Lakefront

D. Kearney Joseph, W. Merrill Thomas

Description

How did Chicago, a city known for commerce, come to have such a splendid public waterfront-its most treasured asset? Lakefront reveals a story of social, political, and legal conflict in which private and public rights have clashed repeatedly over time, only to produce, as a kind of miracle, a generally happy ending. Joseph D. Kearney and Thomas W. Merrill study the lakefront's evolution from the middle of the nineteenth century to the twenty-first. Their findings have significance for understanding not only Chicago's history but also the law's part in determining the future of significant urban resources such as waterfronts. The Chicago lakefront is where the American public trust doctrine, holding certain public resources off limits to private development, was born. This book describes the circumstances that gave rise to the doctrine and its fluctuating importance over time, and reveals how it was resurrected in the later twentieth century to become the primary principle for mediating clashes between public and private lakefront rights. Lakefront compares the effectiveness of the public trust idea to other property doctrines, and assesses the role of the law as compared with more institutional developments, such as the emergence of sanitary commissions and park districts, in securing the protection of the lakefront for public uses. By charting its history, Kearney and Merrill demonstrate that the lakefront's current status is in part a product of individuals and events unique to Chicago. But technological changes, and a transformation in social values in favor of recreational and preservationist uses, also have been critical. Throughout, the law, while also in a state of continual change, has played at least a supporting role.

Sujets

• USA
• Legal history
• Property law
• History of the Americas
• États-Unis
• Illinois

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 mai 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501754661
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 8 Mo

Extrait

LAKEFRONT

LAKEFRONT PublicTrustandPrivate Rights in Chicago

JosephD.Kearneyand Thomas W. Merrill

CORNELLUNIVERSITYPRESS

ITHACAANDLONDON

Copyright © 2021 by Cornell University

Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thisbook,orparts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu.

First published 2021 by Cornell University Press Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Names: Kearney, Joseph D., author. | Merrill, Thomas W., author. Title: Lakefront : public trust and private rights in Chicago / Joseph D. Kearney and Thomas W. Merrill. Description: Ithaca [New York] : Cornell University Press, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020057771 (print) | LCCN 2020057772 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501754654 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781501754661 (pdf) | ISBN 9781501754678 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Lakeshore development—Illinois—Chicago—History. | Lakeshore development—Social aspects—Illinois—Chicago. | Lakeshore development—Economic aspects—Illinois—Chicago. | Lakeshore development—Law and legislation—Illinois—Chicago. Classification: LCC HD268.C4 .K33 2021 (print) | LCC HD268.C4 (ebook) | DDC 307.1/4160977311—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020057771 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020057772

Everyreasonableefforthasbeenmadetoidentifyrightsholdersandsupply the complete and correct credits for the illustrations in this book. If there are errors or omissions, please contact Cornell University Press so corrections can be addressed in any subsequent editions.

Cover photographs: The Chicago lakefront Credits: Chicago Tribune Historical Photos/TCA (top); © Shutterstock (bottom)

InmemoryofEdmundW.andMaryJaneKearney,amongwhose many gifts to me Chicago was only one —JDK

Forthenextgeneration:Jessie,Margaret,andLibby—TWM

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction 1.  The Lake Front Steal 2.  The Lake Front Case 3.  The Watchdog of the Lakefront 4.  The Struggle for Streeterville 5.  Reversing the Chicago River 6.  North Lake Shore Drive 7.  South Lake Shore Drive and Bridging the River 8.  The Transformation of the Public Trust Doctrine 9.  The Lakefront Today

Conclusion

Notes IndexofPublishedDecisions IndexofSubjects

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307 359 363

Acknowledgments

Thisbookhasbeenanunusuallylongtimeinthemaking.Webeganmorethan twenty years ago, when each of us had been a longtime resident of Chicago. Both of us moved to other cities, one to Milwaukee and the other to New York, where we acquired teaching and administrative responsibilities at different law schools. We found ourselves nevertheless—or, perhaps, all the more—unable to resist the challenge of untangling the history of the Chicago lakefront, which is at once a large puzzle and a kind of miracle. Given our other duties, these efforts were mostly concentrated in the summer months, when it was possible to return to the city. Three articles eventually emerged that are reflected in portions of the book. For example, aspects of chapters 1 and 2 originally appeared in theUniversity of Chicago Law Review, and we appreciate its permission to draw on our article, cited in the notes; similarly, for chapters 3 and 4, we rely on our subsequent articles in theNorthwestern University Law Review. At the same time, we have extensively reworked this material and drawn on further research. The balance of the book, covering most of the twentieth century and the early decades of the twentyfirst, is entirely new. Throughtheyears,wehaveaccumulatedanextraordinarynumberofdebts. We have benefited from a variety of excellent collections of archival material in Chicago. The Newberry Library includes in its holdings many of the papers of the Illinois Central Railroad, primarily up to 1906. Given that the railroad was a central player in most of the disputes on the lakefront during this period (to anticipate our story), these were invaluable, especially the onion skin copies of correspondence between the officers of the company. We thank the librarians at the Newberry for helping us locate and decipher these materials. TheChicagoHistoryMuseumandtheChicagoPublicLibrarywerealso important sources of primary material. Both have important collections of old Chicago newspapers, many of which are not available online. The Chicago His tory Museum has an unmatched archive of old photographs, to give only one other of many relevant examples. We wish to thank Lesley Martin, Johanna Russ, and others at these institutions for their assistance in mining their rich and well curated collections. TheChicagoParkDistrictprovidedcriticalassistance,especiallyinconnec tion with the material in chapters 6 and 7 on the construction of Lake Shore

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