neighborhood Much of Chicago's lakefront was landfill. To protect this lakefront park land, a seawall or
revetment was built by the
Chicago Park District in the 1930s. This revetment consists of limestone blocks (with an average weight 2 to 4 tons) arranged in a series of “steps” leading down to the lake. These blocks are supported by a crib structure made from wooden timbers that encloses crushed rock. At the outer edge of the revetment, a series of wooden pilings, held together by a steel rail, keep the limestone blocks from tumbling into the lake. At the Point, the revetment features four steps leading down to a wide promenade. The revetment at the Point is exposed to severe wave action and had partially failed by the early 1960s. A section of the revetment (out of approximately a total length) at the Northeast tip of the Point was repaired by removing the limestone blocks that form the promenade and pouring a pad of of concrete over the badly eroded crib structure. This repair stands today. By the 1980s, the City and the CPD began a project to repair the revetment along almost all of the city's lakefront. Federal funds were sought from the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and a project study was begun. The conclusion of the study, published in the 1993, was that different areas of the revetment needed different treatments. At Promontory Point, a historic preservation treatment was agreed to and signed into public contract, and into law when the Congress approved the project, in a memorandum of agreement. This document states that “the Corps shall consult with the SHPO (state historic preservation officer), the City of Chicago and the Chicago Park District to ensure that the design and construction of the revetment will match the existing in accordance with the recommendations of the Secretary of the Interior's ‘Standards and Guidelines for Archeology and Historic Preservation’." As the project moved forward and was finally funded, the ACOE, the City and the CPD changed the design at Promontory Point. The new plan called for the demolition of the historic revetment, and replacement by a monolithic concrete seawall. In January 2001, the City and CPD held a community meeting to announce their plans for the Point revetment. This started a controversy that has not yet been resolved.
Controversy The January 2001 meeting was attended by about 150 users of the Point and members of the Hyde Park community. Residents reacted very negatively to the City/CPD proposal to replace the revetment with a concrete and steel structure. Some felt that the revetment was not really in need of repair and should be left intact. Others felt that the City/CPD plan denied water access so vital to Point Users. Many felt that limestone was a more aesthetically pleasing material and should be used. The proposal clearly violated the Memorandum of Agreement signed by the City and the ACOE in 1983, which promised the preservation of the historic limestone revetment - a structure which the Chicago Park District itself nominated for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. At the end of this meeting, Alderman Leslie Hairston (5th) announced that she would form a working group of community members to meet with the City in an attempt to change the plan. In the months that followed, this volunteer group, which Alderman Hairston called The Community Task Force for Promontory Point met and elected officers, called the executive committee. This Executive Committee met privately with the CPD, the city, and the ACOE. The result of these meetings was that the executive committee agreed to nine largely symbolic concessions that modified the CPD's new proposal. Included in these nine points were limited water access, limitations on the height and width of the concrete revetment, and a staged construction plan that would keep some part of the Point open for use during the two-year construction. The plan still mandated the destruction of the historic limestone revetment, to be replaced with a uniform concrete seawall. When the executive committee presented their agreement to the Community Task Force, it was rejected and the Task Force voted to not ratify the agreement. In protest against the executive committee operating without consultation with the Task Force members, the Task Force then immediately elected four new members of the executive committee. The original executive committee members then quit the group in protest. The nine-point agreement was rejected by the Task Force as without substantial compromise. Following the departure of the four original Executive Committee members, the Task Force became more open and democratic, the membership grew, and the Task Force gained real leverage with the CPD. Over the next several years, the Task Force worked with the city, the CPD, and the ACOE to preserve the limestone revetment, maintain access to the water, and perform restoration work, to include the thoughtful addition of access features (stairs and ramps). The effort was aided by Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. and then-Senator Barack Obama. The current status of the effort is that all parties agreed to a new ACOE study on the preservation of the Point, to be performed under the direction of the Army Corps office of historic preservation. The Task Force used may activities to engage as much of the community of Promontory Point park users as possible. They promoted the effort with newsletters, letters in newspapers, meetings, presentations, T-shirts, and bumper stickers, to name a few. Bumper stickers can be seen on many vehicles (including
automobiles,
bikes and
skateboards) in the city reading "Save the Point." According to an August 2006 statement by the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in response to issues raised most recently in a March 2006 meeting of the Corps, the City of Chicago, the Community Task Force, the
National Trust for Historic Preservation, the
Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois,
Preservation Chicago, the
Hyde Park Historical Society, the Office of
U. S. Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. and the Office of
U. S. Senator Barack Obama, preservation work will adhere to the following concerns of those in attendance and those of the
Chicago Park District Lakefront Construction Director: • Preservation enhancements that provide the level of shoreline protection storm damage reduction for a 50-year project life. • Provide an appropriate level of accessibility to the water's edge for persons with disabilities in compliance with
Department of Justice standards and approved by the Chicago Parks District. • Represent reasonable costs to local agencies for construction and maintenance. • Continue to meet with the approval of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in consultation with the Illinois State Historic Preservation Officer. Promontory Point has been named by the
Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois to the 2004 List of 10 Most Endangered Historic Places In Illinois after being named to their 2002-3 Chicagoland Watch List. As of November 2006, they list it as
still threatened. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 2018. ==References==