Northerly Island
Back to Northerly Island
Back to Northerly Island
First, some background
This is 12th Street Beach, part of one of the most striking gems of the Chicago lakefront: Northerly Island. Like much of the downtown lakefront, the 91-acre peninsula was created from landfill, ash, and dirt in the early decades of the 1900s. It has played an important role in Chicago history, particularly for being the site of the Century of Progress, the 1933-34 World's Fair (pictured here).
The designers of Northerly Island planned for it to be open parkland. But, due to the city's growing need for a lakefront airfield that could handle larger planes, the area was converted to an airport roughly 20 years after it was completed. In 2003, the Merrill C. Meigs Field Airport was demolished. Since then, the Chicago Park District has launched a series of renovation projects to return Northerly Island to the parkland it was intended to be. And they are just some of many on-going efforts to restore and preserve Chicago-area ecosystems.
The designers of Northerly Island planned for it to be open parkland. But, due to the city's growing need for a lakefront airfield that could handle larger planes, the area was converted to an airport roughly 20 years after it was completed. In 2003, the Merrill C. Meigs Field Airport was demolished. Since then, the Chicago Park District has launched a series of renovation projects to return Northerly Island to the parkland it was intended to be. And they are just some of many on-going efforts to restore and preserve Chicago-area ecosystems.
