 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(August 2023) |
Oak Street Beach | |
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 The beach in July 2018, looking south | |
  Oak Street Beach | |
| Coordinates: 41°54′11″N87°37′23″W / 41.903°N 87.623°W | |
| Location | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
Oak Street Beach is located near Oak Street on 1100 North Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois, on the shore of Lake Michigan. [1]
Up until the late 1800s the Lake Shore sloped from Oak Street to the Chicago river in a much gentler fashion. However the construction of a shipping pier at the river led to a build up of sand and silt just to the north. As the land rose up out of the water squatters began to take residence, leading to disputes with lakefront property owners.
The biggest series of clashes surrounded a man named George Streeter in 1886. Streeter's boat, with passengers and cargo, became stranded on the sandbar created by the pier. As he unloaded waste and cargo, he created a small island. Eventually he persuaded people to dump more there, and claimed a sizable island. However the city would not stand for it, and after legal battles (some of which included gun fights) Streeter was evicted and the land, which was eventually filled in, became part of Chicago and became known as Streeterville.
Oak Street Beach was formed by sand washing up against the northern side of Streeterville. Originally, it was under control of the Lincoln Park District, one of several districts in the city that were consolidated in 1934 to create the Chicago Park District.[ citation needed ]
Through the 1960s the sand area of Oak Street covered more than twice the area it does now, and the water was as much as three feet higher than its current level. The beach was popular for residents and tourists as a summer social spot near down town.[ citation needed ]
A radio advertisement for mattresses, in the 1970s, featured a child reading a letter he was writing to the Sandman. The punch line was the child asking, "Is it true you get all your sand from Oak Street Beach?"
Chicago pop-punk band Knuckle Puck released a song titled "Oak Street" on their "While I Stay Secluded" EP.
Chicago hip-hop artist Chance The Rapper mentions Oak Street Beach in the third verse of his song, Windows.[ citation needed ]
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third-largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that of Lake Huron through the 3+1⁄2-mile (5.6-kilometer) wide, 295-foot deep Straits of Mackinac, giving it the same surface elevation as its easterly counterpart; the two are geologically a single lake.
George Wellington "Cap" Streeter was an American who became infamous in Chicago for his real estate schemes and oftentimes bizarre eccentricity. From 1886 to 1921, Streeter, often through forgery and other manipulative means, attempted to lay claim to 186 acres (0.75 km2) of Lake Michigan shoreline from various owners. Failing in his efforts to defraud wealthy landowners, he turned to selling the disputed land to uninformed buyers. A portion of the real estate near downtown Chicago, known as Streeterville is named for him.
Lincoln Park is a designated community area on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is located west of Lincoln Park.
Indiana Dunes National Park is a United States national park located in northwestern Indiana managed by the National Park Service. It was authorized by Congress in 1966 as the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and was redesignated as the nation's 61st national park on February 15, 2019. The park runs for about 20 miles (32 km) along the southern shore of Lake Michigan and covers 15,349 acres (6,212 ha). Along the lakefront, the eastern area is roughly the lake shore south to U.S. 12 or U.S. 20 between Michigan City, Indiana, on the east and the Cleveland-Cliffs steel plant on the west. This area's conservation scheme is enhanced by the older Indiana Dunes State Park. To the west of the steel plant lies West Beach and a small extension south of the steel mill continues west along Salt Creek to Indiana 249. The western area is roughly the shoreline south to U.S. 12 between the Burns Ditch west to Broadway in downtown Gary, Indiana. In addition, there are several outlying areas, including Pinhook Bog, in LaPorte County to the east; the Heron Rookery in Porter County, the center of the park; and the Calumet Prairie State Nature Preserve and the Hobart Prairie Grove, both in Lake County, the western end of the park.
Michigan Avenue is a north-south street in Chicago that runs at 100 east on the Chicago grid. The northern end of the street is at Lake Shore Drive on the shore of Lake Michigan in the Gold Coast Historic District. The street's southern terminus is at Sibley Boulevard in the southern suburb of Dolton, but like many other Chicago streets, it exists in several disjointed segments.
Lake Shore Drive is an expressway that runs alongside the shoreline of Lake Michigan, and adjacent to parkland and beaches, in Chicago. Except for the portion north of Foster Avenue, Lake Shore Drive is designated as part of U.S. Highway 41. A portion of the expressway on the Outer Drive Bridge and its bridge approaches is multilevel.
Streeterville is a neighborhood in the Near North Side community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States, north of the Chicago River. It is bounded by the river on the south, the Magnificent Mile portion of Michigan Avenue on the west, and Lake Michigan on the north and east, according to most sources, although the City of Chicago only recognizes 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 of Navy Pier and Ohio Street Beach extend out into the lake from southern Streeterville. To the north, the East Lake Shore Drive District, where the Drive curves around the shoreline, may be considered an extension the Gold Coast. The majority of the land in this neighborhood is reclaimed sandbar.
Lincoln Park is a 1,208-acre (489-hectare) park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US President Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue, on the south, to near Ardmore Avenue on the north, just north of the DuSable Lake Shore Drive terminus at Hollywood Avenue. Two museums and a zoo are located in the oldest part of the park between North Avenue and Diversey Parkway in the eponymous neighborhood. Further to the north, the park is characterized by parkland, beaches, recreational areas, nature reserves, and harbors. To the south, there is a more narrow strip of beaches east of Lake Shore Drive, almost to downtown. With 20 million visitors per year, Lincoln Park is the second-most-visited city park in the United States, behind Central Park.
The Near North Side is the eighth of Chicago's 77 community areas. It is the northernmost of the three areas that constitute central Chicago, the others being the Loop and the Near South Side. The community area is located north and east of the Chicago River. To its east is Lake Michigan, and its northern boundary is the early 19th-century city limit of Chicago, North Avenue. In 2020 the Near North Side had 105,481 residents, surpassing Lake View as the largest Chicago community area by population. It is also the most densely populated community area and has the second most skyscrapers, after the Loop. With the exception of Goose Island, the Near North Side is known for its extreme affluence, typified by the Gold Coast, Magnificent Mile, Navy Pier, and skyscrapers.
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Millennium Station is a major commuter rail terminal in the Loop (downtown), Chicago. It is the northern terminus of the Metra Electric District to Chicago's southern suburbs, and the western terminus of the South Shore Line to Gary and South Bend, Indiana.
Sunnyside is a lakefront district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It includes a beach and park area along Lake Ontario's Humber Bay, from west of Exhibition Place to the mouth of the Humber River. The area has several recreation uses, including rowing clubs, sports clubs, picnic areas, playgrounds, a nightclub, a bathing pavilion and public pool. The area is a 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) long strip along the lakeshore, bounded by the Gardiner Expressway and rail lines, which separate it from the Parkdale, Roncesvalles and Swansea neighbourhoods to the north. The name originates in a local farm owned by John Howard, which was situated just to the north, on the location of the current St. Joseph's Health Centre hospital.
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The East Lake Shore Drive District is a historic district in the Near North Side community area of Chicago, Illinois. It includes eight buildings at 140 E. Walton, 179-229 E. Lake Shore Drive, and 999 N. Lake Shore Drive designed by Marshall and Fox and Fugard & Knapp and the opposing park. It was designated a Chicago Landmark district on April 18, 1985. These buildings include seven luxury high rise apartment buildings and the Drake Hotel. Note that neither of the buildings on either end of the district actually has an East Lake Shore Drive address. This district is located within the Streeterville neighborhood and overlaps with the Gold Coast.
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Oak Lake is a lake in the south-western part of the Canadian province of Manitoba in a region called Westman. Oak Lake is a kettle lake and is an aquifer supplier for numerous nearby residential areas and farms. The lake is in the RM of Sifton and sits at an elevation of 426 metres above sea level. Provincial Road 254 provides access to the lake.