Randolph Street (Chicago) - History

History

Randolph Street was named for Randolph County, Illinois, in turn named after Edmund Randolph (1753–1813), Governor of Virginia, Secretary of State, and the first United States Attorney General.

The street was part of the original plot of Chicago in the 1830s, originally ending at Michigan Avenue. In the 1850s and 1860s, gambling was a favorite pastime at the saloons on Randolph, and there were so many gunfights in the vicinity that downtown Randolph Street became known as "Hairtrigger Block."

In 1937, in conjunction with the building of Lake Shore Drive, a double-decker viaduct was built over the Illinois Central Railroad's rail yard, connecting Michigan to Lake Shore (which was where Field Boulevard is now). This viaduct still exists west of Columbus Drive as the upper level; it intersected LSD (Field) at the current upper level. The lower level of the viaduct was never used.

In 1963 the upper level was built east of Field to serve the new Outer Drive East building. Between 1970 and 1980, the viaduct was demolished east of Columbus; this probably happened after the extension of Wacker Drive to Lake Shore opened in December 1975. By 1988 the new Randolph had been completed, including a new upper level west of Columbus. East of Columbus, this level was built to slope down to the old upper level, which was orphaned by the move of Lake Shore Drive in 1986. The old viaduct was kept west of Columbus, and it slopes down to a middle level east towards the new Lake Shore Drive. Thus access was kept between this level and Lake Shore. The service level may have been added at this time or it may be older.