Inspiring Dreams: Promoting the Burnham Plan

Exhibit :

Daniel Burnham’s Plan of Chicago inspired the dreams of people living and working in Chicago in the early decades of the 20th century. Many strategies were employed to enable Burnham and the Commercial Club of Chicago, who supported his work, to “sell” the “Plan” to the City Planning Commission and eventually the public.

This exhibit explores how the “Plan” was promoted to Chicago’s citizens. Burnham’s plan became part of the public school curriculum and was supported by clergymen in sermons. It also was the feature of illustrated lantern slide lectures, a film, and department store window displays. The Plan of Chicago even inspired the development of future guidelines for the Chicago Public Library when Chief Librarian Henry E. Legler published A Library Plan for the Whole City in 1916. Burnham’s plan continues to influence strategic goals for Chicago, most recently seen in the City’s bid for the 2016 Olympics.