How does Buckingham Fountain work? And why does Chicago have so many alleys?
The 150-foot fountain downtown and around 1,900 miles of alleys are both iconically Chicago. And there’s a fascinating history behind each one.
By Chloe Prasinos, Steven Jackson
How does Buckingham Fountain work? And why does Chicago have so many alleys?
The 150-foot fountain downtown and around 1,900 miles of alleys are both iconically Chicago. And there’s a fascinating history behind each one.
By Chloe Prasinos, Steven JacksonThis week on the podcast we’re revisiting two Curious City stories about Chicago infrastructure — on scales small and large.
The first explores the inner workings of Buckingham Fountain. In the process of answering a question about how the fountain works, reporter Chloe Prasinos learned about the landmark’s history and how it came to be in Chicago in the first place.
On the second half of this week’s episode, former Curious City audio producer Steven Jackson looked at how Chicago came to be called the “alley capital” of the U.S. — with around 1,900 miles of alleyways in city limits. He also learned why some parts of the region are conspicuously alley-free.
Click the audio player at the top of this page to hear the full episode.
Chloe Prasinos is an audio producer for Pineapple Street Studios. Follow her @ChloePrasinos
Steven Jackson is an audio producer and the co-founder of Audio Non-Visual. Follow him @jeven_stackson