Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Illinois > Chicago
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 03-16-2008, 11:09 AM
 
11,975 posts, read 31,811,456 times
Reputation: 4645

Advertisements

I found this photo the other day and was stunned. I have always heard talk of the dreaded "Lakeshore Drive S-Curve", and know that they fixed it in 1986. But this pre-1986 photo of the mouth of the Chicago River at Lakeshore Drive is truly stunning (I think this is from the 60s). You can see Navy Pier in the background for reference. I believe that the factory on the north side of the river is the old Kraft plant, and this is now the site of the "Chicago Spire". What a stunning transformation we have seen in Lakeshore East and Streeterville!


Last edited by Lookout Kid; 03-16-2008 at 12:00 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 03-16-2008, 02:34 PM
 
2,329 posts, read 6,637,756 times
Reputation: 1812
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lookout Kid View Post
I believe that the factory on the north side of the river is the old Kraft plant, and this is now the site of the "Chicago Spire".
I could be wrong, but I believe I heard it was a light bulb factory. I know when they were doing site-prep for the Spire there was all sorts of environmental cleanup they had to do because the soil was contaminated.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-16-2008, 03:39 PM
 
Location: Chicago
15,586 posts, read 27,636,074 times
Reputation: 1761
Quote:
Originally Posted by via chicago View Post
I could be wrong, but I believe I heard it was a light bulb factory. I know when they were doing site-prep for the Spire there was all sorts of environmental cleanup they had to do because the soil was contaminated.
You are correct.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-16-2008, 03:41 PM
 
Location: Chicago
15,586 posts, read 27,636,074 times
Reputation: 1761
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lookout Kid View Post
But this pre-1986 photo of the mouth of the Chicago River at Lakeshore Drive is truly stunning (I think this is from the 60s).
Yes ,it has to be at the latest the mid 60's because there is not Lake Point Tower yet in the picture. (Completed in 1968)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-16-2008, 05:07 PM
 
3,631 posts, read 10,239,195 times
Reputation: 2039
Why was the road built that way? The transportation geek in me wants to know.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-16-2008, 06:03 PM
 
Location: Chicago
15,586 posts, read 27,636,074 times
Reputation: 1761
Quote:
Originally Posted by supernerdgirl View Post
Why was the road built that way? The transportation geek in me wants to know.
Well mainly because of the buildings that used to be there and the ones that can still be seen in the picture. LSD was built around buildings much like the Kennedy was built.Clout and importance of buildings dictated the roads path.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-16-2008, 11:19 PM
 
Location: Chicago
38,707 posts, read 103,233,018 times
Reputation: 29983
Also, traffic volume was much, much lighter when LSD was built than it is today, so there wasn't much inconvenience to motorists to have to drive that little kink. The main reason it was straightened out is because by the 80s the kink had become so disruptive to traffic flow that the southern portion of LSD came to an absolute standstill during rush hour, even worse than it is today. Tons of accidents on that section as well from people misjudging how sharp the curves were and failing to adjust their speed accordingly.

BTW that picture was taken in 1963.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-17-2008, 12:40 AM
 
7,331 posts, read 15,394,470 times
Reputation: 3800
Quote:
Originally Posted by Drover View Post

BTW that picture was taken in 1963.
On May 23?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-17-2008, 12:52 AM
 
Location: Chicago
38,707 posts, read 103,233,018 times
Reputation: 29983
Close. May 26th. (No joke.)

That picture is pretty famous. It's the quintessential "S-Curve" photograph. It's from the Charles W. Cushman Collection. He has lots of pictures of Chicago dating from 1939 to 1969 -- some 1,200 of them if I'm not mistaken. He has lots of pictures from all over the world actually -- there are almost 15,000 pictures at that website. Fortunately it has a very useful search function.

Check out this skyline photo from 1941...

Last edited by Drover; 03-17-2008 at 01:07 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-17-2008, 07:30 AM
 
2,329 posts, read 6,637,756 times
Reputation: 1812
Quote:
Originally Posted by Drover View Post
Those photos are incredible..thanks. What a treasure trove.

And digital may get all the hype these days, but those slides prove why Kodachrome is king IMO.

Last edited by via chicago; 03-17-2008 at 07:42 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Illinois > Chicago

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 01:14 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top