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Streeterville is aneighborhood in theNear North Side community area ofChicago, Illinois, United States, north of theChicago River. It is bounded by the river on the south, theMagnificent Mile portion ofMichigan Avenue on the west, andLake Michigan on the north and east, according to most sources, although the city of Chicago recognizes only a small portion of this region as Streeterville. Thus, it can be described as the Magnificent Mile plus all land east of it. The tourist attraction ofNavy Pier andOhio Street Beach extend out into the lake from southern Streeterville.[1][2] To the north, theEast Lake Shore Drive District, where the Drive curves around the shoreline, may be considered an extension of theGold Coast. The majority of the land in this neighborhood is reclaimedsandbar.[3]
Named forGeorge Streeter, the neighborhood contains a combination of hotels, restaurants, professional office centers, residential high rises, universities, medical facilities, and cultural venues.[4] The area has undergone increased development in the early 21st century as numerous empty lots in Streeterville have been converted into commercial and residential properties, especially in the southern part of the neighborhood.[1] The neighborhood had earlier experienced booms followingWorld War I andWorld War II.[5]
Before the American settlement of the Chicago area, the lake shoreline fluctuated from year to year as storm waveseroded parts of the shore and built up the shore elsewhere.[6] By 1803, when American troops started the construction ofFort Dearborn, abaymouth bar blocked the mouth of the river causing it to jog southwards and enterLake Michigan at about the level of present-dayMadison Street.[7] When surveyed in 1821 the Lake Michigan shoreline north of the river ran approximately along what is now North Saint Clair Street, just to the east of what is nowMichigan Avenue.[8] In 1834, after a number of failed attempts to cut through the sandbar at the mouth of the river, a 1,500-foot (457.2 m)pier was built to protect a channel cut through the bar.Silt and sand accumulated north of this pier, creating usable land that was later nicknamed "The Sands".[3]Squatters and avice district encroached on the district, causing angst among the property owners. In 1857,Chicago MayorJohn Wentworth evicted these trespassers from the land.[3]
In the late 1880s,George Streeter claimed that his newly acquired boat struck a sandbar just off the Chicago shoreline during a storm.[9] Landfill dumped in an effort to create land on which to buildLake Shore Drive by the Lincoln Park Board created 186 acres (0.75 km2) of new land along the lake front, which Streeter attempted to claim. Streeter claimed that this newly created land was his and that it was an independent territory which he called the District of Lake Michigan.[3][10]
For the next few decades, Streeter persisted in his claims, sometimes supporting them through criminal means.[9] A witness in Streeter's 1902 land fraud trial testified that Streeter had purposely set out to contest the claims of the wealthy shoreline owners. Contractor Hank Brusser told the court that Streeter asked him to fill in portions of the shoreline in order to create confusion over land titles. According to Brusser, Streeter said that: "They [the owners of the shoreline] will have to buy us off" and that "We'll get a million out of it".[11] Streeter was also motivated by the profit he gained by selling and taxing the land he claimed.[12][13]
The local press became enamored with the story of Streeter's brash personality and his self-proclaimed district.[3] MayorWilliam Hale Thompson tried toevict the Streeters for selling liquor,[14] and after several eviction attempts and gun battles, Streeter landed in jail.[3] In 1918, the courts ruled against his claim of sovereignty.[3] Today, the district is home to some of the most expensive real estate in Chicago.[15]
The 1920 opening of theMichigan Avenue Bridge, which was part of the efforts to enact theBurnham Plan of 1909, as well as the economic boom of the 1920s,[5] brought wealth to the eastern sector of the Near North Side and paved the way for a luxury shopping district on North Michigan Avenue. Investors built high-rise apartment buildings such as those in theEast Lake Shore Drive Historic District, and elaborate hotels.[10] The Bridge connected to a North Michigan avenue that served as a replacement for the former Pine Street which hosted warehouses and factory buildings near the river, and large mansions and rowhouses in northward sections in the neighborhoods of McCormickville and Streeterville.[5] Magnificent Mile architecture during the economic boom of the 1920s emphasizedhistoricist architectural styles such asBeaux-Arts classicism,Gothic revival, and vertical-stylemodernism. The buildings redefined the Chicago skyline with stylistic variation that gave new meaning to urban context and design compatibility.[5]
A post-World War II construction surge occurred in the area,[5] and in the 1950s the city pursued a plan of urban renewal. A local real estate developer namedArthur Rubloff led the revitalization of North Michigan Avenue under the banner of “TheMagnificent Mile”. The success of this effort spurred the erection of more high-rise apartments and new investment in the Near North Side.[10] This development led to the "canyonization" of Michigan Avenue, where the buildings on both sides of the street tower above, creating an "urban canyon".
While Streeterville is generally bounded on the west by the Magnificent Mile, the city of Chicago and the Streeterville Organization of Active Residents, claim the boundary extends one block further to the west toRush Street.[16][17] Streeterville includes some of Chicago's tallestskyscrapers, such as theJohn Hancock Center, and upscale stores, hotels, and restaurants.
Although its main campus is inEvanston, Illinois,Northwestern University has its Chicago campus here. The Northwestern UniversityFeinberg School of Medicine is on the Chicago campus and is adjacent to several closely affiliated hospitals, includingNorthwestern Memorial Hospital, theAnn & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, thePrentice Women's Hospital, and theRehabilitation Institute of Chicago. ThePrentice Women's Hospital opened in October 2007, and theAnn & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago opened in June 2012.[1] TheRehabilitation Institute of Chicago is located in Streeterville and construction of a replacement facility, also in Streeterville, was begun in 2013. TheNorthwestern University School of Professional Studies and part of itsKellogg School of Management are nearby. TheNorthwestern University Pritzker School of Law is at Chicago Avenue andLake Shore Drive, adjacent to Lake Shore Park andLake Michigan. In the western end of the park is theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. The downtown campus of theUniversity of Chicago Booth School of Business has aChicago River setting to the south.[4] The east side of the Magnificent Mile portion of Michigan Avenue is part of Streeterville, as areNavy Pier, the most visited attraction in Chicago, and theJohn Hancock Observatory, the eighth-most visited attraction in Chicago.[18]
The area east ofMichigan Avenue and north of the Chicago River had a split personality for much of the 20th century - the northern portion upscale residential, retail, and university uses and the area near theChicago River and Navy Pier dedicated to shipping and factories.[19] At the end of the 1960s, however, residential complexes such asLake Point Tower (1965) and McClurg Court Center (1971)[20] began to appear among the warehouses and by the end of the century, residential and retail dominated the entire area. The neighborhood now has a reputation as part of an upscale residential strip that balances the more industrial western portion of the Near North Side.[10]In 2007, construction started on what would have been Chicago's tallest skyscraper, theChicago Spire.[21] It was to be located in the southeastern corner of the neighborhood, next toLake Shore Drive. The Chicago Spire was originally supposed to be completed in 2010, but was later cancelled.[22]
In the early 21st century, much of the southern part of the neighborhood that had previously contained warehouses and empty lots has undergone development,[1] including theRiver East Center east ofColumbus Drive.[23] The River East Art Center serves as the primary retail hub apart from the Magnificent Mile.[1] South Streeterville currently has numerous skyscrapers that are either proposed or already under construction such as a new tower atInterContinental Chicago and 500 North Lake Shore.[24]
Streeterville hosts several landmarks and places that have been designated as historic districts. TheEast Lake Shore Drive Historic District, which consists of a row of early 20th century luxury apartments, sits on the northern edge of the district opposite Lake Michigan.[25] TheOld Chicago Water Tower District is located along Michigan Avenue where Streeterville meets the border of theRiver North andGold Coast (Chicago) neighborhoods atChicago Avenue. The Water Tower District contains the only public buildings that survived the1871 Great Chicago Fire.[26] Also, part of theMichigan–Wacker Historic District lies within Streeterville at the southern end of the Magnificent Mile and contains numeroushigh rises and skyscrapers built in the 1920s.[27]
The neighborhood hosts several individual landmarks. The neighborhood hosts aNational Historic Landmark, theJean Baptiste Point Du Sable Homesite, the home of the first non-Native, husband of a Native woman, in Chicago. Properties in the neighborhood listed in theNational Register of Historic Places include257 East Delaware, the860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments, theDrake Hotel, theFourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago, theNavy Pier and thePalmolive Building. OtherChicago Landmarks in the neighborhood includeAllerton Hotel,McGraw-Hill Building,Perkins, Fellows & Hamilton Office and Studio,Tribune Tower, and theWoman's Athletic Club. Notable buildings in the district include the skyscrapers on the Magnificent Mile:
Non-Michigan Avenue skyscrapers in the neighborhood include the following:
Some of the notable buildings in the district that have not been designated areWrigley Building andMuseum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.
The neighborhood hosts more than 25 hotels, including the only threefive star hotels in theMidwestern United States, theRitz Carlton,The Peninsula Hotel, and theFour Seasons Hotel Chicago as well as the historic Drake Hotel.[28][29] Two of these host the highest ratedspas in Illinois.[30]
Qatar Airways operates an office in Suite 1310 at theJohn Hancock Center.[31]
Playboy Enterprises' offices were on the 15th and 16th floors of680 N. Lake Shore Drive until 2012.[32]
Several consulates are in Streeterville. Countries with consulates includeBosnia and Herzegovina,[33]Bulgaria,[34]Chile,[35]Denmark,[36]Greece,[37]Japan,[38]Lithuania,[39] andSwitzerland.[40]
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) operates public schools.Ogden International School serves the community,[41] for grades K-8.[42] Streeterville residents are zoned toWells Community Academy High School.[43] Any graduate from Ogden's 8th grade program may automatically move on to the 9th grade at Ogden, but students who did not graduate from Ogden's middle school must apply to the high school.[44]
Streeterville is accessible viaLake Shore Drive with multiple direct exits in both directions.[4] In addition, theChicago 'L' has stops atChicago andGrand stations on theRed Line, which runs alongState Street immediately to the west of the neighborhood. From theKennedy Expressway the Ohio Street exit feeds into Streeterville.[4] NumerousChicago Transit Authority bus routes run within the neighborhood, notably along Michigan Avenue, Grand Avenue, and Chicago Avenue.[45] During warm-weather months, water taxis and sightseeing boats ply the Chicago River along the south edge of the neighborhood and Navy Pier handles similar Lake Michigan water traffic.
The Streeterville neighborhood also contains many healthcare facilities that are based around the Northwestern University'sFeinberg School of Medicine. Feinberg's main hospital is theNorthwestern Memorial Hospital with a variety of specialty hospitals also in the neighborhood including thePrentice Women's Hospital,Lurie Children's Hospital, andShirley Ryan AbilityLab.[46][47] In addition to the hospital buildings, the neighborhood contains a variety of medical research buildings that supplement patient care at the hospitals.
Graduates of 8th grade at Jenner Campus can automatically enroll in 9th grade at Ogden's West Campus. If your child graduated from a different middle school [...]
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41°53′38″N87°37′11″W / 41.893828°N 87.619743°W /41.893828; -87.619743
