Hundreds of people cross the street at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive every day in Chicago. This is a busy intersection – I wouldn’t say it’s the busiest, but it’s up there. The buildings surrounding it give it a very historic vibe with their white stone facades and combination of Art Deco and Neo-classical styles. It feels like old-school Chicago, like maybe from the 20’s or 30’s, at least what I imagine it was like, only a lot cleaner now.
If you go north to cross the river on the Michigan Avenue bridge you might step on an L-shaped bronze plaque embedded in the sidewalk. It reads, “Site of Fort Dearborn.” That’s it. There’s no explanation. And if you do stop and stand there, you are standing on what used to be the U.S. Army’s westernmost outpost in the early 19th century, named after Henry Dearborn, President Thomas Jefferson’s Secretary of War. Today, several blocks west you will run into Dearborn Street, which still bears his name.
If you were standing there, back then, you would be about thirty feet lower, on the riverbank, not standing on what is actually the street that runs over another street (Lower Wacker Drive). There was nothing to the east except Lake Michigan. The “fort” itself was a few buildings surrounded by a double stockade fence, all built of logs and wood. It’s hard to picture given the current backdrop of skyscrapers and bridges, concrete and cars, but 217 years ago it was pretty much a little fort on the mouth of the Chicago River surrounded by open prairie. The only noise was from the river flowing into the lake. There were a couple of houses outside the fence, and John Kinzie’s trading post, but that was it. So all around you, all the activity – the buildings, the bridges, the people – it all started right here in 1804. That’s not that long ago really, and it’s pretty amazing if you pause for a second and look around at the growth that has happened in such a short amount of time.
It’s really cool that a city can have such a connection to a specific spot, and you can still go there and check it out. I always try to take people there when they are visiting and want me to show them around. It’s easy to get to and located near plenty of other things to do so it’s not like it’s some weird special trip, and I like that about it too. It’s just kind of there, still right in the middle of all this stuff that has happened all around it, and still is.
-PJ
Image credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_Dearborn_Chicago_2012-0240.jpg