C PROPOSED BOULEVARD ON MICHIGAN AVENUE The New Chicago By George C. Sikes With Drawings by Jules Guerin HICAGO citizens once dreamed of a World's Fair that should surpass anything of the kind before attempted. The dream was realized in the spectacle of beauty which was unfolded in Jackson Park in 1893. Now Chicago citizens are dreaming of a beautiful city, whose charm, instead of lasting for a season only,, shall be as enduring as the city itself. This dream takes concrete expression in the form of a report by the Commercial Club, entitled a "Plan of Chicago." The report represents about thirty months' work by men whose thoughts for years have dwelt upon the subject of city building and beautification. The work was in charge of Daniel H. Burnham, chief architect and director of works of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, who gave his services to his city without compensation for the purpose of this report. Even so, the expense of preparing and publishing the report has approximated $75,000, all raised by voluntary subscriptions from the business men of Chicago. The origin of the Plan of Chicago, we are told by the men who devised it, can be traced directly to the World's Columbian Exposition. The World's Fair of 1893 was the beginning in our day and in this country of the orderly arrangement of extensive public grounds and buildings." One result of the World's Fair was to stimulate a desire for the improvement of the water front of the city. Designs for such improvement on a large scale were devised and have been the subject of much discussion, though not actually reaching the stage of execution. The period since the Fair has been for the people of Chicago one of increasing political morality, developing social consciousness, and growing familiarity with large ideas. The Metropolitan Parks Commission pointed out the need of anticipating the future by the early acquisition of large outlying areas for park purposes. The small parks and playgrounds established within the past few years by the South Park Commissioners have been particularly admired. The ten years' agitation over the traction question, although distressing in some. ways, was possessed of great educational value for the community. The reports of the Street Railway Commission and the Council Committee on Local Transportation, and the Arnold report on the engineering and operating features of the Chicago Transportation Problem, all breathed the hopeful spirit of a greater and a better Chicago. The comparative ease with which the railways have been induced to spend millions of dollars on track elevation as a means of eliminating the deadly grade crossings has developed confidence in the power of a determined community to overcome obstacles, however formidable, 'to the city's progress. Thus the spirit of the city's environment was one of hope, activity, and democracy-just the environment to call out the best in men who combine imagination with practical efficiency. Early in 1906 the Merchants' Club, comprising a group of the younger business and professional men of the city. arranged for the preparation of a com CHICAGO'S EXTERIOR HIGHWAYS, THE CITY LIMITS BEING MARKED BY THE BROAD SHADED TINT PROPOSED BOULEVARD TO CONNECT THE NORTH AND SOUTH SIDES OF THE RIVER plete project for the future development members of the Commercial Club gave a large amount of time to the work. Charles D. Norton was the energetic chairman of the general committee until called to Washington recently as first assistant to Secretary of the Treasury Franklin MacVeagh. Mr. MacVeagh also had been a member of one of the committees. Since the retirement of Mr. Norton the position of |