Burnham Park (Chicago)

Burnham Park (Chicago)

Burnham Park is a public park in Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The park, which lines along six miles (9.66 km) of Lake Michigan shoreline, connects Grant Park at 14th Street to Jackson Park at 56th Street. The 598 acres (2.42 km2) of parkland is owned and managed by Chicago Park District. It was named for urban planner and architect Daniel Burnham in 1927. Burnham was one of the designers of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.

The Park is an outgrowth of the 1909 Plan for Chicago developed by the park's namesake Daniel Burnham and often called simply "The Burnham Plan". Land for the park has been acquired by the city's park district by a variety of means such as bequest, landfill, and barter. Now, the park hosts some of the city's most important municipal structures such as Soldier Field and McCormick Place. The park has surrendered the land for the Museum Campus to Grant Park. Recently, the park has become known as the landing site for Marine One when United States President Barack Obama visits his Kenwood home on Chicago's south side.

In the early 20th century, Chicago businessman A. Montgomery Ward advocated that the lakefront must be publicly accessible, and remain "forever open, clear and free" lest the city descend into the squalor typical of American cities of the time, with buildings and heavy industry destroying any chance for beauty. Ward's influence lead to the protection of the lake shore parks system and to this day the city's lakefront is open from the former city limits at Hollywood Ave (5700N) down to the former steel mills near Rainbow Beach (7700S).