Skip to main content
Facebook icon Twitter icon Instagram icon YouTube icon

Touring Chicago's Lakefront

Geoffrey Baer poses near the lakefront with the Chicago skyline in the distance

Explore Chicago in a new way

Chicago's lakefront is more than just a scenic backdrop. It's a vibrant playground, a refuge for nature, and a testament to the city's enduring spirit. Join Geoffrey Baer as he explores the history, the hidden gems, and the unique character of this urban oasis. From secluded beaches to bustling harbors, from architectural wonders to vibrant green spaces, discover the stories that have shaped this iconic waterfront and the people who bring it to life.

Watch the full show

Tour the Lakefront

From the Show

 
Image
Jean Baptiste Point DuSable's Lakefront Homestead: asset-mezzanine-16x9

Jean Baptiste Point DuSable's Lakefront Homestead

Jean Baptiste Point DuSable built a homestead at the convergence of the river and lake.

Jean Baptiste Point DuSable is considered by many to be the first non-Indigenous settler and the founder of what would become Chicago. DuSable – along with his wife, Kitihawa, a Potawatami woman – built an impressive homestead at the convergence of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, which back in those days was closer to present-day Michigan Avenue.

 
Image
Grant Park: Forever Open, Clear, and Free: asset-mezzanine-16x9

Grant Park: Forever Open, Clear, and Free

A. Montgomery Ward launched a legal battle to preserve the lakefront for the people.

Mail order magnate A. Montgomery Ward was outraged that the lakefront near present-day Grant Park (built in part from the ash from the Great Chicago Fire) was rife with shantytowns and garbage. He filed lawsuits to clear the area and prevent further construction. His lawyer leaned on a phrase from an old map – that this section of the lakefront should remain "forever open, clear, and free."

 
Image
The NASCAR Chicago Street Race: asset-mezzanine-16x9

The NASCAR Chicago Street Race

Geoffrey Baer visits the NASCAR Chicago Street Race.

The NASCAR Chicago Street Race began in 2023. The reception was mixed, but it’s not the first time Chicago has held an auto race on the lakefront. America’s first-ever auto race began in Jackson Park on Thanksgiving in 1895. It took more than 10 hours to complete the 50-mile course, and of the six cars that competed, two finished. The average speed? Just 5 miles per hour.

 
Image
How Meigs Field Became Northerly Island (Again): asset-mezzanine-16x9

How Meigs Field Became Northerly Island (Again)

A former lakefront airport has become a green space once envisioned by Daniel Burnham.

Northerly Island used to be home to Meigs Field, an airport on the lakefront for small planes. But under cover of darkness in 2003 and without informing state or federal officials, Mayor Richard M. Daley sent in a brigade of bulldozers to destroy the runway and close the airport. It was later transformed into a park which is closer to Daniel Burnham’s original vision than it was as an airport.

 
Image
31st Street Beach and the Red Summer of 1919: asset-mezzanine-16x9

31st Street Beach and the Red Summer of 1919

Racial violence in Chicago first exploded at a lakefront beach during the Red Summer.

On July 27, 1919, Eugene Williams, a Black 17-year-old boy playing in Lake Michigan at a beach near 29th Street, floated across an invisible – and unofficial – color line segregating the swimming area. A white man hurled stones at Williams, who slipped under the water and drowned.

 
Image
The Shipwreck at Morgan Shoal: asset-mezzanine-16x9

The Shipwreck at Morgan Shoal

A shipwreck sits just 600 feet off Chicago’s lakefront on an ancient reef.

Just 600 feet off Chicago’s shoreline sits the wreckage of the Silver Spray, a steamship that got stuck on an ancient reef called Morgan Shoal and broke up in 1914. There were no passengers on board, and the crew all survived. The boiler and propeller are all that remain today. Morgan Shoal offers clues into prehistoric Chicago, which was a tropical sea 425 million years ago.

 
Image
The Surprising History of Promontory Point: asset-mezzanine-16x9

The Surprising History of Promontory Point

Promontory Point is yet another example of Daniel Burnham’s Plan of Chicago.

A man-made peninsula on Chicago’s South Side called Promontory Point is another example of Daniel Burnham’s Plan of Chicago in action. It has been offering a respite from busy city life since 1937. But for years it served another surprising purpose during the Cold War: It was the site of radar towers as the control center for a nearby Nike missile base – the last defense against a Soviet attack.

 
Image
Jackson Park and The White City: asset-mezzanine-16x9

Jackson Park and The White City

Jackson Park was the site of the World’s Columbian Exposition.

Chicago’s Jackson Park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux – the men behind New York’s Central Park. They teamed up with Daniel Burnham to transform the park into the so-called "White City," a fairgoer’s fantasyland for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Today, the Museum of Science and Industry is the only fair pavilion left in Jackson Park.

 
Image
A Lakefront Rodeo: asset-mezzanine-16x9

A Lakefront Rodeo

A horseback riding club teaches equestrian skills to a new generation.

The Broken Arrow Horseback Riding Club teaches equestrian skills to a new generation of predominantly Black children. Geoffrey Baer visits a rodeo at the South Shore Cultural Center – a former country club that used to exclude Black and Jewish people, even as the demographics of the South Shore neighborhood transformed over the decades.

 
Image
Calumet Fisheries and the Legacy of Commercial Fishing: asset-mezzanine-16x9

Calumet Fisheries and the Legacy of Commercial Fishing

Calumet Fisheries is a rare survivor of Chicago’s commercial fishing days.

In an industrial area on the Calumet River, the famous Calumet Fisheries smokehouse has been serving up fish for nearly 100 years. When it opened in 1928, commercial fishing was still going strong, and customers – often workers at the nearby steel factories – could enjoy fresh whitefish and trout. Though the steel mills and commercial fishing are gone, customers keep coming back.

 
Image
The Montrose Beach Piping Plovers: asset-mezzanine-16x9

The Montrose Beach Piping Plovers

Montrose Beach became a nesting site for piping plovers in 2019.

In 2019, Tamima Itani noticed piping plovers building a nest along a volleyball court at Montrose Beach – the first plovers to nest in Chicago since 1948. She organized a group to protect the plovers, whom she named Monty and Rose. Their love story captured the heart of the city, and conservationists continue to monitor Monty and Rose’s descendants.

 
Image
Fishing on Lake Michigan: asset-mezzanine-16x9

Fishing on Lake Michigan

Geoffrey Baer embarks on a fishing trip on Lake Michigan.

While out on a boat on Lake Michigan, Geoffrey Baer catches a lake trout, a species that was once a dominant predator fish in the Great Lakes. Commercial overfishing and invasive species decimated the population. But fishery management has led to a recovery of the species, as well as the introduction – and success – of non-native salmon.

 
Image
The Con Man Who Staked a Claim on Streeterville: asset-mezzanine-16x9

The Con Man Who Staked a Claim on Streeterville

Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood was once a seedy vice district.

After his steamship ran aground on a sandbar near present-day Superior Street, George Wellington Streeter staked an illegal claim on the vice district, which was overrun with gambling and prostitution. Streeter had an eventful tenure as the area’s resident con man, including forging President Grover Cleveland’s signature and selling property he didn’t actually own.

 
arrow left
arrow right
 

Dive Deeper (Into Lake Michigan)

The outside of the Calumet Fisheries store.

Photo Essay:
Behind the Scenes at Calumet Fisheries

In this photo essay, you’ll see pictures from the famous Calumet Fisheries so real you can almost taste the delicious seafood. And the fun doesn’t stop there, because it’s got so much more in store for you.

See the photo essay

Just south of Tribune Tower at the Chicago River, among the throngs of tourists and bustle of commuters on Michigan Avenue, is a bust of a man who, in reality, we know very little about – including what he actually looked like. Throughout the city, there’s a major road named for him, plus a museum, a high school, a bridge, and a harbor. Jean Baptiste Point DuSable is recognized as the first permanent, non-native settler of Chicago, decades before it was formally established as a city in 1837, but many details of his life remain a mystery.

Resting below the surface of Lake Michigan just 600 feet away from 49th Street Beach is what remains of the Silver Spray. Some days, when the water is calm and the lake level is just right, a portion of the ill-fated steamship’s boiler is visible above the surface, a visual reminder that the waters below contain many stories and even more mysteries.

In the summer of 1967, millions upon millions of small silver fish called alewives washed ashore Chicago’s lakefront. The dead fish rotted in the hot summer sun in heaping piles as the city struggled to dispose of them. The stench wasn’t just a Chicago problem – alewives piled up on beaches all along the southern end of Lake Michigan. 

For many Chicagoans, Labor Day marks the end of the swim season. But the die-hard members of Open Water Chicago never say goodbye to the Lakefront: they swim in the lake year round. Meet four swimmers at sunrise to see how they prepare for swimming in 36 degree water, and what they see as the mental, physical, and social benefits of swimming in Lake Michigan, even in the depths of winter.

Lake Michigan Fast Facts

307 mi length 118 mi width (widest point)
279 ft avg. depth 925 ft depth (deepest point)
1,180 mi3 volume 22,300 mi2 surface area
1,640 mi shoreline 26 mi shoreline in Chicago
Rendering of Lake Michigan highlighting the location of Chicago, Illinois

Lake Michigan is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume, after Lake Superior.

It’s the only one of the five Great Lakes that lies entirely within the United States.

Along with Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan border Lake Michigan.

Lake Michigan connects to Lake Huron through the Straits of Mackinac.

Related

Geoffrey Baer stands on the river bank with buildings in the background.

The Chicago River Tour

In the epic drama that is Chicago’s history, the Chicago River has played many roles, by turns hero, villain, and underdog. The most iconic river scenes lie near the river’s confluence with Lake Michigan, the junction that gave rise to the city itself, where skyscrapers now exalt the river’s banks and form a spectacular canyon of stunning architecture.

Tour the river

Lead support for Touring Chicago's Lakefront with Geoffrey Baer is provided by The Negaunee Foundation. Lead corporate support is provided by BMO.

Major support is provided by Clifford Law Offices, Bob, Joan, and Erin Clifford; Matt and Joyce Walsh; Heritage Corridor Destinations; Steinhafels Furniture & Mattress; and other generous sponsors.