Today marks the death of Daniel Burnham (June 1, 1912), mastermind behind the 1893 World’s Fair and pioneer in urban planning. If it weren’t for his vision of what a city could be who knows if Chicago, or other urban environments, would have evolved to be what they are today…lively areas full of beautiful parks, architecture and culture.
Burnham was largely involved in the City Beautiful movement that changed the face of urban environments around the country and world, bringing order and harmony to many overpopulated urban enviornments. The World’s Fair was the first large-scale City Beautiful project but you can see its influence in Washington D.C.’s National Mall, among a number of other cities…Chicago, Madison, Denver, Coral Gables in Miami, to name a few.
Given that I’m still working on my White City series, I thought it would be a good day to visit Mr. Burnham’s final resting place in Graceland Cemetery. Fittingly, he rests on a wooded island at the north end of the cemetery. The title of the image, Leaves Hung In The Stillness, seemed fitting. As with the other titles in this series is a quote from the book The Devil In The White City by Erik Larson, which this series stems from.