The Chicago Plan

Daniel Burnham
 Chicago Fire
• The Chicago Fire began October
8, 1871.
• It ended October 10.
• It destroyed 3.3 square miles of
Chicago.
• The city needed a plan for
growth as it was being rebuilt.
 Daniel Burnham
• Daniel Burnham was
hired to design a plan for
Chicago.
• He began working on this
plan in 1909.
• He used his experience
from the Columbian
Exposition to help him
with this plan.
 Major Elements of the Plan
1. Improve the lakefront 2. Create a highway system
with public beaches and reaching 75 miles from the
parks city’s center
 Major Elements of the Plan
4. Create outer parks
3. Improve the railroads by including the Cook County
combining rail lines and stations Forest Preserves
 Major Elements of the Plan
6. Build civic and cultural
5. Systematically centers near Grant Park
arrange the city streets
with a grid plan and
certain diagonal roads
 Problems
• Daniel Burnham died in 1912 before the
whole plan was carried out.
• The plan was criticized because it focused
too much on physical improvements.
• The Great Depression slowed construction
because the city could not pay for the
projects.
• The street plan had to be expanded after
realizing that many more people than
anticipated owned personal automobiles.
 Burnham’s Successes
1. All but four miles of lakefront
is open for public use through
beaches and parks.
2. Grant Park and Museum
Campus create the civic and
cultural center he dreamed
about.
 Burnham’s Successes
3. Navy Pier is similar to 4. Many bridges, the two-
the pier included in the level Wacker drive, and
original plan. Union Station were all
constructed.
 “Make no little plans;
they have no magic to
stir men’s blood and
probably themselves will
not be realized.”
-Daniel Burnham