Chicago Maritime Museum
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​A Lakefront for the People

​Chicago’s 29 miles of open and free lakefront can be credited to the city’s visionary civic leaders.

Thanks to the foresight of catalogue mogul Ward, in 1890, the town’s lakefront was ruled to be “Public Ground – A Common to Remain Forever Open and Free of any Buildings, or Other Obstruction whatever.”  Ward launched a lonely and expensive fight to keep the downtown lakefront free of buildings.  He did not win every battle but he did prevail often enough that Grant Park developed as a vast formal park.
Chicago Maritime Museum is a 501(C)(3) Nonprofit registered in the US under Tax ID 36-3205719
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Chicago Maritime Museum®. ​Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
  • Home
  • VISIT
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
  • Events
  • SUPPORT US
    • Donate >
      • Donate to the CMM Recovery Fund
      • Donate to the CMM General Fund
      • Sponsor
    • Join
    • Volunteer
  • EDUCATION PROGRAMS
    • MODEL BUILDING >
      • WOOD CARVING CLASS
      • MODEL BUILDING CLASS
      • SHIP-IN-A-BOTTLE CLASS
    • SCHOOL VISITS
    • CHICAGO HISTORY CURRICULA
  • History
    • Commerce and the Waterways
    • Military Training
    • Shipwrecks
    • Recreation and Tourism
  • Collections
    • Artifacts >
      • Lyle Gun
      • Wells Light
    • Canoes >
      • Tete-de-Boule Birchbark
      • Canadian Birchbark Canoe
      • Eskimo Caribou Skin Kayak
      • Greenland Eskimo Kayak
      • U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Craft
    • Images >
      • Chicago Lighthouse
      • Lady Elgin
      • Rush Street Bridge
      • Fort Dearborn
    • Model Watercraft >
      • Le Griffon
      • Lady Elgin
      • Challenge
      • Subchaser 1943
      • USS Wolverine
  • News
  • Online Stories