After the 1871 Chicago Fire, north side landowners joined forces to enhance the value of their holdings. Accordingly, during the clean up from the Great Fire, they voted to prohibit further industrial use of the area that was once home to breweries and light industry.

Chicago Daily Tribune, September 17, 1872

Six months before the Chicago Fire, the Lincoln Park Commissioners reported on their progress of connecting Lincoln Park to Pine Street by way of a new road from the south end of Lincoln Park where the City Cemetery still stood:
      The Lake Shore Drive (to be extended from the Old Cemetery tract to the north line of the City property) of which one mile and one sixth has already been completed in a most substantial manner, proves to be one of the most attractive features of the Park.
      The Commissioners contemplate the speedy construction of a drive bordering the Lake from Pine st. to the South line of the Park, thus opening a convenient and attractive approach to the Park.
(See the original report to the Common Council here at the Hidden Truths project website.)

March 23, 1883:
An advertisement for bids to construct the the new Lake Shore Drive connecting Lincoln Park to Pine Street (today's Michigan Ave.)
The ad is pasted to a page of contractor's stationery that was a submitted bid for the job.

By permission and courtesy of the Chicago Park District Special Collections.