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Old 07-17-2013, 05:17 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Irishtom29 View Post
Many neighborhoods were hard hit by Dutch Elm disease in the 60s and 70s. Austin Blvd. used to look like a green tunnel during the Spring and Summer.
Pictures from before the Dutch Elm Disease era of nearly every street in an established area shows a nearly heart shaped arch of green branches framing the streets.

The archives at Morton Arboreteum in Lisle have thousands of such photographs. The researchers there are still working on finding way to create diseae resistent varieties of Elms that grow in such a lovely shape...
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Old 07-17-2013, 08:50 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by emathias View Post
It varies a lot. There are, of course, not that many trees in the Loop. There aren't many in River North or Streeterville. But the older neighborhoods have area with big, beautiful old trees. That said, a lot of the reason there are so many small trees is that there was the asian long-horn beetle which killed a lot of bigger, older trees and the replacements haven't had the necessary decades to regrow.

Certainly there aren't nearly as many of the beautiful, street-covering canopies like you see in some older Southern towns. But there are a good number of streets with nice treescapes. For me, North Racine Ave sticks in my mind as having some particularly nice tree-lined sections, as does North Dearborn Parkway.
My favorite is Fullerton between Halsted and Clark. Stunning canopy and stunning architecture in that stretch. If itweren't. It's a shame there is so much car traffic there as I feel it takes away from the experience.
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Old 07-17-2013, 08:53 PM
 
Location: Upper West Side, Manhattan, NYC
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Originally Posted by Chicagoist123 View Post
My favorite is Fullerton between Halsted and Clark. Stunning canopy and stunning architecture in that stretch. If itweren't. It's a shame there is so much car traffic there as I feel it takes away from the experience.
I agree, this is a nice stretch of it. The street from Halsted to Clark is really nice!
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Old 07-17-2013, 09:04 PM
 
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I'm from a town not that far form Chicago, and we had two large Elm trees in front of our house when I was a kid. We knew that both had Dutch Elm disease, but they still seemed like they would be there forever. And you could look down the street in the warmer months and see a perfect canopy off in to the distance. Now that same street is mostly deforested and it looks terrible. It doesn't even feel like the same neighborhood.

Street trees are VERY important, and unfortunately a lot of municipalities really screw them up.
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Old 07-17-2013, 09:31 PM
 
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Oh I would like to say I have lived in many a place, and in Chicago, right now in Lincoln Park, the area has a lot of trees from North Avenue to Irving Park especially. And they have added more foliage and bushes and prairie grass in Lincoln Park between Fullerton and Diversey (check Google Maps). its so pretty, it doesn't even look like im in the city - it looks like areas I've been in the suburbs.

I think one of the BEST places for lots of trees and parks is Wheaton about 25 miles west of chicago.. they have a lot of parks and pride themselves on it. Also check out Lisle, which is a suburb just south of Wheaton, beautiful trees.

Oak Park, just west of Chicago has a lot of pretty trees. And with the historical aspect, too Frank Lloyd Wright architecture and home.

But the BEST is the Morton Arburetum - a tree museum really.. on Route 53, west of Chicago, and the Botanic Gardens over in Wilmette/Winnetka area. so pretty.

Oh also on the west side, is Garfield Park - conservatory, really pretty too.

I'm not familiar with some areas on the south side, but thats my experience. I'm sure there are places but i just haven't found them yet

Those are what come to mind for me.
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Old 07-18-2013, 07:18 AM
 
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I'm hard pressed to think of any american city that has the urbanity/density that chicago has while also having as much greenery.

chicago neighborhoods, in general, are very green.
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Old 07-18-2013, 08:19 AM
 
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As others stated, chicago has a somewhat remarkable amount of trees in many neighborhoods. A lot of this is due to Daley and his obsession with having a clean, pretty and livable city for residents. Most people know about the thousands of planters he installed across town, but his "Jonny Appleseed" type fascination also led to the planting of over 600,000 trees during his term. The new administration still plants around 10,000 trees a year. We had a few die along the street two years ago and I put in an online request and the city came out shortly thereafter and planted new ones for free.
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Old 07-18-2013, 08:38 AM
 
Location: Nort Seid
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Originally Posted by Chicago60614 View Post
As others stated, chicago has a somewhat remarkable amount of trees in many neighborhoods. A lot of this is due to Daley and his obsession with having a clean, pretty and livable city for residents. Most people know about the thousands of planters he installed across town, but his "Jonny Appleseed" type fascination also led to the planting of over 600,000 trees during his term. The new administration still plants around 10,000 trees a year. We had a few die along the street two years ago and I put in an online request and the city came out shortly thereafter and planted new ones for free.
I'll definitely give Daley props for that. Lake View looked pretty ghetto when I was a kid in terms of busted up sidewalks, compacted dirt/weedy parkways, etc. Now it looks like Lincoln Park (it's about 10 years behind).

Hoping Avondale will get there in the next 10, trees take a long time to really mature if you're starting from zero - I had a block survey done through my alderman 11 years ago on the block north of me, they planted 28 street trees in a week, now, it's a whole different block in terms of shade, less noise/pollution noticeable from the expressway just north, etc.
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Old 07-18-2013, 09:16 AM
 
2,423 posts, read 4,296,184 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chi-town Native View Post
I'll definitely give Daley props for that. Lake View looked pretty ghetto when I was a kid in terms of busted up sidewalks, compacted dirt/weedy parkways, etc. Now it looks like Lincoln Park (it's about 10 years behind).

Hoping Avondale will get there in the next 10, trees take a long time to really mature if you're starting from zero - I had a block survey done through my alderman 11 years ago on the block north of me, they planted 28 street trees in a week, now, it's a whole different block in terms of shade, less noise/pollution noticeable from the expressway just north, etc.
Yeah on my my mom's block (in Avondale) there were only about 7 trees pre-2000 and when I was growing up there. In the past 10 years they have planted 11 trees. Meaning 10 years from now, those 18 trees when they are all tall enough to make a canopy, will make the block looking stunning.
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Old 07-18-2013, 09:51 AM
 
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So I guess that Chicago has moved from precinct captains and wardens dispensing Christmas turkeys and city jobs to planting trees? (/jk) I'm pretty impressed with the response time from phone call to actual tree planting..

In terms of trees, New England has an advantage over Illinois/central Midwest in that our states here, esp northern New England, are covered with evergreens. Maine is like one gigantic Christmas tree, and Vermont and New Hampshire aren't far behind. I did notice that Chicago neighborhoods emphasize deciduous trees..
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