"Forever Free and Clear"
The lake is like an "escape from dullness. . .The sun rose out of it, the day began there; it was like an open door that nobody could shut. . .You had only to look at the lake, and you knew you would soon be free," said Willa Cather of Lake Michigan. Daniel Burnham ensured that the lakefront would be "forever frree and clear" in his Plan for Chicago of 1909. It is unique among world cities to find no industrial businesses along the lake for the length of the city. For many Chicagoans, visits to the beaches and lakefront parks is their only connection to Chicago's rich maritime past.
