Chicago beaches
December 5, 2007
Chicago beaches
The beaches in Chicago are an extensive network of waterfront recreational areas in the Chicago Park District. The Chicago Metropolitan waterfront includes parts of the Lake Michigan shores as well as parts of the banks of the Chicago, Des Plaines, Calumet, Fox, and DuPage Rivers and their tributaries.[1] The waterfront also includes the Illinois and Michigan Canal and the Sanitary and Ship Canal.[1] Historically, the waterfront has been used for commerce, industry, and leisure. Leisure, such as fishing, swimming, hunting, walking and boating, was much more prevalent throughout the river sections of the waterfront system in the early in the nineteenth century before industrial uses altered the landscape. By midcentury, much leisure shifted to Lake Michigan as a result of industrial influence. The first City of Chicago Public Beach opened in Lincoln Park in 1895.[2]
Today, the entire 28 miles (45 km) Chicago lakefront shoreline is man-made.[3] There are twenty nine lakefront beaches in Chicago along the shore of Lake Michigan.[4] Two more are located within city parks. Currents and wave action in Lake Michigan tend to move sand from north to south, where it eventually ends up in the Indiana Dunes.[citation needed] Winter storms erode some of Chicago’s beaches, and deposit the sand on others, requiring the Park District to supplement tons of sand yearly. The Chicago Lifeguard Service force is the largest of its kind in the nation, employing over a thousand guards in the summer (between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend). Chicago also has the most swimable and most guarded waterfront of any single municipality in the world. While many patrons complain about the cleanliness of the water, Chicago boasts the cleanest urban waterfront in the United States, and second in the world only to Stockholm; water is tested daily by the Chicago Park District for E. coli and other dangers.
History
Early beaches were generally funded by private entities such as hotels and private clubs.[5] Late 19th century ordinances prohibited public bathing in the lakes. Social reform movements lobbied for lakeshore use for recreational purposes by the poor and working class.[5] Late nineteenth century bathing norms created demand for public baths for the poor.[6] A second lobbyist motivation was that social refomers of the late nineteenth century saw public beaches as an opportunity to accommodate demand for public baths and eliminate the expenditure of enforcement resources on ordinance violations for public bathing.[5] The city responded by opening the first public bathing beach in 1895 in Lincoln Park primarily as a response to the efforts of the Free Bath and Sanitary League (formerly the Municipal Order League).[5] Spaces were designated for public use and the city accepted responsibility for maintaining the beaches.
By 1900 the lakefront was divided into zones of recreational, residential, agricultural and industrial uses. Lake Michigan water quality concerns lead to the reversal of the Chicago river with deep cut of the Illinois & Michigan canal in 1871 and the construction of the Sanitary and Ship Canal at the turn of the century.[1] The 1909 Burnham Plan led to development of the lakefront.[1] Lakefront development was dictated by recreational concerns instead of commercial ones due to the influence of Aaron Montgomery Ward. His belief that the foremost concern was for the public’s access to the Lake left its impression on the development of Jackson, Burnham, Grant and Lincoln Parks.[3] Continuing social reform efforts, led to the opening of several municipal beaches in the second decade of the twentieth century. The city reclaimed the privately owned lakefront beaches by the 1920s.[5] The 1919 Race Riot started a history of race riots related to beach resources. In this confrontation, a black youth unknowingly transgressed a racial line of demarcation on the beach and was stoned and drowned setting off days of rioting that lead to several deaths. Many other riots are mentioned under the appropriate beaches below.
Juneway Terrace Beach
Juneway Terrace Beach, located at the 7800 north block of Lake Michigan,[7] is the northernmost beach in Chicago, lies in Rogers Avenue Beach and Park. It is separated from Rogers Beach by a stretch of rip rap protecting three apartment buildings.
Rogers Beach
Rogers Beach lies in Rogers Avenue Beach and Park at 7705 north.[7] Barely one block long, the park also has tennis courts.
Howard Beach
Howard Beach lies in Howard Street Beach and Park at 7600 north,[7] which is just south of Howard Street. It is perhaps 213 feet (65 meters) long.
Jarvis Beach / Fargo Beach
Jarvis beach located at 7400 north and Fargo beach is located at 7432 north.[7] Offshore stretches of riprap act to reduce erosion of this beach, which is about three blocks long.
Loyola Beach / Leone Beach
Located at 7032 North Sheridan and extending for eight blocks, Leone Beach is Chicago’s largest.[8]
Pratt Beach
Contiguous with Leone/Loyola Beach located at 1050 West Pratt Boulevard.[7]
Hartigan Beach / Albion Beach
Contiguous with Pratt Beach, located at 6800 north,[7] ends just north of Loyola Avenue.
Columbia Beach
Columbia Beach is located at 6726 north.[7]
North Shore Beach
North Shore Beach is located at 6700 north.[7]
Thorndale Beach
Thorndale Beach is located at 5934 north.[7]
Kathy Osterman Beach (formerly Hollywood Beach)
Located at the 5800 North block where Lake Shore Drive ends at a curve that feeds into Sheridan Road (near West Hollywood Avenue and North Lake Shore Drive), this crescent-shaped beach serves two groups. The northern half is largely a family beach and the southern half is largely a gay men and lesbian beach.[9] The northern half of the beach has shallow water which makes it kid-friendly.[10]
Foster Avenue Beach
Foster Avenue Beach is located at 5200 north.[7]
Wilson Avenue / Montrose Avenue Beach
Montrose beach is a large north side beach. It is one of few beaches patrons may launch non-motorized watercraft, such as kayaks and catamarans into Lake Michigan. It also has one of only two dog beaches in the Chicago Park District, making it a popular beach for dog lovers. In the fenced off dog-friendly section at the north end of the beach leashless dogs are permitted once on the sand. Montrose beach hosts the Junior Guard regional championships every summer.
There is also an “unofficial” dog beach at Belmont Harbor, which is not officially a Chicago Park District beach. Wave action deposited a small triangular patch of sand in a protected corner of Belmont Harbor sometime in the 1980s. This beach is completely fenced in, but patrons allowing their dog off leash may still get ticketed. Wilson Avenue is 4600 north and Montose Avenue is 4400 north.[7] Thus, it is actually a misnomer that the dog beach is at Montrose Avenue Beach because the beach is at the northern end of these contiguous beaches.
Wilson Avenue Beach once officially located at the 4600 North Block, was at one time a private beach owned. In 1915, the City opened Clarendon Beach (now Montrose Avenue Beach) immediately to the south at the 4400 North Block as a public beach.[11] By 1929, 2 million people had visited the two long public beach.[11] In 1916, a clash over a suspected non-paying transgressor to the private beach led to the beating by lifeguards and members.[12]
North Avenue Beach
The North Avenue Beach, located at 1600 north,[7] is considered by many to be Chicago’s premier beach. It has the largest lifeguard staff and is home to the most developed beachhouse. Technically running from North Avenue to Diversey Harbor, North Avenue Beach is characterized by its piers which hold the sand in place and create a scalloped shoreline, terminating in a Cape Cod-like hook. The beach hosts international volleyball tournaments as well as millions of sun worshippers every year. North Avenue is also center stage for the Chicago Air & Water Show, which draws over a million people a day from Ohio to Diversey along the lakefront. North Avenue Beach is the site of the annual AVP Chicago Open (2006 is known as the AVP McDonald’s Chicago Open presented by Nautica). North Avenue Beach is also home to the only chess pavilion in Chicago.
Humboldt Park Beach
Located in a former lagoon of Humboldt Park which was dredged and given a sand bottom. At 41.9066° N 87.7031° W, this “beach” is mostly used by small children as a shallow wading pond. It is guarded in the summer and drained when not guarded.
Oak Street Beach
Oak Street Beach, located at 1000 north,[7] covers the area from the North Avenue ‘Hook’ Pier south to Ohio Street Beach (Illinois St. Beach, Olive Beach), about 1.5 mi (2 km). Oak Street is home to the largest area of deep water swimming in the city (1/2 mile (800 m) over 10 ft (3 m)), and is training grounds for hundreds of triathletes and distance swimmers. Until 2006 Oak Street Beach was also the only place in the city where SCUBA divers could dive close to the shore. The north ledge was once a hot spot for the city’s gay community, and still is a second home to thousands of sunbathers, runners, skaters and bikers. At one point Oak Street was the city’s most popular beach with its proximity to downtown and boasted tens of thousands of visitors each day.
Ohio Street Beach
A small beach in Olive Park located just north of Ohio Street (400N)[7] east of Lake Shore Drive. It faces north, rather than the usual east, because it formed on its own in a bay created by the Jardine Water Purification Plant which juts out into the Lake.
12th Street Beach
The 12th Street Beach is just south of the Adler Planetarium on Northerly Island (formerly the site of Meigs Field). The beach runs from about 1300 S to about 1450 S, but was named 12th Street Beach rather than (unlucky) 13th Street Beach. When 12th Street was renamed Roosevelt Road the beach retained its name, but now is sometimes called 14th Street Beach.
25th Street Beach / 26th Street Beach
No longer extant, these segregated beaches were the flashpoint of the Chicago Race Riot of 1919.
31st Street Beach
The 31st Street Beach is located in Burnham Park. The beach is host every year to the Junior Lifeguard Chicago Area Tug-o-War. Lifeguards here cover most of the area from the beach north to McCormick Place.
49th Street Beach
49th Street Beach is a small stone beach in Burnham Park. It is not guarded, so swimming is not allowed.
57th Street Beach
The 57th Street Beach is in the city’s Hyde Park neighborhood, across Lake Shore Drive from the Museum of Science and Industry. Recent renovations have made it easier to access with two large underpasses at the intersection of 57th Street and Lake Shore Drive. 57th Street Beach provides an area of deep swimming south of Promontory Point.
63rd Street Beach
The 63rd Street Beach is just outside of Jackson Park. It is home to the largest and oldest beach house in the City. In July 1913, Jackson Park Beach was the cite of a clash over required bathing attire when Dr. Rosalie Ladova was arrested for disorderly conduct for swimming in her bloomers after removing her bathing skirt.[13]
South Shore Beach
South Shore Beach is the beach behind the Chicago Park District’s South Shore Cultural Center (formerly South Shore Country Club), which is located at the intersection of 71st and South Shore Drive. The Country club is a magnificent old building and it home to a ballroom, restaurant, golf course and tennis courts. The Beach also runs up against 67th street beach and Jackson Park
Ashe Beach
Ashe Beach Park is a newer addition to the Chicago Park District’s beaches, bought in 1979 and named for the late tennis great Arthur Ashe, after he died of AIDS in 1993. In addition to the beach, the park features two tennis courts. It is located between 74th and 75th Streets.[14]
Rainbow Beach
Rainbow Beach is officially located at 3111 E. 77th St.,[15] is a beach in the Chicago Park District’s Rainbow Beach & Park that stretches from 75th Street to 78th Street on the Lake Michigan shoreline.[16] Rainbow Beach was named such in 1918.
Starting with the 1919 Race Riot, Chicago has had a long history of race riots related to use of public resources, such as parks and beaches. Rainbow beach was an area of controversy for black and white youth. Black families that were economically dependent on the nearby South Chicago steel mills had avoided the public hostility of the lifeguards and white bathers. Demographic shifts and racial climate change of the 1960’s led to a July 7 and 8, 1961 “freedom wade-in” at Rainbow Beach staged by an interracial coalition of demonstrators, including members of the NAACP Youth Council.[17]
Calumet Beach
Calumet Park,[18] which is not to be confused with Calumet Park, IL, contains beaches located at the 9600, 9800 and 9900 South blocks along Lake Michigan. The main beach has a Beach House with a concessions stand.
Lake Michigan
December 5, 2007
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America, and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is bounded, from west to east, by the U.S. states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. The word “Michigan” was originally used to refer to the lake itself, and is believed to come from the Ojibwa Indian word mishigami, meaning “great water.”[2]
Lake Michigan (44° N, 87° W) is the only one of the Great Lakes wholly within the borders of the United States; the others are shared with Canada. It has a surface area of 22,400 square miles (58,016 km²),[1] making it the largest freshwater lake in the U.S., the largest lake entirely within one country by surface area (Lake Baikal, in Russia, is by water volume), and the fifth largest lake in the world. It is 307 miles (494 km) long by 118 miles (190 km) wide with a shoreline 1,640 miles (2,633 km) long. The lake’s average depth is 279 feet (85 m), while its greatest depth is 923 feet (281 m).[1] It contains a volume of 1,180 cubic miles (4,918 cubic km) of water. Its surface averages 577 feet (176 m)[1] above sea level, the same as Lake Huron, to which it is connected through the Straits of Mackinac.
Major cities
12 million people live along Lake Michigan’s shores. Many small cities in Northern Michigan are centered on a tourist base that takes advantage of the beauty and recreational opportunities offered by Lake Michigan. These cities have large seasonal populations that arrive from Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, and inland cities in Southern Michigan. The southern tip of the lake is heavily industrialized. Cities on the shores of Lake Michigan with populations larger than 30,000 include:
Illinois
Chicago
Evanston
Highland Park
North Chicago
Waukegan
Indiana
East Chicago
Gary
Hammond
Michigan City
Portage
Michigan
Holland
Muskegon
St. Joseph
Benton Harbor
Wisconsin
Green Bay
Kenosha
Manitowoc
Milwaukee
Racine
Sheboygan
Beaches
Lake Michigan beaches, especially those in Michigan and Northern Indiana, are known for their beauty. The region is often referred to as the “Third Coast” of the United States, after those of the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The sand is soft and off-white, known as “singing sands” because of the squeaking noise (caused by high quartz content) made when one walks across it. There are often high sand dunes covered in green beach grass and sand cherries, and the water is usually clear and cold (between 55 and 70 °F/13 and 21 °C) [1], even in late summer. Lake Michigan beaches in Northern Michigan are the only place in the world, aside from a few inland lakes in that region, where one can find Petoskey stones, the state stone.
The beaches of the western coast and the northernmost part of the east coast are rocky, while the southern and eastern beaches are sandy and dune covered. This is partly because of the prevailing winds from the west which also cause thick layers of ice to build up on the eastern shore in winter.
Contrary to recent reports, Chicago annually imports fresh sand to replenish the popular city beaches (similar to Key West) but much of the city waterfront is parks, stone revetments, marinas or residential developments in the north or industrial sites in the south. (see Chicago beaches)
Some environmental problems still plague the lake. Steel mills are visible along the Indiana shoreline, and the pollution caused by these mills is believed to contribute to the color of sunsets. Also, the Chicago Tribune reported that BP is a major polluter, dumping thousands of pounds of ammonia and raw sludge into Lake Michigan every day from its Whiting, Indiana oil refinery. [3]
The Chicago skyline can be seen from the Indiana shore, but when standing on the beaches in Wisconsin or Lower Michigan, it is impossible to see across the lake, providing a view similar to that found on ocean coasts.
Car ferries
Motorists can cross Lake Michigan by the SS Badger, a ferry that runs from Manitowoc, Wisconsin, to Ludington, Michigan. The Lake Express is another ferry, established in 2004, which carries motorists across the lake between Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Muskegon, Michigan, at a much higher speed than the SS Badger.
Islands
Beaver Island
North Manitou Island
South Manitou Island
Washington Island
Rock Island
Parks
The National Park Service maintains the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Part of the shoreline is within the Hiawatha National Forest and the Manistee National Forest. The Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge is within the lake.
There are numerous state parks located on the shores of the lake or on islands within the lake.
Peninsula State Park
Holland State Park
Grand Haven State Park
Hoffmaster State Park
Ludington State Park
Silver Lake State Park
Illinois Beach State Park
Indiana Dunes State Park
Lighthouses
Illinois lighthouses
Indiana lighthouses
Michigan lighthouses
Wisconsin lighthouses
Geology
Geologically and hydrologically, Michigan and Huron are the same body of water (sometimes called Lake Michigan-Huron), but are geographically distinct. Counted together, it is the largest fresh water body in the world by surface area. The Mackinac Bridge is generally considered the dividing line between them. Both lakes are part of the Great Lakes Waterway. In earlier maps of the region, the name “Lake Illinois” has been found in place of “Michigan.”
Ecology
Lake Michigan is home to a variety of species of fish and other organisms. It was originally home to lake trout, yellow perch, panfish, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, carp, bowfin, as well as some species of catfish. In recent years overfishing has caused a decline in lake trout which ultimately caused an increase in the alewife population. As a result, coho and chinook salmon were introduced as a predator of alewives to decrease the alewife population. Lake Michigan is now being stocked with several species of fish. However, several invader species introduced, such as lampreys, threaten the vitality of fish populations.
See also
Jardine Water Purification Plant 1 billion gal. of water/day
External links
Rogers Park 
