DESTINATION CHICAGO

The outcome of the Great Chicago Fire led to the largest building boom in the history of the nation. In 1885, the first steel-framed high-rise building, the Home Insurance Building, rose in Chicago, ushering in the skyscraper era. Today, Chicago's skyline is among the world's tallest and most dense.

Quick Links Magnificent Mile Chicago Loop Navy Pier Millenium Park

DISCOVER CHICAGO: Art Institute of Chicago, Brookfield Zoo, Buckingham Fountain, Burnham Park, Chicago Harbor Lighthouse, Chicago 'L', Chicago Loop, Chicago Theatre, John Hancock Center, Magnificent Mile, Millenium Park, Navy Pier, Willis Tower,

ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO The Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) is an encyclopedic fine art museum located in Chicago's Grant Park. The Art Institute has one of the world's most notable collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art in its permanent collection. Its diverse holdings also include significant American art, Old Masters, European and American decorative arts, Asian art ...

BROOKFIELD ZOO Brookfield Zoo, also known as Chicago Zoological Park, opened on July 1, 1934, and quickly gained international recognition for using moats and ditches, instead of cages, to separate animals from visitors and from other animals. The zoo covers an area of 216 acres (87 ha) and houses around 450 species of animals ...

BUCKINGHAM FOUNTAIN Buckingham Fountain is a Chicago landmark located at Columbus Drive and Congress Parkway in Grant Park. The fountain, which was designed by Edward H. Bennett with sculptures by Jacques Lambert and modeled after Latona Fountain at Versailles, was donated to the city by Kate Buckingham in memory of her brother ...

BURNHAM PARK Burnham Park is a public park in Chicago. The park, which lines along six miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, connects Grant Park at 14th st. to Jackson Park at 56th St. The 598 acres of parkland is owned and managed by Chicago Park District. It was named for urban planner and architect Daniel Burnham in 1927, one of the designers of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition ...

CHICAGO HARBOR LIGHTHOUSE The Chicago Harbor Lighthouse is an automated active lighthouse, and stands at the end of the northern breakwater protecting the Chicago Harbor, to the east of Navy Pier and the mouth of the Chicago River. It was constructed in 1893 for the World's Fair (its state of the art wares and engineering achievements) and moved to its present site in 1919 ...

THE CHICAGO 'L' The 'L' (from 'elevated') is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs. It is the second longest rapid transit system in total track mileage in the United States, after the New York City Subway. The oldest sections of the 'L' started operating in 1892, making it the second-oldest rapid transit system in the Americas ...

THE CHICAGO LOOP The Loop, or Chicago Loop, is what locals call the historical center of downtown Chicago. Most specifically, the term refers to an area bounded by a public transit circuit along Lake Street on the north, Wabash Avenue on the east, Van Buren Street on the south, and Wells Street on the west, but in general refers to the central business district ...

CHICAGO THEATRE The Chicago Theatre, originally known as the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theatre, is a landmark theater located on North State Street in the Loop area of Chicago. Built in 1921, the Chicago Theatre was the flagship for Balaban and Katz. Now the Chicago Theatre is a performing arts venue for stage plays, magic shows, comedy, speeches, and popular music concerts ...

JOHN HANCOCK CENTER The John Hancock Center at 875 N. Michigan Ave. in Chicago, is a 100-story skyscraper designed by structural engineer Fazlur Khan of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. When completed in 1969, it was the tallest building in the world outside New York City. It is the third-tallest skyscraper in Chicago and the fifth-tallest in the USA ...

THE MAGNIFICENT MILE The Magnificent Mile is the portion of Michigan Avenue extending from the Chicago River to Oak Street in Near North Side community area. It includes fine restaurants, hotels, and stores and several of the tallest buildings in the world. In addition, numerous prestigious buildings are located along the Magnificent Mile ...

MILLENIUM PARK Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago. It is a prominent civic center near the city's Lake Michigan shoreline that covers a 24.5-acre section of northwestern Grant Park. The park features a variety of public art. Millennium Park trails only Navy Pier as a Chicago tourist attraction ...

NAVY PIER Navy Pier is a 3,300-foot long pier on the Chicago shoreline of Lake Michigan. The pier was built in 1916 as a part of the Plan of Chicago developed by architect and city planner Daniel Burnham and his associates. The pier even had its own streetcar. It was known as a romantic spot for young lovers. Today, Navy Pier is Chicago's number one tourist attraction ...

WILLIS TOWER The Willis Tower (formerly named, and still commonly referred to as the Sears Tower) is a 108-story, 1451-foot skyscraper in Chicago. At the time of its completion in 1973, it was the tallest building in the world, surpassing the World Trade Center towers in New York, and it held this rank for nearly 25 years. The Willis Tower is the tallest building in the United States ...

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