Yes, it amazes me the number of people who conflate Burnham and Ward and think they worked together to save the lakefront, when of course they were completely at odds over what should be permitted in Grant Park.

Ward saved Grant Park from being filled with buildings, while Burnham had a vision of new parkland along the rest of the lakefront—which could be dotted with buildings.

With all due respect to all mention already, and being raised in the sixties and seventies, this topic can only bring to my mind ,one of the most loyal chicagoans of this time...Ray Rayner from ch. 9 If you were a kid back then , Ray had it all covered. Ray Rayner show before school, with baseball highlights school closings in bad weather, Oliver O Oliver on the Bozo show at noon.And after school The Dick Tracy Show.Ray Rayner could entertain us kids, yet our parents enjoyed his show as well.

Ah yes, Ray! Chief Abernathy on Popeye's Firehouse.

Never said Burnham and Ward were on the same page, but they both had good ideas and did alot to beautify Chicago.

The mention of Ray Rayner brings to mind something from my drinking days. Back in the early '70's Ray sometimes appeared at the old Candlelight Dinner Theater in Summit. I was a regular in a bar at 59th & Harlem and Ray often came in on Fridays with cast members for a meal and drinks after the show. He was very approachable and acted just like one of the guys, not at all pretentious and pretty good at picking up the tab too!

My vote for greatest goes to two individuals, Joliet and Marquette, for realizing the strategic importance of a canal completing the waterway to the Mississippi and consequently the development of our great city.

b.a.hoarder Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The mention of Ray Rayner brings to mind something
> from my drinking days. Back in the early '70's Ray
> sometimes appeared at the old Candlelight Dinner
> Theater in Summit. I was a regular in a bar at
> 59th & Harlem and Ray often came in on Fridays
> with cast members for a meal and drinks after the
> show. He was very approachable and acted just like
> one of the guys, not at all pretentious and pretty
> good at picking up the tab too!
>
> My vote for greatest goes to two individuals,
> Joliet and Marquette, for realizing the strategic
> importance of a canal completing the waterway to
> the Mississippi and consequently the development
> of our great city.

I wonder why Marquette is not mentioned much these days, and his cabin near the Damen Avenue bridge? In the area near 59th and Harlem you mention, resides the Marquette Bolder Monument at 5810 Archer in Summit, constructed in 1895, and originally erected on the Tolleston Beach Ridge near Gary Indiana - but that too, I imagine, is now forgotten.

http://www.earlychicago.com/monuments.php?letter=M



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/2014 09:24PM by nordsider.

Even though I did not subscribe to his politics (I am a conservative independent), by far the finest son of Chicago was Hon. Richard J. Daley.

He truly loved Chicago and moved a lot of boulders in Springfield to place our city in the front.

I had the honor of meeting him and talking to him as a 13 year old boy during the dedication of engine 60's new house at 55th & University. What amazed me, as a young lad, was that I was actually taller than his honor.

I too was born in Bridgeport. Some good things came out of Bridgeport! :)

Father Marquette is a good choice. Some very interesting alternate theories regarding some of his routes through are area. Not that they're necessarily accurate. One is that the Chicago Portage was actually in Palos Hills. Another that he didn't spend his Winter on Damen Ave, but over in Hegewisch near Lake Calumet, and that on his last journey he travelled down Hickory Creek (from the DesPlaines River) portaged thru Matteson to Butterfield Creek, took that to what is now the Little Calumet in South Holland, proceeded from there down to what is now the Grand Calumet (they were one river then) and reached Lake Michigan at Gary.