Grant Park Chicago lost and found

Q: Is Grant Park and Millennium Park the same?

Grant Parks most notable features include Millennium Park, Maggie Daley Park, Buckingham Fountain, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum Campus. A city centerpiece much like New Yorks Central Park, Grant Park is home to some of Chicagos most iconic landmarks and attractions.

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More than a Festival, It's about Lifelong Learning

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Is Grant Park and Millennium Park the same?
Why is Grant Park famous?
Why is Grant Park named after Ulysses S Grant?
Are there bathrooms in Grant Park?

Insights

Festival 2022—the (Un)Official Tally

Grant Park Chorus—60 Years Young

Festival 2022 Auditions

Could You Do the Job of an Orchestra Librarian?

Women's History and Festival 2022

Black History Month

Get to know some of the history makers behind Festival 2022.

Recovering Lost Treasures

Festival revisits treasures from a lost year.

Gospel Music: Chicago's Native Art Form

Meet Master of the Queen's Music Judith Weir

A 380-Foot-Tall What?!

Do musicians come from out of town to play in the Grant Park Orchestra? How many miles did the stage hands walk during Festival 2021? Explore this rather creative accounting of Festival 2021.

Festival CEO Paul Winberg on Returning to Millennium Park

Acres of Rubble and a Vision for a Great City

A Conversation with Millennium Park Executive Director Scott Stewart

Cue the Beethoven

10 Things You Might Not Know about Beethoven

Free Seats at Every Concert

Why Support the Grant Park Music Festival?

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Music for the People, from the Great Depression to COVID-19

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Discover Music at Home

J'Nai Bridges: Using Her Voice

Here's what's Buzzing about Flight of the Bumblebee

Black Composers, A Lifetime Pursuit for Rachel Barton Pine

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A Young Artist in the Age of Coronavirus

Andreas Haefliger: A Complete Beethovenian

Bach's Cello Suites

Route 66 tends to evoke images of open, western landscapes like Monument Valley, but the road is also urban. Nowhere is it more so than in downtown Chicago, where the quintessential American corridor begins, or ends, depending on your perspective, at Grant Park. At the intersection of Jackson and Michigan Avenues is the “End Historic Route 66” sign. Many vintage icons from the Route 66 era have been lost, but not Grant Park, the historic road’s official eastern terminus.

Located in close proximity to Lake Michigan, Grant Park is one of the oldest parks in the city and had its beginnings in the 1830s, but the 1893 World Exposition was a catalyst for its historic significance. Chicago spent $27 million hosting the landmark event. Running from May to October of 1893, the fair covered 633 acres and attracted numbers equal to nearly half of the United States population. The fair introduced several firsts, including Cracker Jacks, Aunt Jemima syrup, diet soda, and Pabst beer. It also introduced the idea of making Grant Park a major civic and cultural landmark.

In all, Grant Park lived up to its promise as Chicago’s cultural and civic center. Grand promenades, groomed lawns, and numerous bridges and fountains, along with modern installations of art and three major historic cultural institutions for the public--the Art Institute, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Field Museum of Natural History--all distinguish the park. Statues of Christopher Columbus, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S Grant, and various other equestrian sculptures provide visual focus for various areas. Built in 1927, the Clarence Buckingham Memorial Fountain is a monumental focal point. The park hosts public appearances of famous people, special events, and festivals and serves as a neighborhood park used for baseball games, ice skating, tennis, walking, jogging, and other amusements.

Pairing Grant Park with Route 66, the major east-west automobile artery, was a natural choice. Before the advent of Route 66, the popular Pontiac Trail already connected Chicago to St. Louis. In 1918, Illinois began paving the road. By the time Route 66 came along, the entire Pontiac Trail had pavement. By 1927, when Louis Armstrong and the accompanying King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, ushered in the Jazz Age in Chicago, Route 66 signs were visible all along the Illinois route. Chicago sported numerous services to accommodate travelers, including its parkland gem, Grant Park. The National Park Service acknowledged Grant Park’s significance in its 1993 National Register of Historic Places listing.

Grant Park’s street address is 337 East Randolph St. in Chicago, IL. The park is bounded on the north by Randolph Dr. and the Chicago River, on the east by Lake Michigan, on the south by McFetridge Dr., and on the west by Michigan Ave.

For more information visit the Chicago Park District Grant Park website.

See the Art Institute of Chicago website for information about visiting.
See the Shedd Aquarium website for information about visiting.
See the Field Museum website for information on visiting.

Find the Grant Park National Register nomination form.

Is Grant Park and Millennium Park the same?

Grant Park's most notable features include Millennium Park, Maggie Daley Park, Buckingham Fountain, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum Campus. A city centerpiece much like New York's Central Park, Grant Park is home to some of Chicago's most iconic landmarks and attractions.

Why is Grant Park famous?

Built in 1893 on the western edge of Grant Park, the Art Institute of Chicago is one of the premier art museums and art schools in the US, known especially for the extensive collection of Impressionist and American art, such as A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, and Grant Wood's American Gothic.

Why is Grant Park named after Ulysses S Grant?

This park was named for Grant Avenue, after Ulysses S. Grant, one of many Bronx streets named after Union Civil War generals during an era of urban expansion as a tribute to their win. Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) was the 18th President of the United States and served two terms from 1869 to 1877.