1987
Photograph: Courtesy Library of Congress
This old photograph from Dearborn Street Bridge shows two of Chicago’s most iconic riverfront buildings: Merchandise Mart, opened in 1930, and the Reid Murdoch Building, opened in 1914. The mostly windowless building to the left of Merchandise Mart, the Chicago Apparel Center, was the largest wholesale buying center for the clothing industry when it opened in 1977. A historical tidbit: Congress revised the Clean Water Act in 1987 to help curb sewage and stormwater discharges into waterways. While waste matter still flows into the river during heavy storms, it certainly isn’t as rampant of a problem as it was back then.
2015
Photograph: Jaclyn Rivas
Chicago has seen a boom in mid-rise developments over the past 30 years, changing the face of the city’s skyline. Dozens of condos cover the sky to the west, most notably the 60-story 300 N LaSalle building to the right of Merchandise Mart. The Apparel Center (now called River North Point) is home to the Sun-Times and the first of the three Wolf Point Towers has already started blocking the view of the newspaper’s logo. The Chicago Riverwalk extension opened in May between State and LaSalle streets and will expand to Lake Street in 2016. Beneath it all, the riverfront may be as gross today as it was in 1987, but it’s a hotbed for tourists and real estate developers alike.