Lake Calumet
Lake Calumet | |
---|---|
Location | Chicago, Illinois |
Coordinates | 41°40′48″N 87°35′24″W / 41.68000°N 87.59000°W |
Primary outflows | Des Plaines River |
Basin countries | United States |
Lake Calumet is the largest body of water within the city of
Calumet is a Norman word used since the 17th century by French colonists in Canada for the ceremonial pipes they saw used by First Nations peoples.
Overview
Lake Calumet is located east of the Bishop Ford Freeway (
History
Until the 1800s, Lake Calumet was near the center of an extensive
The Chicago neighborhood of
In the 1950s, part of the former lakebed was used as a right-of-way for a freeway, which was originally named in the lake's honor as the
The lake was deepened in 1958 and large slips were added with the intent to harbor large ocean-going freighters anticipated after the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway. However, the increased traffic never truly materialized, and the port infrastructure largely lay dormant.[1]
Another parcel of former wetland, south of the lake, was designated as what is now the Paxton Landfill, the final home for much of the household and industrial
In the early 1980s, the Lake Calumet area was proposed as a site for the later-cancelled Chicago 1992 World's Fair.
In 1996, the Calumet Expressway was renamed the
Today
Lake Calumet is a unit of the Illinois International Port District (IIPD), a municipal corporation created in 1951 whose purpose is to redevelop the lake as a multi-purpose and multimodal transport complex.[4] The 36-hole Harborside International Golf Center was developed at the north end of the lake in 1995. The lake is home to multiple industrial tenants, the largest being Kinder Morgan, a energy intrastructure company specializing in the transport of oil and natural gas.[4]
Ecology
The
Although Lake Calumet has undergone extensive human alteration over the period from 1880 through 2010, parts of the basin remain a wetland. The basin has been designated an Important Bird Area of Illinois and is part of the flyway along Lake Michigan and the rivers.[5]
Superfund status
On March 2, 2010, the EPA designated the Lake Calumet Cluster, a cluster of sites grouped around Lake Calumet, for the Superfund List.[6] Several local areas within this cluster are extremely hazardous; excavation workers must use masks and self-contained supplies of air or oxygen.[7]
Despite these challenges, planners hope to conduct remedial cleanups of less-severely contaminated sites to permit adaptive reuse. They will cap the more heavily contaminated sites within the cluster. Landfill gas could be collected and the methane filtered for use.[7]
Maps and images
- Placemark for Lake Calumet area (requires Google Earth)
References
- ^ a b "Ask Geoffrey: What's the Plan for Lake Calumet?". WTTW. 2016-10-19. Retrieved 2017-03-08.
- ^ "Industrial Corridor" (PDF). City of Chicago. 2004-03-08. Retrieved 2007-10-25.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Bob Tita, "Former dump getting capped", Crain's Chicago Business, 23 October 2006, p. 20.
- ^ a b "Illinois International Port District Master Plan, September 2022". CMAP.com. Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
- ^ "Illinois Important Bird Areas". Chicago Wilderness. Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2010-02-16.
- ^ Hood, Joel (2010-03-02). "Lake Calumet dumping ground declared a Superfund site". Chicago Tribune.
- ^ a b "LAKE CALUMET CLUSTER SITE. CHICAGO, COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS" (PDF). www.atsdr.cdc.gov. 11 February 2009. Retrieved 29 February 2024.