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.