Streeterville neighborhood guide
Development
Much of Streeterville stands on land that built up along the lakeshore after a pier was constructed at the mouth of the Chicago River in 1834, with later landfill added for Lake Shore Drive. The neighborhood is named for George Wellington Streeter, who in the late 1880s claimed the new land lay outside Illinois; a court rejected his claims in 1918. Navy Pier opened in 1916 as Municipal Pier No. 2 and was renamed in 1927. Northwestern University bought land at Chicago Avenue and Lake Shore Drive in 1920 and dedicated its Chicago campus there in 1927. The East Lake Shore Drive District, a Chicago Landmark district designated in 1985, is a row of eight apartment buildings designed between 1912 and 1929. Housing in Streeterville is mainly high-rise apartment and condominium buildings.
Parks & Recreation
Ohio Street Beach, at 600 N. Lake Shore Drive, is on Streeterville’s lakefront along the Lakefront Trail. Milton Lee Olive Park and an enlarged Ohio Street Beach were built as part of the Jardine Water Filtration Plant project, completed in 1965. Lake Shore Park, at 808 N. Lake Shore Drive, has a fieldhouse with a gym, tennis courts, a running track and a playground.
Transit
Streeterville is served by the Grand and Chicago stations on the CTA Red Line, both on State Street west of the neighborhood. Bus routes 143, 146, 147, 148 and 151 run along Michigan Avenue. Routes 29 State, 65 Grand, 66 Chicago and 124 Navy Pier end at Navy Pier, and route 157 Streeterville/Taylor ends at Chestnut and Lake Shore Drive.
Community Area
Streeterville is part of the Near North Side, official Chicago community area 8.
