Originally completed in 1916 as part of Daniel Burnham’s plan for Chicago, Navy Pier is an iconic Chicago landmark steeped in history. Learn more about the first 100 years of "the People's Pier."

Navy Pier

Navy Pier: A Chicago Landmark

Also called the "Chicago Breakwater Light" the CHL is located  at the northern end of the breakwater.

The Chicago Harbor Lighthouse was built in 1893, although not where you see it today. The 48-foot brick and steel tower, which has a multiple-room concrete base, was originally located at the mouth of the Chicago River.  

It was moved to its current location at the outer breakwater in 1917. Today, 191 lighthouses dot the Great Lakes. The U.S. Coast Guard owns 132 of them, and 108 of these are operational.  

With new technological advancements, these lights are no longer manned. However, they continue to serve boaters while providing a constant reminder of the area’s nautical heritage. 

Chicago Harbor Lighthouse

This 8-ton anchor installed on Navy Pier in 1995 was from the U.S.S. Chicago.

This 8-ton anchor was donated by the United States Naval Historical Center in honor of four warships named after the Chicago and dedicated to the thousands of men and women who serve the nation in maritime service.  

The first Chicago was a cruiser that served as part of the Great White Fleet from 1889 to 1928. The second Chicago was a heavy cruiser commissioned in 1931. During distinguished service in World War II, it was sunk by enemy action in Guadalcanal waters in 1943. The third Chicago, from which this anchor was salvaged, was commissioned in 1945 as a heavy cruiser, then converted to a guided missile cruiser after World War II.  

Navy Anchor

From steamships to speedboats, explore Navy Pier's 100 years of nautical history.

The nautical history of Navy Pier begins a century ago, in the late 19-teens. At that time, the Pier was a vital shipping and travel destination, home to boats and ships of every size and description.   

Large freighters carrying lumber, livestock and agricultural products shared the water with smaller boats ferrying passengers between Jackson Park to the south, and Lincoln Park to the north. No other type of vessel contributed more to Navy Pierʼs success than the lake steamer, and they remain symbols of its first golden age.    

For Chicago residents, steamships transported both manufactured goods and passengers. The Manitou, Puritan and Missouri steamers docked at Navy Pier and transported passengers to Mackinac Island and Benton Harbor. For $40, the steamer Carolina would take guests on a five-day excursion of the Great Lakes, offering an escape from the chaos of urban life.     

In the modern era, tour boats such as the Spirit of Chicago, the Odyssey, and the Elite keep Navy Pier’s nautical history alive with first-class dinner and recreational cruises on Lake Michigan. These vessels have been joined in recent years by even more boats, including the four-masted schooner Windy, the giant speedboats Seadog I and II, and Shoreline Sightseeing’s tour and shuttle boats.  

Nautical History

Navy Pier's historic ballroom features an 80-foot domed ceiling and panoramic lakefront views.

Chicago’s need for a place to stage a grand celebration for the National Bicentennial in 1976 led to the restoration of the Pier’s east end recreational facilities in the mid-1970s under the direction of City Architect Jerome Butler and the Chicago Department of Public Works.  

Carefully rebuilt to look as it did in 1916, the Aon Grand Ballroom features two 165-foot-high observation towers, an 80-foot-high domed ceiling, 3,000 interior lights tracing the arches of the ceiling, and a 180-degree view of Lake Michigan.   

Now restored to much of its original grandeur, the Aon Grand Ballroom is once again one of Chicago’s premier venues for galas, weddings, concerts, trade and public shows and ceremonies of all varieties. 

Aon Grand Ballroom 

The remains of this historic fishing pier can be seen from Navy Pier's South Dock.

The collection of wooden pilings running parallel to the South Dock is known as Dime Pier. Although clearly worse for the wear, in its heyday it was one of the hottest fishing locations on the lakefront, when fishermen were so taken with the spot that they would hire a rowboat for the sum of a dime to take them out to the pier in the morning and pick them up later in the day. Despite its appearance, the substructure beneath the water now plays an important role in controlling wave action in the area.

Dime Pier

In 1927, "Municipal Pier" was renamed "Navy Pier" to honor the naval veterans who served in WWI.

In the fall of 1941, the U.S. Navy leased most of the Pier’s underutilized cargo facilities from the city for the purpose of training sailors and marines to become metalsmiths, aviation mechanics and diesel operators. 

In preparation for this major effort, the Navy installed 40,000 feet of pipe for a half-mile of showers, a heating plant, toilet facilities and kitchens. The Navy also added a 2,500-seat theater, gymnasium, barber shop, tailor shop, cobbler and hospital staffed by nine physicians and a dozen dentists.   

When the facility opened, there were 2,102 triple deck beds, 6,304 mess kits and 6,303 lockers. By July of 1942, Navy Pier was the largest training school of its type in the world. By August of 1942, student swimmers were being taught how to slide down a 65-foot rope into the sea and how to protect themselves against sharks and barracudas.    

Sailors were also taught how to prepare for attacks in a specially constructed gas chamber. By August of 1945 Navy Pier was being used primarily as a Separation Center as returning veterans made the transition to civilian life.  In 1946 the Navy turned the Pier back over to the city after graduating 60,000 servicemen and playing an important role in the Allied war effort.  

Naval History

A two-year undergraduate division of UIC opened on Navy Pier to serve returning war veterans in 1946.

In 1944, The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act or “GI Bill” was passed by Congress and provided veterans with liberal education benefits. As a result of surging college enrollments, the University of Illinois transformed the Pier into a two-year undergraduate branch campus.  

In use until 1965, “Harvard on the Rocks,” as it was affectionately known, included 21 laboratories, 52 classrooms and four large lecture halls. The Navy’s former mess hall became a giant library containing the largest reading room in Illinois. The Navy drill hall, which was built during the war just southwest of the Pier, was converted into a gymnasium and accommodated three full-sized basketball courts. 

UIC History

Learn the history of the iconic main entrance to Navy Pier.

Charles Sumner Frost’s original design for the Pier consists of three distinct, semi-integrated sections.  

The Head House would serve as the formal entrance to the Pier on its west end, featuring three wide passenger gateways flanked by two 100 feet-high octagonal towers of white glazed terra-cotta molded with representations of aquatic life.  

Each tower was adorned with glazed tile, decorative relief and the City of Chicago emblem in a style its engineers describe as ‘pre-Art Deco’.  

Head House History

The Burnham Plan transformed Chicago's lakefront into an attractive & useful public space.

Navy Pier began as a key part of famed architect Daniel Burnham’s 1909 Plan of Chicago. Burnham envisioned a series of public piers that would transform the lakefront into attractive and useful civic space.  

While he saw the need for piers to also serve commercial purposes, he also felt strongly that the lakefront need not be ruled by commerce. City planners with the Harbor and Subway Commission also embraced the concept of piers as ways to relieve heavy river traffic and boost Chicago’s position in the lake shipping industry. 

In 1914, the Commission proposed building five mixed use piers, but ultimately only one would be built. Designed by architect Charles Sumner Frost to include space for business and recreation, the $5 million Municipal Pier No. 2, ‘built by the city for the people,’ opened in 1916 and immediately enjoyed a golden age of cultural and commercial success. 

Throughout the 1920s, the Pier bustled with activity and thrived as a civic center for public concerts, plays, art exhibits, children’s activities, airplane and motorboat races and fireworks displays.  

The Burnham Plan

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Navy Pier: A Chicago Landmark

Chicago Harbor Lighthouse

Chicago Harbor Lighthouse

Navy Anchor

Navy Anchor

Nautical History

Nautical History

Aon Grand Ballroom

Aon Grand Ballroom

Dime Pier

Dime Pier

Naval History

Naval History

UIC History

UIC History

Head House History

Head House History

The Burnham Plan

The Burnham Plan

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