Encyclopedia o f Chicago
Interpretive Digital Essay : Water in Chicago
Essay: People and the Port
Photo Essays:
Solitary Lives
City of Bridges
Chicago Harbors
Essay: Using the Chicago River
Photo Essays:
Goose Island
Indiana Dunes
Essay: Sanitation in Chicago
Photo Essays:
The Sanitary and Ship Canal
Water-Related Epidemics
Essay: Water and Urban Life
Photo Essays:
Houses and Water
Shoreline Development
Growing Up Along Water
Constructing the Sanitary and Ship Canal

Dewey’s Commemorative Trip, 1900

Admiral George Dewey’s trip to the Sanitary and Ship Canal on May 2, 1900 generated the final photographs included in this album. The photographs were a late insert into the album after the opening page and document his day in Chicago. Isham Randolph dedicated his poem to Dewey’s arrival with a "glad welcome gallant sailor."

Admiral Dewey leaving Special Train at McCook, 2 May 1900

Admiral Dewey was brought to the canal at suburban McCook by a special train. The Sanitary District Commissioners had constructed a temporary wharf so that Dewey and his entourage could move easily from train to the awaiting boats in the canal.

See also: Transportation; McCook, IL

Admiral Dewey’s Boat on the Sanitary and Ship Canal, 2 May 1900

Admiral Dewey toured the recently opened Sanitary and Ship Canal aboard the Hinda seen here in a photograph taken on May 2, 1900.

See also: Sanitary and Ship Canal

Admiral Dewey’s “Fleet” on the Sanitary and Ship Canal, 2 May 1900

Admiral Dewey made his way south along the Sanitary and Ship Canal on May 2, 1900, in a flotilla of boats from McCook to Lockport.

See also: Water

Spectators Await Dewey’s Arrival at Lockport, 2 May 1900

Thousands of Chicagoans traveled to the banks of the Sanitary and Ship Canal, especially to Lockport on May 2, 1900, to see Admiral George Dewey. A famous war hero, Dewey drew crowds months after the official opening of the canal.

See also: Lockport