Company Name
Rerouting the Metropolis
Moving Freight
New railroad loops and docks would ease the movement of freight into and around the metropolis. The Plan of Chicago called for circuits "operated for the benefit of all railroads" and connected to the redesigned ports of the Chicago and Calumet rivers. New industrial development would be encouraged along the outer loops and in an immense warehouse district southwest of downtown.
The Plan of Chicago's proposed freight docks at the mouth of the Calumet River reflected the late 19thcentury emergence of Calumet Harbor as the major industrial port of Chicago. The piers extending out into the lake (below left) never materialized; instead harbor improvements focused on Lake Calumet and the Cal-Sag Channel (opened in 1922). The Channel links the Calumet River to the Sanitary and Ship Canal, which then flows toward the Illinois River and on to the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico.
