#640 Online: Promontory Point: How to Save the Point

Promontory Point Conservancy works to protect and preserve Promontory Point, Burnham Park, on Chicago’s South Side. For the past 25 years, the Conservancy, a community-led non-profit, has advocated to save the Point’s historic limestone block, stepped-stone revetment and promenade. The Conservancy succeeded in getting the Point listed on the National Register of Historic Places (2018) and designated a Chicago Landmark (2023). Preserving the historic limestone revetment preserves the community that has gathered at the Point for many decades. Public support for a genuine preservation approach to saving the Point is nearly unanimous (99.3%). In fact, survey data shows that the Point de-stigmatizes the South Side and represents who South Siders really are.

Early this year, the Conservancy released four community-funded engineering reports that prove that preserving — retaining and repairing — the iconic limestone block structure is realistic, economical and technically feasible, AND meets USACE and CDOT requirements for storm damage and shoreline protection. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the City (CDOT) are fully funded for design ($5m) and construction ($100m), and plan to demolish the historic revetment and replace it with a concrete revetment with limestone cladding veneer. The Conservancy’s engineering studies are the first, to date, to marry the preservation standards and regulations with coastal resilience requirements, creating a potential win-win for all parties.

Please take a look at the Conservancy’s engineering reports and summary/factsheets. The Conservancy is happy to field questions about these reports and what the Conservancy can’t answer on the spot it will lob to its engineers and get back with answers.