graceland and West avenues, around to

Gage Park, thence on Fifty-fifth Boulevard to Michigan Avenue, and

thence north to Graceland Avenue at the Lake, a distance of nearly

thirty miles. This great circuit can be utilized for continuous

playgrounds sweeping around the center and connecting the dense

populations that will inhabit the North and South Sides; and thus

it will be of inestimable value. To this circuit traffic would

come from considerable distances on either side of it, then follow

its line until reaching a street leading directly to that portion

of the city for which it is destined. By such a route congested

business and manufacturing territories may be avoided, and thus it

would serve the purpose of many diagonals that otherwise must be

created. As a continuous park it would furnish breathing space and

playgrounds for a very large number of people, and become a most

popular avenue for pleasure as well as for necessary circulation.

Moreover, the great circuit seems to be the line most normal to all

the great existing radials, and thus it would be the most economical

method of furnishing quick and easy communication. Also it expresses

in an ideal manner what is aimed at by all inner circuits, which

are angular because of the prohibitive cost of making them follow a

continuous curve; and also because a curve for the inner circuits

would not develop the necessary articulation with existing important

rectangular streets. The degree of curvature of this outer circuit

parkway insures an extremely noble effect along its entire length and

makes many picturesque angles with the intersecting streets. As a

whole, it is intended to be a stately highway, such as does not now

exist in any city.

The next circuit inside the grand one now largely exists in the form

of the great park boulevards of Michigan Avenue, Grand Boulevard, or

Drexel Boulevard to Washington Park, Fifty-fifth Street to Gage Park;

thence by the West Park boulevards through the West Parks, back by

Diversey Boulevard to the Lake, and south to Michigan Avenue. Another

circuit is on the same route as the one last mentioned, except that

it does not extend so far to the south as Fifty-fifth Street, but

goes west to McKinley Park as shown on the diagram.

A circuit of very great ultimate importance would extend on Michigan

Avenue from Chicago Avenue to Twenty-second Street; thence on

Twenty-second Street to Halsted; on Halsted diagonally to the corner

of Ashland and Twelfth streets; thence north on Ashland to Union

Park; from Union Park diagonally to the corner of Chicago Avenue and

Halsted, thence east on Chicago Avenue to the Lake. This route should

be a great thoroughfare, affording every facility for the movement

of people on foot, in carriages, or in street cars, and for teams as

well. It should be very wide and well planted.

The innermost circuit utilizes Michigan Avenue, Twelfth Street, and

Canal Street; thence diagonally to Halsted and Congress streets;

thence again diagonally to Washington and Canal streets; thence

on Washington Street to the Lake. This circuit should have an

underground and an overhead loop for passengers, except that the

overhead line should swing over Wabash Avenue instead of over

Michigan Avenue.

The following existing east-and-west streets should be widened and

much improved: Graceland Avenue, Diversey Boulevard, North Avenue,

Indiana Avenue, Chicago Avenue, Washington Street, Congress Street

extended and very much widened. Twelfth Street should become a

great viaduct, beginning at grade at Michigan Avenue and extending

elevated over to Canal; and it should not be less than 180 feet in

width as shown on drawings. Sixteenth Street and also Twenty-second

Street should be widened. It would be wise, also, to widen each

of the section-limit streets running east and west, and also the

half-section streets.

South Park Avenue (which is the extension of Grand Boulevard) should

be carried over the Illinois Central right-of-way from Twenty-second

Street to Grant Park, over which it should pass to that railroad’s

north freight yards; thence over the yards and the main branch of

the river, and on until it connects with the Lincoln Park Lake Shore

Drive on the North Side. This would form a continuous outer boulevard

connecting the Lincoln Park and South Park systems with the utmost

correctness, and in a fine manner. This way would enable people to

pass by the business center when they do not desire to enter it, and

would be an additional thoroughfare to and from the center.

[Illustration: CVII. CHICAGO. VIEW LOOKING NORTH ON THE SOUTH BRANCH

OF THE CHICAGO RIVER, SHOWING THE SUGGESTED ARRANGEMENT OF STREETS

AND WAYS FOR TEAMING AND RECEPTION OF FREIGHT BY BOAT, AT DIFFERENT

LEVELS.

Examples of the arrangement exist at Algiers, Budapest, Geneva, and

Paris.

The cost of this improvement would amount to comparatively little

for condemnation of private property; the space to be taken would

be only that necessary to widen Grand Boulevard to Twenty-second

Street, and to carry through the route on the North Side portion. The

right-of-way over the railroad from Twenty-second Street to Grant

Park, and from Grant Park to the river should be obtained without

cost.

The Chicago River, which gave to the city its location and fostered

its commerce, has become a dumping spot and a cesspool; bridges of

every possible style and condition span it at irregular intervals

and at all angles; and year by year riparian owners have been

permitted to encroach upon its channel until there are to be found

as many as four lines of docks, each newer one having been built

further into the stream. Tunnel-backs have restricted its depth

for purposes of navigation. The widening proposed by the Sanitary

District authorities and the fact that almost all the docks are in a

dilapidated condition will combine to make changes imperative. The

opportunity should be seized to plan a comprehensive and adequate

development of the river banks, so that the commercial facilities

shall be extended, while at the same time the æsthetic side of the

problem shall be worked out.

Boulevards should extend from the mouth of the river along the North

and South branches and on both sides, at least from the mouth of the

river to North Avenue on the North Branch and to Halsted Street on

the South Branch. These thoroughfares would be an important factor

in the relief of traffic congestion down-town; they should be raised

above the normal traffic level in order to afford greater facility

of circulation, and to allow warehouses to be constructed below the

roadway. This upper level would thus connect the points on the river

at which the street scheme calls for an elevation, as in the case of

the north-and-south connecting boulevards, the junctions of the three

branches of the river, and Twelfth Street. These boulevards apart

from their practical advantages would become the most delightful

route to the Lake.

We have now considered with some detail the disposition of the

streets and avenues surrounding the intense business center of

Chicago. While this outer city area is occupied mainly by dwellings,

certain streets along which transportation lines pass, come to be

lined with shops throughout their entire length, so that one passes

from the center of affairs into the residence district without noting

the transition. As a rule, however, the density and importance of

the buildings decrease from the center to the circumference; and in

corresponding manner the highways of circulation and exchange may

diminish in width. It is essential, however, to provide encircling

or belt thoroughfares which act as collectors of traffic, and also

as distributors of it; so as to prevent the inextricable congestion

which inevitably arises when masses of people gathered along

converging lines attempt to penetrate the center at a single point.

However difficult it may be to provide against such congestion in

the case of older cities, a reasonable system of circulation in

connection with the business center of a comparatively new city like

Chicago should be accomplished with comparative ease. The widening

of some streets and the construction of needed arteries is made less

difficult by reason of the fact that the buildings which cover the

greater part of Chicago’s area beyond the business center are not of

a permanent character, and in the natural order of things they must

be replaced by others more substantial. Provision should be made now

so as to ensure that, as the transformation progresses, sufficient

land area shall be left unoccupied to provide good sanitary

conditions, and attractive streets as well.

The three requisites for this outer region, therefore, are: first,

convenient means of access to the main business center and to the

subordinate centers, which are the day’s working-places; secondly,

equally convenient means of access to the water and the fields and

forests, where the hours of recreation and refreshment are passed;

and, thirdly, as much light and air as possible for the dwellings and

the schools, where the home-keepers are occupied with their daily

tasks, and where the children are trained, either for weakness or for

strength, as physical conditions largely determine.

[Illustration: CVIII. CHICAGO. VIEW OF THE SOUTH SHORE LOOKING SOUTH

EAST OVER GRANT PARK.]

FOOTNOTES:

[22] The report to the Street Paving Committee of the Commercial Club

on the street paving problem of Chicago, by John W. Alvord, C. E.,

and an opinion by John S. Miller, Esq., on maintenance and repair of

Chicago streets (1904) is at once so comprehensive and so compact a

document that it is sufficient simply to call attention to it. After

discussing tendencies in this country and Europe, Mr. Alvord reaches

this conclusion: “Everywhere the main result is the same. So soon as

wealth and population increase to the point where luxury and comfort

can demand it, the economical and more durable pavements of stone or

granite on heavily traveled streets give way to pavement of shorter

life and higher maintenance cost, but of immensely greater comfort

to the public in the cessation of noise, smoothness for traffic, and

ease with which they may be kept in condition.”

[Illustration: CIX. CHICAGO. THE PROPOSED PLAZA ON MICHIGAN AVENUE.