Ribbon-cutting season continues in Chicago with the formal dedication and opening of Maggie Daley Park.
The northeast corner of Grant Park, formerly known as Daley Bicentennial Plaza, recently underwent a $60 million renovation to bring it up to modern standards for an urban park, and to make it engaging for a greater number of people.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and former mayor Richard M. Daley
The Chicago Architecture Blog’s Jeff Johnson was there as Mayor Rahm Emanuel held court amid a sea of politicians, bureaucrats and civil servants; along with dozens of fidgety children itching to go play. It was a poignant moment for 73-year-old former mayor Richard M. Daley, who sat front and center for the dedication of the park named to honor his late wife, a long-time advocate for the greening of Chicago which earned her a tulip bearing her name. Mr. Daley was joined by other members of his immediate family.
Maggie Daley Park is the result of the transformation of an area of Grant Park that was previously designed in the 19th-century European model, with formal rose gardens, square lawns, and allees of trees and bushes. The new park is less formal, more interactive, and designed not only to appeal to people of all ages, but to be useful in all types of weather, including Chicago’s harsh winter.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel
