On this day 20 years ago: Millennium Park officially opens in downtown Chicago
Joe Donlon's intro for the CBS Chicago Vault clip above was recorded in the fall of 2022.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Given how much of a Chicago icon it became some time ago, it may seem like Millennium Park has been around forever these days.
But in point of fact, Millennium Park opened only 20 years ago Tuesday—on Friday, July 16, 2004.
In Chicago before the 2000s, events such as the Chicago Blues and Jazz Festival and concerts by the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra were held at the Petrillo Music Shell—in Grant Park near Columbus and Jackson drives.
Beginning in 1976, Richard J. Daley Bicentennial Plaza—now the site of Maggie Daley Park—offered tennis and ice skating on top of an underground parking lot north of Monroe Drive. Just to its west, Columbus Drive was extended north from Monroe Drive to Wacker Drive in 1980—and across the Chicago River two years later.
But the piece of land bounded by Randolph Drive, Columbus Drive, Monroe Drive, and Michigan Avenue? As late as the 90s, it was nothing special—dominated by railroad tracks and parking lots.
The idea for placing a park on the site dates back to the late 1970s, according to the Chicago Loop Alliance. But the organization said it was "stymied by city government" before it got anywhere back then.
But the idea was refreshed in 1997. Legend has it that this happened after then-Mayor Richard M. Daley—the son, of course, of the earlier mayor whose name was on the Bicentennial Plaza—went to his dentist's office on Michigan Avenue and saw just how blasé the view was.
The city originally proposed Millennium Park for the site in 1998, and construction began the same year. The original plan had it covering almost 16 acres, costing about $160 million, and opening in 2000 for the new Millennium.
But cost overruns and controversies bogged down the project. After the first $100 million in overruns, Mayor Daley fired the original contractor in 2000.
The price tag kept mushrooming out of control—tripling to $475 million. Meanwhile, the city's promise that income the Millennium Park Garage would cover the costs did not work out, and thus, the city had to take $95 million out of a special tax fund.
At the risk of the whole project being a failure, Mayor Daley called on John Bryan, longtime chief executive office of Sara Lee Corporation, to rescue the project. A total of $200 million came in to jumpstart the stalled project—and in the summer of 2004, the now-24-acre marvel was ready at last.
The city's annual music festivals have all now moved to the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, designed by celebrity architect Frtank Gehry. Nearby,
Kapoor's Cloud Gate sculpture—better known as The Bean—has taken its place alongside the Picasso in Daley Plaza among the city's most iconic pieces of public art.
Just to the south, Crown Fountain in Daley Plaza features 550-foot towers of LED screens separated by a pool of black granite. Each of the towers features the faces of 1,000 Chicagoans who spout water as kids play.
All that opened for business on this day 20 years ago. The Grant Park Symphony Orchestra offered its first concert at the Pritzker Pavilion—with a composition by American composer John Corigliano just for the occasion.
A total of 92 founders, each contributing $1 million or more, made that first night at Millennium Park possible. Then as now, crowds gathered on the Great Lawn to hear the orchestra.
Mayor Daley and his wife, the late Maggie Daley, were the proud guests of honor that Friday, and the day also featured entertainment complete with mimes and marionette puppeteers.
"We made no little plans. We took an eyesore. We turned it—we—turned into a showplace of architecture, arts, and a grand public space that will be envy of any other city in the world," Mayor Daley said that evening.
Meanwhile, the Bean drew hundreds of spectators—all trying to catch a glimpse of their own reflections.
And no one cared that Millennium Park was four years behind schedule and $300 million over budget when they witnessed its beauty.
The opening weekend for Millennium Park, continuing through that Sunday, also featured a large-scale illumination by the old Redmoon Theatre, a concert showcasing the city's diverse music scene, and a three-ring circus.
Lo these 20 years later, the city is celebrating again. From Thursday through Saturday of this week, the city will present a variety of programming—topped off with a headline concert from Grammy and Emmy Award-winning hip hop star and Chicago native Common alongside the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra on Saturday.
You can reserve free Pritzker Pavilion bowl seating for the concert online. While lawn seating is normally first come, first served, reservations for the lawn are required for this concert.
