The Nature Boardwalk (also known as the Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo) is an outdoor space managed by the Lincoln Park Zoo, in Chicago's Lincoln Park, in the U.S. state of Illinois.
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Café Brauer is a restaurant building and official landmark located in Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois, at the edge of the Lincoln Park Zoo. It was designed by Dwight H. Perkins and completed in 1908.
The building, known for its green roof, red bricks, second floor ballroom, and lagoon-side setting, has been called "an outstanding example of the Prairie School of architecture" and "perhaps the finest expression of Perkins' design philosophy". It was financed by the Brauer family of Chicago, who worked in the restaurant business, and was one of the most popular restaurants in Chicago during the early twentieth century. Caspar Brauer, who died at age 68 on April 29, 1940, was the longtime proprietor of Café Brauer.
The original restaurant closed in the 1940s. In 1947, Café Brauer's second floor ballroom was opened to the public as an indoor recreation room featuring ballroom dancing for children, square dancing, and waltzing. At the time, it was announced that the facility would be renamed the Lincoln Fieldhouse. By the 1960s, the structure was largely used for storage. Part of the second floor was used as a theater, and there was a small cafeteria on the first floor. A nine-member committee was chosen on October 10, 1967 by Chicago Park Board Vice-President Daniel Shannon to look into restoring the structure as a restaurant-ballroom and adding an outdoor dance pavilion. Their project never moved forward because of restrictions on the sale of alcohol in park district facilities.
In 1987, the Lincoln Park Zoo Society began a $4.2 million restoration project. The second floor ballroom was renovated so that it could be used for private events, and the first floor was remodeled as a small family restaurant and ice cream parlor.
Café Brauer was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, and it received Chicago Landmark status on February 5, 2003.
The building is located on the site of the South Pond Refectory, a wood-frame boathouse and restaurant designed by William Le Baron Jenney which was open from 1882 until 1908. Café Brauer is sometimes called the South Pond Refectory, the primary name for the site used in its National Register nomination.
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The Ulysses S. Grant Monument is a presidential memorial in Chicago, honoring American Civil War general and 18th president of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant. Located in Lincoln Park, the statue was commissioned shortly after the president's death in 1885 and was completed in 1891. Several artists submitted sketches, and Louis Rebisso was selected to design the statue, with a granite pedestal suggested by William Le Baron Jenney. At the time of its completion, the monument was the largest bronze statue cast in the United States, and over 250,000 people were present at the dedication of the monument.
In 2021, Mayor of Chicago Lori Lightfoot announced that Grant, as well as 40 other statues and dedications in the Chicago area, were under review for possible removal. The Grant Monument's inclusion in this list has been met with criticism from academics, politicians, and journalists.
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Lincoln Park Zoo, also known as Lincoln Park Zoological Gardens, is a 35-acre zoo in Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois. The zoo was founded in 1868 and is the second oldest zoo in the United States. It is also one of a small number of zoos to offer free admission. The zoo is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. In 2019 it also became an accredited arboretum.
Lincoln Park Zoo is home to a wide variety of animals. The zoo's exhibits include big cats, polar bears, penguins, gorillas, reptiles, monkeys, and other species totaling about 1,100 animals from some 200 species.
The Lincoln Park Zoo was long home to a burr oak tree which was estimated to more than 250 years old. The tree was cut down on May 2, 2023, due to poor health. Thirty-six scions of the tree were grafted onto root stock and are growing at the Morton Arboretum.
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Park West is a concert venue located in Chicago, Illinois. The theater opened in 1916 as a vaudeville and movie theater by the Ascher Brothers. Currently, it can house up to 1,000 guests in a general admission setting.
