Randolph Street (Chicago)

Randolph Street is a street in Chicago. It runs east-west through the Chicago Loop, carrying westbound traffic west from Michigan Avenue across the Chicago River on the Randolph Street Bridge, interchanging with the Kennedy Expressway (I-90/I-94), and continuing west. It serves as the northern boundary of Grant Park and the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District. Metra's Millennium Station is located under Randolph Street.

History

Randolph Street was named for Randolph County, Illinois, in turn named after Edmund Randolph (1753–1813), Governor of Virginia, Secretary of State, and the first United States Attorney General.

The street was part of the original plot of Chicago in the 1830s, originally ending at Michigan Avenue. In the 1850s and 1860s, gambling was a favorite pastime at the saloons on Randolph, and there were so many gunfights in the vicinity that downtown Randolph Street became known as "Hairtrigger Block."

In 1937, in conjunction with the building of Lake Shore Drive, a double-decker viaduct was built over the Illinois Central Railroad's rail yard, connecting Michigan to Lake Shore (which was where Field Boulevard is now). This viaduct still exists west of Columbus Drive as the upper level; it intersected LSD (Field) at the current upper level. The lower level of the viaduct was never used.

Randolph Street Market

The Randolph Street Market Festival is a European-style indoor-outdoor market which is home to the Chicago Antique Market, the Indie Designer Market, and Modern Vintage Chicago. Its West Loop location at the historic Art Deco Plumbers Union Hall, puts it in the Soho of the Midwest.

Summer Season Markets (May through September)

During the summer season (May–September) the market features high quality goods and food items; the markets have monthly themes. The Randolph Street Market Festival is held the last weekend of each month, May through October. Trading hours are on Saturday and Sunday. Occasionally the market sponsors a special charitable preview event on Friday evenings preceding market days. The market has been compared to New York’s Chelsea Flea Market, London’s Portobello market, and the Paris market at Porte de Clignancourt; it is "...an urban antique market reminiscent of those found in Europe and New York City..." writes Jenniger Winneg in Center Stage Chicago.

Street

A street is a public thoroughfare (usually paved) in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is more often paved with a hard, durable surface such as concrete, cobblestone or brick. Portions may also be smoothed with asphalt, embedded with rails, or otherwise prepared to accommodate non-pedestrian traffic.

Originally the word "street" simply meant a paved road (Latin: "via strata"). The word "street" is still sometimes used colloquially as a synonym for "road", for example in connection with the ancient Watling Street, but city residents and urban planners draw a crucial modern distinction: a road's main function is transportation, while streets facilitate public interaction. Examples of streets include pedestrian streets, alleys, and city-centre streets too crowded for road vehicles to pass. Conversely, highways and motorways are types of roads, but few would refer to them as streets.

Randolph

Randolph may refer to:

Places

In Canada

In the United States

CTA stations

People