| Jackson Park Historic Landscape District and Midway Plaisance | |
|---|---|
| U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
 | |
| Location: | Chicago, Illinois |
| Built/Founded: | 1871 |
| Architect: | Frederick Law Olmsted; Lorado Taft |
| Architectural style(s): | Other |
| Added to NRHP: | December 15, 1972 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 72001565 [1] |
| Governing body: | Chicago Park District |
The Midway Plaisance, also known locally as the Midway, is a mile-long linear park on the South Side of the city of Chicago, Illinois between 59th and 60th Streets, joining Washington Park at its west end and Jackson Park at its east end. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. Frederick Law Olmsted ( April 25, 1822 &ndash August 28, 1903) was an American landscape designer and father of American Lorado Zadoc Taft ( April 29, 1860 – October 30, 1936) was an American sculptor writer and educator born in Elmwood Illinois in The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP is the United States government's official list of districts sites buildings structures and objects deemed worthy of Events 533 - Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Chicago Park District is the oldest and (financially largest Park district in the U A park is a protected area of Land and Water, usually in its natural or semi-natural (landscaped state and set aside for some purpose often to do with human The neighborhoods of Chicago are less well-defined than Chicago 's 77 Community Areas. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. The State of Illinois ( roughly ill-i-NOY is a state of the United States of America, the 21st to be admitted to the Union. See also Washington Park Chicago Washington Park is a 372 acre (1 Jackson Park is a 500 acre (2 km² park on Chicago 's South Side officially located at 6401 S It divides the Hyde Park community area to the north from the Woodlawn community area to the south. History (Hyde Park Paul Cornell a successful businessman real-estate speculator and Abolitionist, purchased of land between 51st and 55th Streets along the Lake The City of Chicago is divided into seventy-seven community areas. Demographics In the 1990 census Woodlawn had twenty seven thousand individuals living in ten thousand households It is located approximately 6 miles south of the downtown "Loop" area, near Lake Michigan. Population According to the 2000 Census, 16388 people live in the Loop Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America, and the only one located entirely within the United States.
It served as a center of amusements during the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, lending the name "Midway" to areas at county and state fairs where sideshows are located. Theme park is the generic term for a collection of rides and other Entertainment attractions assembled for the purpose of entertaining a large group The World's Columbian Exposition (also called The Chicago World's Fair) a World's Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary Year 1893 ( MDCCCXCIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common A fair is a gathering of people to display or trade produce or other goods to parade or display animals and often to enjoy associated Carnival or Funfair entertainment A state fair is a competitive and recreational gathering of a U In America a sideshow is an extra secondary production associated with a circus, carnival fair or other such attraction It forms the southern end of the University of Chicago campus, with university and related buildings fronting it on both sides. The University of Chicago is a Private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago.
Laid out with long vistas and avenues of tree at the turn of the century, the Midway in part followed the vision of Frederick Law Olmsted, one of the creators of New York City' famous Central Park, but without his impracticable dream of creating a Venetian canal linking the lagoon systems of Jackson and Washington Parks. Frederick Law Olmsted ( April 25, 1822 &ndash August 28, 1903) was an American landscape designer and father of American The City of New York Central Park is a large public Urban park in New York City, with about twenty-five million visitors annually Venice ( Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venesia or Venexia) is a city in Northern Italy, the capital of the
Later designers and artists added (or sought to add) their vision to the Midway. A pet project of the University of Chicago and almost a part of its campus, it has remained essentially a green area.
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Origin of the name
The word "plaisance" is a quaint obsolete spelling for "pleasance", itself an obscure word in this context meaning "a pleasure ground laid out with shady walks, trees and shrubs, statuary, and ornamental water. "
The South Park Commission plan
The Midway Plaisance began as a vision in the 1850's of Paul Cornell, a land developer, to turn an undeveloped stretch of infertile land south of Chicago into an urban lakeside retreat for middle and upper class residents seeking to escape the crowds and dirt of the booming city. The area was a lakefront marsh ecosystem. In Geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of Wetland which is subject An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants animals and micro-organisms( Biotic factors in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical (
In 1869, Cornell and his South Park Commission were granted the right to set up a complex of parks and boulevards that would include Washington Park to the west, Jackson Park to the east on the lakeshore, and the Midway Plaisance as a system of paths and waterways connecting the two (see Encyclopedia of Chicago Map). Year 1869 ( MDCCCLXIX) is a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year The firm of Olmsted, Vaux, and Co. , famous for creating New York City's Central Park, was hired to design the urban oasis. Part of their plan was that the Midway would function as "a magnificent chain of lakes," allowing boaters to go from the ponds to be built in Washington Park to the lagoons to be developed in Jackson Park and through the lagoons to Lake Michigan.
Unfortunately, the South Park Commission office, where all the detailed plans were stored, was burned in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The Great Chicago Fire was a Conflagration that burned from Sunday October 8 to early Tuesday October 10 1871 killing hundreds and destroying about four square miles in Year 1871 ( MDCCCLXXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The expense of rebuilding the city eliminated the funds to cover expenditures that the plans would have entailed, and the South Park area remained largely in its natural swampy state.
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 was held in the underdeveloped parts of the South Park. The World's Columbian Exposition (also called The Chicago World's Fair) a World's Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary Year 1893 ( MDCCCXCIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The worldwide celebration of Columbus' transfer of "the torch of civilization to the New World" in 1492 was one of the most successful and influential of world's fairs. Christopher Columbus (1451 &ndash May 20 1506 was an Italian Navigator, colonizer Expo (short for "exposition" and also known as World Fair and World's Fair) is the name given to various large public exhibitions held since the It covered over 600 acres (2. 4 km²) and attracted exhibitors and visitors from all over the world.
For the Exposition, the mile-long Midway Plaisance, running from the eastern edge of Washington Park on Cottage Grove Avenue, to the western edge of Jackson Park on Stony Island Avenue was turned over to the theatrical entrepreneur Sol Bloom, a protegé of Chicago mayor Carter Harrison, Sr.. Stony Island Avenue is a major thoroughfare on South Side of the city of Chicago, designated 1600 E in Chicago's street numbering system. Sol Bloom ( March 9, 1870 &ndash March 7, 1949) was an entertainment and popular music entrepreneur who billed himself as "Sol Bloom the Carter Henry Harrison Sr ( February 15 1825 &ndash October 28 1893) was an American politician who served as mayor It became a grand mix of fakes, hokum, and the genuinely educational and introduced the "hootchy-cootchy" version of the belly dance in the "Street in Cairo" amusement; it was the most popular, with 2. Belly dance is a Western term for a traditional Middle Eastern Dance form 25 million admissions. George Ferris' first Ferris Wheel had 1. George Washington Gale Ferris Jr ( February 14, 1859 - November 22, 1896) invented the Ferris wheel, for the 1893 Chicago A Ferris wheel (also known as an observation wheel or big wheel) is a Nonbuilding structure consisting of an upright wheel with passenger gondolas attached 5 million riders. The Midway's money-making concessions and sideshows made over $4 million in 1893 dollars, and it was the more memorable portion of the Exposition for many visitors.
In the years after the Exposition closed, midway came to be used commonly in the U. A midway at a Fair (commonly an American fair such as a county or state fair is the location where Amusement rides Entertainment and Fast S. to signify the area for amusements at a county or state fair, circus, or amusement park. A state fair is a competitive and recreational gathering of a U A circus is most commonly a traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, Clowns trained animals trapeze acts Hoopers, tightrope walkers Theme park is the generic term for a collection of rides and other Entertainment attractions assembled for the purpose of entertaining a large group
University of Chicago
Following the Exposition, the Midway Plaisance was returned to a park setting, under the renewed plans of Frederick Law Olmsted. Frederick Law Olmsted ( April 25, 1822 &ndash August 28, 1903) was an American landscape designer and father of American He hoped to create a Venetian canal between the lagoon systems of Jackson and Washington Parks, but this part proved unfeasible. Canals are artificial channels for water There are two types of canals water conveyance canals which are used for the conveyance and delivery of water and Waterways The land slopes downward from east to west and the proposed canals would have drained Lake Michigan into Washington Park. The Midway has gradually become a part of the University of Chicago which expanded in 1926 to be located on either side of it. The University of Chicago is a Private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. Later designers and artists, including Lorado Taft, and Eero Saarinen added or sought to add their vision to the Midway. Lorado Zadoc Taft ( April 29, 1860 – October 30, 1936) was an American sculptor writer and educator born in Elmwood Illinois in Eero Saarinen (eːro saːrinen (August 20 1910 Kirkkonummi, Finland – September 1 1961 Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States) was Statues of the father of modern taxonomy, Carolus Linnaeus, and an equestrian statue of the Knight of Blanik, a legendary Czech savior who emerges from Blanik mountain in his nation's hour of need, grace the Midway. Carl Linnaeus (Latinized as Carolus Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as, May 23 new style (13 May old style 1707 who laid the foundations for
It has remained essentially a green area, a public resource subject to much speculation, and various periodic plans of redevelopment. The sunken panels, home now to soccer players and a new ice skating and sports facility, the cross-street "bridges," and the east-west lines of trees, pay homage to Olmsted's vision.
In 1999, a new master plan for the Midway Plaisance was unveiled by the University of Chicago and the Chicago Park District. Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) The University of Chicago is a Private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago.
The proximity of the Midway to the University gave the school's early football teams, the Maroons, a second nickname, "Monsters of the Midway", a name later applied to the Chicago Bears when the U of C dropped its football program. The " Monsters of the Midway " is most widely known as the Nickname for the National Football League 's Chicago Bears &mdash particularly the dominant The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois.
See also
References
- ^ National Register Information System. A midway at a Fair (commonly an American fair such as a county or state fair is the location where Amusement rides Entertainment and Fast National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2006-03-15). Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 44 BC - Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus,
External links
- Chicago Park District - Midway Plaisance Park official website
- Midway Plaisance Park webpage
- Chicago's Midway Plaisance Walking Tour website
- Midway Plaisance Plan at the University of Chicago
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