The History of Chicago's Michigan Avenue Bridge.

A boulevard to link Chicago's north and south sides was proposed as early as 1891. An early plan called for a tunnel to link Michigan Boulevard south of the Chicago River with Pine Street north of the river. 

Pine Street (400 to 999N) was renamed to Lincoln Park Boulevard (600 to 999N) as far south as Ohio Street (600N) when the street connected with Lake Shore Drive in the early 1890s and then became part of Michigan Avenue in 1920 when the Michigan Avenue bridge was completed connecting Michigan Avenue (Michigan Boulevard before the Great Chicago Fire in 1871), south of the Chicago River.

In 1903 an editorial in the Chicago Tribune proposed a new bascule bridge across the Chicago River at Michigan Avenue. Other plans suggested that the bridge should be a replica of the Pont Alexandre III that spans the Seine River in Paris, France, or, rather than constructing an entirely new bridge, the existing Rush Street bridge should be double-decked.

The Pont Alexandre III Bridge, Paris, France.

Plans for the boulevard and the construction of a Michigan Avenue Bridge were further elaborated upon in Daniel Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago. In 1911 a plan was selected that included the widening of Michigan Avenue from Randolph Street to the river, replacing the Rush Street bridge with a new bridge at Michigan Avenue and the construction of a double-decked boulevard along Pine Street as far as Ohio Street. 

An ordinance to fund construction was passed in 1913 but was declared void by the Supreme Court of Illinois. A second ordinance was passed in 1914, but legal battles continued until the end of 1916. 

Looking south from the northside of the Chicago River at Michigan Avenue and the Rush Street bridge on the far right. June 1915

The final three lots of real estate necessary for the construction of the Michigan Avenue bridge were secured in 1917.

(1) The city paid $719,532 to the estate of W. F. McLaughlin for a piece of property on the east side of Michigan Avenue fronting the south side of the river. 
(2) $62,500 went to John S. Miller for a triangular piece of land across Michigan Avenue from the McLaughlin property. 
(3) $91,760 was paid to Levy Mayer for a small piece of property directly south of the McLaughlin building.

The three real estate lots on the south of the river were purchased to build the new Michigan Avenue bridge.

With these three transactions ($13,127,710 today) the city was ready to build the bridge that would change the north side of the city forever. The Rush Street bridge, which was dismantled when the Michigan Avenue bridge was opened, is on the right.

Michigan Avenue Bridge Dedication on May 14, 1920.

Construction finally started on April 15, 1918, and the bridge was officially opened in a ceremony on May 14, 1920. 

The open Michigan Avenue Bridge raised to let ships pass. 1931

On March 28, 1921, the executive committee of the Chicago Plan Commission through its chairman, Charles H. Wacker, issued the following statement:

We are happy to announce to the men and women of Chicago that William Wrigley Jr., has contributed $50,000 towards a fund of $100,000 for a fitting treatment of the four Michigan Avenue bridge houses. This gift is especially generous because Mr. Wrigley, at the request of the Chicago Plan Commission, already has spent an extra $20,000 on the beautification of the entrance to his monumental building. Matching his public spirit, the Ferguson fund trustees have contributed the additional $50,000 for the bridge houses. The site of Fort Dearborn and the spot where stood the first house constructed in Chicago by Jean Baptiste Point du Sable are both represented as reliefs on the bridge houses.

Looking North at the Michigan Avenue Bridge. 1948

The bridge was officially renamed the "Du Sable Bridge" in October 2010, to honor Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable was the first negro, non-native, settler in Chicago.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The Art Institute of Chicago Building Contract and Completion Details from 1892.

The construction contract was signed on February 6, 1892, to build the Art Institute building by Jonathan Clark and Sons Company. The amount specified in the contract was $325,000 ($9,362,000 today). In the end, the total cost for construction ran $975,000 ($29.4 million today). 

Jonathan Clark said it would take a few weeks to raze the Interstate Industrial Exposition Building. The demolition took place around March 15, 1892. Funds for the new building came from three sources. 

The Art Institute nears completion as the Illinois Central Railroad continues to surround it with coal smoke. The photo was taken from the 17-story Auditorium Building, the tallest building at the time.

The sale of the Art Institute's former building had raised $275,000. The World's Fair Directory put in the sum of $200,000, and Charles L. Hutchinson, President of the Art Institute, had raised $55,000 through private subscriptions. 

Jonathan Clark was under considerable pressure to complete the building quickly. According to the contract, it must be ready by May 1, 1893, or the World's Fair Directors are released from their contractual obligation to pay any amount of the $200,000 they have pledged. The contractor was under "forfeiture bonds" amounting to $100,000 if the building was not finished by the specified date.

The World Congress Auxiliary of the World's Columbian Exposition occupied the new building from May 1 to October 31, 1893, after which the Art Institute took possession on November 1, 1893. The Art Institute was officially opened to the public on December 8, 1893.

The World Congress Auxiliary opened its doors a few days after opening the World's Fair on May 13, 1893.

Additional Reading: The History of the Lions at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

The Chicago Union Stockyards Fire on December 22, 1910.

On December 22-23, 1910, while battling a ferocious fire inside the Morris and Company meatpacking plant at the Chicago Union Stockyards on the 4300 block of South Loomis Street, it was first reported on December 22 at 4:09 AM. 

Twenty-one Chicago firefighters were crushed to death when a wall collapsed. Before September 11, 2001, the Stockyard tragedy was the deadliest building collapse involving firefighters in the nation's history.

When the fire broke out, it was uncontrollable from the start. It required so many firemen so quickly and couldn’t be put out.

Long before 1910, fires were a common occurrence at the Union Stockyards. Inside these plants were flammables like grease and wood. All it took was a spark, or, in the case of the infamous Stockyard fire, a shorted electrical socket.

It was a cauldron ready to explode, and that’s what it did.

Nelson Morris Warehouse № 7, at the 4300 block of South Loomis Street.

Around 4:10 AM on the 22nd, firefighters arrived outside Warehouse № 7 of the Nelson Morris and Co. meatpacking plant and found black smoke billowing from a loading dock next to the building. The call proved difficult from the very beginning. There was only one way to battle the flames — stand on a loading dock that was covered by an old, wooden canopy and aim their hoses at the heart of the fire.

Firefighters battling the Morris & Co. fire in the Union Stockyards.

With a seven-story brick building on one side and a line of railroad boxcars that butted up to the loading dock, the canopy above it formed a tunnel-like effect. Arriving engines were stretching hose lines down the railroad tracks and then under the boxcars in an effort to have a better vantage point.

At 5:05 AM, Chief Fire Marshal James Horan arrived on the scene. Horan ordered firefighters from two truck companies — № 11 and № 18 — to ax open the plant’s door. And he had two other men check the condition of the wooden canopy.

Smoke blinded the firefighters. Intense heat smothered them. They fought on. Before the building collapsed, there was little warning — just a “deep groan” from within the burning plant. The force of the collapse was so great it not only crushed the canopy, but it knocked several of the boxcars clean off the tracks and onto their sides.

The collapse killed three civilians and 21 firefighters, including Chief Horan, whose personalized helmet is in the Chicago History Museum archives.

The blaze was extinguished at 6:37 AM on December 23rd. The disaster left 19 widows and orphaned 35 children three days before Christmas.

Local news accounts at the time described the macabre scene in detail, including how the bodies of many of the dead were found buried in the rubble amid hog meat that had been stored in the building. It took 17 hours to pull all the bodies from the ruins.

Left in the wake of this tragedy, just days before Christmas, were 19 widows and 35 orphaned children. Contributions raised for the families of the fallen firefighters grew into a controversy pitting the widows against others led by Harlow Higinbotham, who wanted to "manage" the $211,000 in funds for the grieving families rather than distribute the money directly to the widows, parents, and families.

It was said that Higinbotham had earlier kept some of the money intended for the widows and orphans of firemen killed in the 1893 Chicago World's Fair Cold Storage Fire. This would not happen again because the widows' sued, and their case ended up in court, where the judge found in their favor, allowing the widows to control the distribution of the funds.

The deceased was buried within a few days, and some of the funerals were held on Christmas Day. 

On December 22, 2004, city officials dedicated the Chicago Stockyard Fire Memorial was erected just behind the Union Stock Yards Gate at the intersection of Exchange Avenue and Peoria Street. An 8-foot-tall bronze and aluminum sculpture and a “Wall of Honor” bearing the names of Chicago firefighters and paramedics who have died in the line of duty.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.