The City Beautiful

The City Beautiful Movement, which flourished in the 1890s and early 1900s, concerned itself with the aesthetics of urban space and how its planning could promote a more harmonious society and provide a better quality of life for all of its citizens. It was a movement born in response to rapidly growing cities and would become the forefather of twentieth century urban planning. Fortunately for Chicago, two factors combined to create much of the Chicago we know today. The Great Chicago Fire enabled the city to start anew, and architect Daniel Burnham, "Father of the City Beautiful," who provided the city with a plan in 1909 that would shape and define the city's functionality and set aside ample green space - all for the well-being of its residents. It was Burnham's idea that a bridge over the Chicago River would serve the city well by providing easy access to and from its central business district, the Loop. The northward extension of Michigan Avenue, photographed here in the 1940s, became a new commercial venture that today is known as the "Magnificent Mile." Now with trees and gardens lining its parkways and center medians, this stretch of boulevard embraces the City Beautiful Movement.