Page 89 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Chicago

SOUTH L OOP AND NEAR SOUTH SIDE  87

Fountain, culminating
dramatically in a spray 150 ft
(45 m) high. The fountain’s
one-and-a-half million gallons
(5.7 million liters) of water
recirculate through a computer-
operated pumping system at
a rate of 14,000 gallons
(53,000 liters) per minute.
Hundreds of spotlights
hidden within the fountain
are used to create a dazzling
show of colored lights. The
20-minute shows, set to music,
are held from dusk to 10pm
every hour on the hour, from
April to October.
Financed by Kate Sturges
Buckingham (1858–1937) in
honor of her brother, Clarence
(1854–1913), a trustee and
benefactor of the Art Institute
of Chicago, the fountain was
Grant Park, looking north designed by Marcel Francois
Loyau (sculptor), Jacques
garden, promenade, and plantings, sculptures, and the Lambert (engineer), and Edward
sculpture park all in one, and central Buckingham Fountain. H. Bennett (architect).
hosting summer concerts A noteworthy footnote The design, based on the
and festivals. is that the park was the site Latona Basin in the gardens of
The park is built on landfill of the 1968 Democratic Versailles but twice the size of
and debris dumped after the Convention riots, when that fountain, incorporates a
1871 Fire. Originally called Lake anti-Vietnam War protesters ground-level pool 280 ft (85 m)
Park, it was renamed in 1901 clashed with police. wide, with three concentric
for the 18th US president, basins rising above. In 1927, it
Ulysses S. Grant, who lived in 9 Buckingham was dedicated as the world’s
Galena (see p136). In 1893, the largest decorative fountain.
World’s Columbian Exposition Fountain Constructed of pink marble,
was held in the south end of In Grant Park, east of Columbus Dr., at the Beaux-Arts fountain
the park. the foot of Congress Pkwy. Map 4 E3. symbolizes Lake Michigan.
Although the park was Tel (312) 742-7529. q Harrison. The four pairs of 20-ft- (6-m-)
intended as public ground, tall seahorses diagonally
free of buildings, various Throughout the summer one across the fountain from each
structures were erected. Not of the showiest and most other represent the four US
until 1890, when businessman impressive sights in Chicago is states bordering the lake:
Aaron Montgomery Ward the water shooting from the 133 Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana,
initiated a series of lawsuits jets of Grant Park’s Buckingham and Michigan.
which dragged on for more
than 20 years, was the pre-
servation of Grant Park for
public recreation secured.
Daniel H. Burnham and
Edward H. Bennett’s 1909 Plan
of Chicago (see p32) envisioned
the park as the “intellectual
center of Chicago.” The
renowned landscape-
architecture firm Olmsted
Brothers designed the park
in a French Renaissance style
reminiscent of the gardens
at Versailles. The symmetrical
layout includes large
rectangular “rooms,” grand
promenades, formal tree Buckingham Fountain, with sculpted seahorses in the foreground

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