Adler, 12th St. Beach and the Former Meigs Field

jack: 2nd Feb 2007 - 20:10 GMT

the fourth picture, is that a small scale of that thing in scotland or is it ireland or around that area somewhere that has those big rocks leaning up against each other, it seems that this is easier to do than the other one but who did the other one over there and how did they get those big rocks there? there must of been some happier times in this place, it looks cold and bleak, lonely, like something important happened here.

procyon: 3rd Feb 2007 - 21:51 GMT

sort of; important but not too important. the '33 world's fair was there, and it was the site of mayor daley's famous, ridiculous late-night bulldozing in 2003. from the next day's Trib:

"Mayor Richard Daley launched the surprise closing of Meigs Field at a secret meeting over the weekend where he huddled with top aides to solidify a strategy designed to strike before any opposition could be mustered, City Hall sources said Monday.

Those at the table included city lawyers, mayoral chief of staff Sheila O'Grady, Cortez Trotter, the city's emergency response chief, and Aviation Commissioner Thomas Walker.

The lengthy list of those unaware of the plan to move under cover of darkness late Sunday included the city's 50 aldermen, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Homeland Security officials and virtually everyone else in the Chicago area.

The action, which Daley defended as needed to protect the Loop from possible terrorist acts launched with small planes, signaled the apparent death of an agreement that Daley reached in late 2001 with then-Gov. George Ryan. It called for the governor's support of a $6.6 billion expansion of O'Hare International Airport in return for the mayor's commitment to continue to operate Meigs until at least 2006 and his support for development of a new airport near Peotone.

[...]

'Mayor Daley bulldozed his way into aviation history this morning by destroying a national treasure,' said John Carr, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. 'Clearly, the mayor didn't think his policy choices could withstand the light of day. It's the epitome of arrogance.'"

I think my boyfriend determined that most of the rubble we saw was not actually from the destruction of the airport, but we have not yet figured out what it actually came from. The terminal is now some sort of Chicago Parks District office, and the control tower is still standing, as seen here.

as for the stonehenge thing, i have no idea; i remember reading the plaque but i don't think it was very elucidating.