The Other Side of the Burnham Plan

A century ago, the Burnham Plan of Chicago was published. Lavishly illustrated, handsomely presented, and funded by a club of businessmen, the Plan was Daniel Burnham and the Commercial Club’s vision of a new Chicago. Burnham saw broad avenues, lakefront parks, impressive monuments; and in a nod to his backers, declared “With things as they should be, every business man in Chicago would make more money than he does now.”

The businessmen may have been rubbing their hands at the claim, but for every widened avenue, homes had to be destroyed. For every yacht club, the lakefront became more forbidding to the poor. And every impressive monument only highlighted the inequality between the two Chicagos. It was in this second Chicago that the women of Hull-House and their female city-building contemporaries in other arenas worked.

Jane Addams and her peers enjoyed a sterling reputation in Chicago for their charitable work with the underclass. Hull-House brought culture and the progressive spirit to some of Chicago’s most depressed neighborhoods. What’s more, women like Addams were at the forefront of social reform, fighting for legislation on a number of issues we now take for granted, like the 8-hour work day, child labor laws, and welfare.

Instrumental as they were in shaping the development of Chicago’s neighborhoods and creating its social institutions, the women were left on the sidelines while Burnham and the Commercial Club laid the course of Chicago’s future. The men knew that there was no profit in catering to the poor and downtrodden, as they certainly wouldn’t be footing the bill for their grandiose designs. So the Plan of Chicago was published, representing only the voices of the elite.

Though the plan’s drafters may have been uninterested in what Addams had to say, Janice Metzger cares, and makes the case that we should care, too. Her book, What Would Jane Say? City-Building Women and a Tale of Two Chicagos, breaks down the plan (and details its break downs), then imagines how the women would have responded to it, substantiating her speculation with detailed research.

With Burnham being celebrated across Chicago in this centennial year, history buffs of every type would be well-served to find out the other side of the Burnham Plan's story.

What Would Jane Say? City-Building Women and a Tale of Two Chicagos will be available the week of August 10 from Lake Claremont Press.

--Written by Erik Germani