Original Lakeshore

 

“Jackson Park January 1891” painting by J. Francis Murphy http://arcadiasystems.org/academia/cassatt8d.html

Hyde Park/Kenwood is flat now, leveled off with landfill, but once upon a time, it was marked with the remains of the receding lakeshore—petrified dune ridges of sand and pans—low-lying moist areas with water always close to the surface and richer soil. Early comments focus on the abundance of wildflowers. The University of Chicago was going to call its teams the Goldenrods in honor of the flowers on the Midway before the Fair. Here’s how an early settler remembered her first sight of her new home:

“All of the ridges were decorated with oak trees and wild fruit trees and vines, with wild roses and hazel shrubbery beneath.... All the low land had a variety of willows, and every kind of flower that loves to have its feet in water, while the grass fields that stretched between the ridges were blue with violets.” Annie McClure Hitchcock, “Reminiscences of Kenwood in 1859”

This painting illustrates the site of the future World's Fair. It might even be of Wooded Island, the last surviving sand ridge. A few Burr Oaks from this original ecosystem are still growing on the southern tip of Wooded Island. 

Francis M. Drexel Memorial Fountain

Francis M. Drexel Memorial Fountain 1910 (Chuckman Chicago Nostalgia collection)

The Fountain deserves its own post as the oldest surviving public fountain in Chicago (seahorses!) but since I just posted on Olmsted, Cleveland, and the role of Drexel Boulevard in the South Parks plan, I thought I’d ask, why Drexel when the man never set foot in Chicago? Drexel was quite a character https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Martin_Drexel but the name of the boulevard has more to do with his sons.

I found the answer in Susan O’Connor Davis’s articles in the Herald. Dr. Egan, who came to Chicago from Ireland in 1833, originally owned a large tract of land he called Egandale, which he wanted to turn into an estate like those in Ireland—complete with a winding road to the north. Egan died in 1860 with the lands mortgaged to Drexel & Smith of Philadelphia. When the South Parks boundaries were being hashed out in 1865, the commission wanted to extend the parks into these open lands, but the Drexel sons, whose father had died in 1863, refused (in a well-financed stormy battle). The sons agreed to donate the existing Grove Parkway for the landscaped boulevard connecting the western park to Chicago proper because they knew the boulevard would turn the land into extremely valuable real estate. Then in 1881, the sons agreed to pay for the statue, fountain, and landscaping around it because the boulevard had been renamed for Francis. The fountain was erected at the contentious boundary where the boulevard enters Washington Park. Francis gazes out at his good investment. One of the sons used his wealth to found Drexel University.

 

Drexel Boulevard and Horace Cleveland

 

 

Olmsted and Vaux’s plan for the South Park System went up in smoke in the 1871 fire. Luckily, a landscape architect had moved to Chicago in 1869. Horace Cleveland was a friend of Olmsted’s who shared a vision of nature as a necessary relief in urban design. He designed and developed Washington Park and Drexel Boulevard in the 1870s. Cleveland thought the Chicago grid of streets was rigid and confining. His designs developed flow through a natural environment as an emotional relief. With the boulevard landscaped and traffic restricted, it quickly became an attractive location for development. Horace Cleveland - Wikipedia

Drexel Boulevard 1893

People mention that Jackson Park, the Midway Plaisance, and Washington Park were originally designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, but rarely mention that Drexel Boulevard was also created as part of the Olmsted plan, connecting the South Parks with the western and northern parks in a "green necklace" for the city. Drexel and Washington Park were developed early, in part because traffic came through there to get to the racetrack, and in part because Drexel attracted grand homes. Both were spruced up with elaborate plantings for the 1893 Columbian Exposition.

if you want more on the background of Drexel, check out Susan O'Connor Davis in the Herald archives: http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc...