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.

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