Burnham Park (Chicago) - Location

Location

McFetridge Drive is the boundary between Grant Park and Burnham Park. Beginning with Northerly Island and 14th Street Beach, and enclosing Burnham Harbor and its public marina, the park runs in a narrow strip past Soldier Field and McCormick Place, both of which disrupt Burnham's original plan, south to 56th street. The park, from North to South, runs through the communities of Near South, Douglas, Oakland, Kenwood and Hyde Park.

The park lies mostly between Lake Shore Drive and Lake Michigan, but crosses the drive and abuts the Illinois Central Railroad tracks in places. There is a beach at 31st Street, a skate park at 34th Street, a stone beach at 49th Street, and a model boat pond at 51st Street in Hyde Park. The park ends with a flourish at Promontory Point at 55th Street. Footbridges and underpasses provide access to the park over the barriers of the train tracks and Lake Shore Drive. A six-mile (ten-kilometer) section of the of the Chicago Lakefront Trail bicycle and jogging path runs the length of the park.