Rare photo shows what South Water Street looked like before Wacker Drive
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South Water Street Market looking west toward the elevated train tracks over Wells Street in 1904. Photo: Chicago Sun-Times/Chicago Daily News collection/Chicago History Museum/Getty Images
This week's "History Mystery" features a long-lost photo of a produce market in Chicago's Loop.
The big (archival) picture: The 1904 archival photo shows several wagons lined up on South Water Street, which once featured open-air meat and produce markets.
Zoom in: At the time, South Water Street was dubbed "the busiest street in the world" because of the markets and horse-drawn carriage traffic.
- It was also extremely congested, as river boats and barges docked along the main branch, dropping goods directly at market stalls.
The intrigue: While current Chicagoans know South Water Street to be east of Michigan Avenue, this photo was taken farther west, near the Wells Street "L" line.
- That's because in 1925, the city demolished Water Street for a newer, more efficient way to bring goods into the Loop: Wacker Drive.
The famed Wacker Drive (both upper and lower) was built to modernize truck traffic and ease congestion along the Chicago River.
- It was also part of Daniel Burnham's 1909 plan, which called for better river access and a more orderly system for moving goods.
What happened next: The merchants didn't take the changes sitting down. They fought the plans in court, ultimately losing.
- Instead of staying in the Loop, they built a new produce distribution center near 14th and Racine, a couple of blocks from Maxwell Street.
The bottom line: The crowded Water Street markets were wiped out in the name of progress, replaced by Wacker Drive and, eventually, the Riverwalk that now draws thousands each year.
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