Centennial Fountain, Streeterville, Chicago
Centennial Fountain, Streeterville, Chicago
I posted these photos and started to write this with the hope that someone could tell me why this water was spraying over the Chicago River. But I think my question was answered while trying to figure out the exact location of the spray.
Sometimes during lunch when I just need to get out of the office and chill for a little bit I’ll take a walk by the Chicago River. I noticed this water spraying on several occasions. The first photo above was taken from the north side of the river and the second photo from the south.
As I was posting the photos I figured out about what street the spray is at. It’s McClurg, because I remember it was on the same street as Fox & Obel. Then I remembered that it was near a fountain so I Googled “McClurg Fountain” and figured out that the fountain is called Centennial Fountain and that the water spray is actually part of the fountain. Mystery solved.
The designer of Centennial Fountain says that the arc of water is supposed to “symbolize the natural phenomenon of water — how it comes from one source, spreads, and goes back to another.” Centerstage reports that the fountain runs continuously from 10 am - midnight and that the arc operates for 10 minutes on the hour, from 10 am - 2 pm and 5 pm - midnight.
Centennial Fountain is really beautiful. Maybe on my next walk I need to take some photos of the actual fountain.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Doug // Sep 17, 2004 at 12:34 pm
The Trib said earlier this week they’re going to shut this fountain down early so to fix some cracking concrete at the base.
2 me // Sep 17, 2004 at 1:12 pm
It’s fun to watch the pleasure boaters deal with the fountain on a nice day.
I saw a family come up the river once with Dad piloting the boat from amidship and daughters One and Two lounging in the bow. Dad eased up to that curtain of water and just nudged the bow in. I had no idea how much water was actually coming down mid-arc until I saw One and Two getting absolutely soaked from above.
3 joe // Sep 17, 2004 at 2:45 pm
I like the different perspectives these photos take. The river looks tiny in the top picture and huge in the bottom one.
The quote on the symbology of the fountain is interesting given that the flow of the Chicago River was permanently reversed to flow away from the lake.
4 mom // Sep 18, 2004 at 11:51 am
Neat pictures !
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