Fort Dearborn Set in Concrete
Chicago /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
If you find yourself standing at any one of the four corners that comprise the intersection
of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive, you may notice these markers embedded in the concrete
sidewalk. Most people simply step over them, or glance down, wonder what they are, and move on once the light changes.
If you know where to look, there is a plaque commemorating the location of Chicago's
first governmental structure, Fort Dearborn, built in 1803, 15 years before Illinois became a state. At the time, there were only 4 houses in the area which stood across the river from the garrison's location. Chicago was definitely an outpost far out in the wilds of the country's recent purchase from France; the Louisiana Territory.
& Artwork: designslinger]
The markers that line the four corners of Michigan and Wacker are in the right location
but they don't exactly mark the spot where the fort stood. In reality they float above the site which happens to be several feet below, closer to the bank of the river, once the ground level of the city. In a great overhaul of the river's edge, and to provide access to a grand new boulevard, Michigan Avenue was elevated high above the river in the 1920s. So, imagine two of the corners of the fort sitting near the towers of the bridge, down at the level of the grassy area. That's where Fort Dearborn once stood.
Down here, from a vantage point along the new Riverwalk, you once again have to imagine
a corner of the stockade fence of the fort, coming up just behind the back side of the bottom of the Michigan Avenue Bridge tower.
I was surprised to discover that the city hasn't rebuilt the fort in one of the parks in the
city's vast system of green space. The structure played such an important role in the history of Chicago. But, there is a recreation of a wall section of the fort at the Chicago History Museum, accompanied by a scale model of the entire complex.
Street and Calumet Avenue /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
In 1812, Britain was once again at war with the United States. In August of 1812, the
American settlers evacuated the fort and were on their way to Fort Wayne, when they were ambushed by a group of Native American warriors. The incident occurred along the lake front near the current intersection of 18th Street and Calumet Avenue, which resulted in the deaths of the men, women and children of the fleeing garrison group. The horrific encounter came to be known as the Fort Dearborn Massacre . The scene is depicted in a highly, emotionally overwrought limestone relief on the southwest tower of the bridge.
A new fort was built on the same site in 1816 where it remained standing until 1856, but
the days of frontier living had come to an end for the city's inhabitants. In 1816 there were approximately 30 people living at the mouth of the river at Lake Michigan. By the time of the 1850 census 30,000 people called Chicago home. Today, each year, millions of feet walk over the brass imprints embedded in concrete at Michigan and Wacker, marking the site where a few hearty souls planted posts into the ground of an obscure outpost, which grew into one of the world's great metropolises.
Posted by designslinger at 7/21/2009 2:00 AM 
Categories: Archaeology, History
Tags: Fort Dearborn massacre Michigan Avenue Bridge Wacker Drive Chicago Riverwalk
Categories: Archaeology, History
Tags: Fort Dearborn massacre Michigan Avenue Bridge Wacker Drive Chicago Riverwalk
You did a nice job.
Thanks!