Michigan Ave. Bridge, 1935

The Michigan Avenue Bridge fulfilled another of the ideas proposed in the 1909 Plan of Chicago. Completed in 1920, the bridge allowed for the northward expansion of Michigan Avenue and the development of a second major commercial area for the city. The bridge serves as the gateway from the Loop to the prestigious shopping mecca along North Michigan Avenue known as the "Magnificent Mile." Given its name in the 1940s by developer Arthur Rubloff, this mile of thoroughfare extends from the bridge to Oak Street and includes such architectural interests as the Wrigley Building, Tribune Tower, the John Hancock Center, the Palmolive Building and the historic Water Tower and Pumping Station, not to mention a shopping district that rivals Rodeo Drive, Fifth Avenue in New York and the Champs-Elysées in Paris.