Lakefront love affair

Northerly Island, like much of Chicago's 30-mile lakefront, is a triumph of artifice, created from fill and debris, including detritus from the city's devastating 1871 fire. It was to be the first in a chain of islands proposed by architect Daniel Burnham in his 1909 Plan of Chicago. More than a century later, Burnham's vision continues to guide development of the Chicago lakefront, and Northerly Island is among the sites undergoing renovation. Plans for Navy Pier include more green space, water attractions, public art, and nighttime lighting. The existing Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Chicago Children's Museum may be expanded. About nine miles south of Northerly Island another swath of artificially created land juts Out into Lake Michigan, this one bigger than Chicago's downtown Loop and built with slag from the steel industry that once defined the city's Far South Side.