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An online and photo-panel exhibit created by the Newberry Library for the cnetennial of the Plan of Chicago

Jules Guerin, "Chicago. View Looking West over the City, Showing the Proposed Civic Center, the Grand Axis, Grant Park, and the Harbor," Plan of Chicago, plate LXXXVII. Chicago Historical Museum.

A century ago, Burnham, Bennett, and their collaborators produced a remarkable plan for metropolitan Chicago. Historians debate the Plan of Chicago's impact, but all agree on its imaginative power, expressed most persuasively by its spectacular illustrations. Burnham and Bennett's vision of an American metropolis grew from their appreciation of the urban past and their commitment to improve the lives of city dwellers in the future. These values shaped its legacy as a source of inspiration for today's metropolitan planners, visionaries, and residents.