Chicago River - Chicago, IL
Posted by: Metro2
N 41° 53.321 W 087° 37.475
16T E 448183 N 4637605
This river is a 156 miles long and it is why Chicago is what it is today. Come to see it turn green every March 17th.
Waymark Code: WMBV4F
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 06/21/2011
Views: 17
The coordinates for this Waymark are from the Michigan Avenue Bridge. At that bridge there is a plaque concerning the river (photo provided) which reads:
"Chicago River - This river, originally flowing eastward from the prairie homelands of the Potawatomi and other Indian tribes, into Lake Michigan, linked the waters of the Atlantic, the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes with those of the Illinois, the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico. From 1673, commerce and civilization followed this natural waterway from the seaboard to the heart of the continent. The strategic importance to early American development of the junction of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan led to the establishment here of Fort Dearborn and to the founding of the city of Chicago. - Erected in 1953 to the memory of those pioneers who plied the water route. - Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Illinois."
Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us:
" flows through Chicago, including Downtown Chicago, also known as the Chicago Loop. Though not especially long, the river is notable for being the reason why Chicago became an important location, as the link between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley waterways. In the 19th century through civil engineering the flow of the river was reversed to head toward the Mississippi River basin, away from Lake Michigan, into which it previously emptied. This was done for reasons of sanitation. The river is also noted for the local custom of dyeing it green on St. Patrick's Day.
The river is memorialized, in part, by two horizontal blue stripes on the Municipal Flag of Chicago.[2] The river also serves as inspiration for one of Chicago's ubiquitous symbols: a three-branched, Y-shaped symbol (called the municipal device) is found on many buildings and other structures throughout Chicago; it represents the three branches of the Chicago River."