We are always searching for something new and exciting, and a few weeks ago Osgood and I got more than we could have imagined when Millennium Park made its splashy debut.
Even columnists and editorial writers went wild for the place. Osgood shot pictures and I hung around, watching kids smile into the Bean, roll on the grass and say, as did one little girl in a pink dress, “They don’t have something like this in Wisconsin.”
There were concerts and street performers and a few very rich people whose checkbooks helped build the park and create the things in it. There were also tourists, a lot of them, and though most were there for the specific purpose of seeing the park, some claimed they were going to explore the city later.
That meant, of course, trips to Navy Pier or window shopping along North Michigan Avenue. Some more adventurous types were going to wander the Loop.
We talked to dozens of people and not one of them ex-pressed any interest in visiting what Osgood and I consider the gem of Grant Park. “What,” we should have asked these people, “is the matter with Buckingham Fountain?”
Undeniably, many of us who live here have come to take the fountain for granted, giving it a glance when cruising along the Drive.
The fountain was formally dedicated on Aug. 26, 1927, which would make this Friday its 77th birthday, an occasion not likely to get media coverage or even be noticed by any but the most ardent architecture or history geeks.
But know that the fountain was a big deal when it made its debut. It was a gift to the city from Kate Buckingham, whose family made its fortune in grain elevators and banking, built as a memorial to her brother, Clarence. It was designed by Edward H. Bennett, who also helped design Wacker Drive and the Michigan Avenue bridge.
On that long-ago August night, as water soared 135 feet into the air, John Philip Sousa led his band in “Stars and Stripes Forever” and 50,000 Chicagoans stood and cheered in wonder. It’s a wonder that it is still there.
