It Takes a Fleet: Working Boats of the Chicago River

CHICAGO— From June 19 through June 29, 2008, Friends of the Chicago River is hosting “Working Boats of the Chicago River” outside its McCormick Tribune Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum to showcase the boats and crews that keep the river safe, clean, and vibrant. Visitors will be able to get a close look at Chicago’s working boats from the shore, learn about their activities on the river, and meet the crews. The series of events is a partnership with the Chicago Police Marine & Helicopter Unit, Chicago River Rowing & Paddling Center (CRRPC), City of Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation, Chicago Fire Department and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD). The Bridgehouse Museum is located at 376 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago. For more detailed schedules of which boat will be present each day call (312) 977-0227.

“Every boat in this event is different, and its work on the river is unique and essential,” noted Margaret Frisbie, Friends’ executive director. “Not only will it be fun to learn about the boats - we think visitors will walk away with a heightened appreciation and a deeper understanding of how we collectively affect the river and what efforts are underway to improve it aesthetically and physically while we maintain balanced use between the canoes, kayaks, rowing shells, water taxis, tour boats and barges that ply its waters.”

The boats of Working Boats include: Streets & Sanitation’s new state-of-the-art river cleaning boat and their graffiti removal boat; MWRD’s pollution control and scientific research boat; the Chicago Fire Department’s classic fireboat; and Chicago Marine Police’s newest patrol and rescue boat. CRRPC and Friends’ own canoe program will showcase the human-powered craft these organizations use to raise awareness for the river and help people discover the joys and thrills of paddling and rowing on our urban waters.

During each event, visitors will receive discounted $2 admission to the Bridgehouse Museum, where visitors can discover the fascinating story of how the Chicago River changed with the growth of the city it inspired.

Event participants and dates

Thursday, June 19
11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Chicago Police Marine and Helicopter Unit
Boat Details: Marine 5, the department’s newest boat, was received in 2007. This 31-foot Defender Class Safe Boat has a crew of two to five marine officers, depending on the mission.

Friday, June 20
10 a.m. - 2 p.m. City of Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation
Boat Details: DSS Two, a 41-foot Debris Collecting Boat with Oxygenation vessel, was launched in May 2008 and is the Department’s newest addition. DSS One, a 33-foot refurbished police boat built in 1976, can be used to clean but is now primarily used to combat graffiti near the river banks. Both boats are operated by a crew of two people.

Monday, June 23
11 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Chicago Fire Department
Boat Details: The Victor L. Schlaeger - otherwise known as Engine Company No. 58 - was commissioned in 1949 and is Chicago’s last operating fireboat. This 92-foot floating firehouse has sleeping quarters and a kitchen below, and is on duty 24 hours a day. Each of its 4 deck guns can pump 1,200 gallons of water per minute to extinguish boat fires as well as building fires along the Chicago River. The fireboat is an integral member of the water rescue response team.

Friday, June 27
11 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
Pollution Control Boat 100 is one of the fleet the District uses for monitoring of illegal or accidental toxic waste discharges, conducts research and continuously screens water quality for aquatic life, dissolved oxygen, temperature and ph, and observes commodity movements, recreational use and the surrounding property.

Sunday, June 29
11 a.m. - 3 p.m.
HUMAN POWERED CRAFT!!

Chicago River Rowing & Paddling Center will showcase a quadruple sculls rowing shell (known as a “4x”) and different types of kayaks. Visitors will also have an opportunity to see a “1x” single sculling rowing shell on land and see up close how the seat slides back and forth and how beautiful and delicately built it is.

Friends of the Chicago River’s own River Guides will demonstrate canoe skills and talk about experiencing both rich wildlife and urban adventures on the Chicago River.

Friends of the Chicago River is a nonprofit organization with 2,000 members that works to foster the vitality of Chicago River for the plants, animals, and people that share its watershed. The McCormick Tribune Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum boosts Friends’ education and outreach efforts. For information on how to become a Friend visit our website at www.chicagoriver.org or call Friends of the Chicago River at (312) 939-0490. For more information about the Bridgehouse Museum, visit www.bridgehousemuseum.org.

CHICAGO—As the city with the most movable bridges in the world, Chicago is home to many bridge houses, yet only one opens its doors every summer to welcome the public. Starting May 1, visitors can once again climb the five stories of the southwest bridgehouse of the Michigan Avenue Bridge, arguably one of the city’s most beautiful - and certainly the only one that houses its own museum. Opening celebrations on May 1 include the opportunity for lunchtime museum visitors to help release 200 baby fish into the river between noon and 1 p.m.

In 2006, Friends of the Chicago River opened the McCormick Tribune Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum inside this landmark bridge tower to celebrate the history of the river and help tell the story of the outsized characters, innovations and accomplishments that built modern Chicago. As summer arrives, the Bridgehouse Museum swings open the tower’s wrought iron gates, located on the riverwalk, to reveal the natural and cultural story of the river that was central to Chicago’s development.

Friends uses the museum to inform and inspire thousands of visitors to protect and improve the Chicago River. Inside the Bridgehouse Museum, visitors discover the fascinating story of how the Chicago River changed with the growth of the city it inspired. Initial rapid development turned the river into an eyesore and a health hazard, setting the stage for modern-day community efforts that have significantly improved the quality of its water and banks. With collective, ongoing stewardship, the river’s beauty and habitat are being restored, as the magnificent views from the top floor of the Bridgehouse Museum reveal. Starting in 2009, the main stem of the river will even be enhanced by the new Chicago Riverwalk.

Visitors can watch the giant gears that lift the 200-ton bridge - from inside

The museum also showcases the bridgeworks of the Michigan Avenue Bridge - the most famous of Chicago’s bascule bridges - and visitors can watch the gears at work when the bridge lifts. In addition, Friends will once again anchor its floating Michigan Avenue Fish Hotel on the river in front of the museum gates. This “hotel” provides the fish in the downtown portion of the Chicago River a safe place where they can hide and feed among aquatic plants, as their ancestors did centuries ago. Today, this part of the river provides little if any shelter for the fish that traverse it. Friends educates visitors who come to watch the fish about wildlife in the river and their ideal habitat.
The Bridgehouse Museum, seasonal and open during the summer, is open Thursdays through Mondays, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., through October. Admission is $3. Children under 5 years enter free.

Friends of the Chicago River is a nonprofit organization with 2,000 members that works to foster the vitality of Chicago River for the plants, animals and people that share its watershed. The McCormick Tribune Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum boosts Friends’ education and outreach efforts. For information on how to become a Friend visit our website at www.chicagoriver.org or by calling Friends of the Chicago River at (312) 939-0490. For more information about the Bridgehouse Museum, visit www.bridgehousemuseum.org.

Organized by the Chicago Loop Alliance, Looptopia is America’s premier dusk-until-dawn artistic and cultural celebration featuring 14 hours of arts, culture, architecture, and more. Inspired by “White Night” events in cities like Rome and Paris, Looptopia made its wildly successful debut as the first American event of its kind last year. This year, the event has expanded to include venues on the Chicago River’s Downtown Riverwalk, including the Bridgehouse Museum at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive and a temporary Around the Coyote Riverwalk Gallery at the corner of Wacker Drive and Wabash Street.

May 1 marks the 2008 season opening of McCormick Tribune Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum. To celebrate, a fish liberation ceremony symbolizing the return of wildlife to the Chicago River is planned. For $5, visitors are invited to adopt a baby bluegill, name it if they wish, and release it into the Main Stem of the river just outside the museum’s entrance. The ceremony takes place between 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. on the Riverwalk in front of the museum.

Opening weekend events continue Friday, when the Bridgehouse Museum participates in Looptopia - Chicago’s dusk-to-dawn cultural celebration. Museum doors will stay open afterhours on May 2nd and admission will be free between 5 PM and 9 PM. The celebration wraps up on Saturday, May 3, when the first 30 guests to sign up can view the bridge lift for the regular admission price of $3, instead of $10. Please call Ozana at 312.939.0490, ext. 23, if you would like to reserve a spot.

Envisioned by Daniel Burnham in the 1909 Plan of Chicago and designed by Edward H. Bennett, the Michigan Avenue Bridge and its four bridge towers were finished in 1920. They were designated Chicago Landmarks in 1991. An architectural gem in the Beaux-Arts style, the southwest tower is now home to Friends’ Bridgehouse Museum - and is currently the only one of Chicago’s many bridge towers open to the public. In designing museum exhibits, Friends integrated the exterior’s rich decorative detail against the pipes and ductwork of its functional use.

The Bridgehouse Museum uses each of the five floors of the bridgehouse to introduce visitors to the river’s history through time. The ground floor is also home to the City of Bridges exhibit, which houses the bridge’s massive gears and also highlights Chicago as the movable bridge capital of the world. The third and fifth floors reveal magnificent views of the Chicago River, effectively incorporating the river as a living exhibit. The museum is open during the summer and for special events throughout the year.

The McCormick Tribune Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum was selected as an award recepient in the category Welcome to Downtown during Friends of Downtown Annual Awards Night on April 12, 2007. The Friends of Downtown Awards recognize outstanding achievements that promote downtown and help make it the well-designed, vibrant, economic heart of the city. The Bridgehouse Museum was celebrated as one of three new institutions opened in 2006 that contribute most to downtown life.