Harbour

Burnham Harbor

Name: Burnham Harbor
Address: Chicago, US
Telephone: +13124487124

Chicago, United StatesGreat Lakes

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Type: Harbour

Largest of the Chicago Park District harbours, on the west side of Northerly Island in front of the Museum Campus, on Lake Michigan.

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Enter from Lake Michigan through the gap between Northerly Island and the 31st Street causeway. The basin holds around 15 ft of water inside. Call Burnham Harbor on VHF 16, working channel 68. Watch for heavy small-craft traffic in summer and for the wash from the Shedd Aquarium tour boats.

Practical

1,126 berths around an 18-acre basin, with about 30 transient slips for vessels up to around 30 m. Water and shore power on the pontoons, pump-out, showers and toilets at the harbour office, fuel berth with petrol and diesel. Provisions in the South Loop, 1 km west of the harbour.

Ashore

The Museum Campus is immediately ashore, with the Shedd Aquarium 250 m north of the harbour, the Field Museum 400 m and the Adler Planetarium on Northerly Island just opposite. Soldier Field stadium is 300 m west. The Lakefront Trail, used by cyclists and runners, passes along the marina seawall and links to Navy Pier 4 km north.

History

Burnham Harbor and the adjacent Northerly Island were laid out in the 1920s following the lakefront plan that Daniel Burnham published in 1909. The island hosted the 1933 Century of Progress World's Fair and served as the small Meigs Field airport from 1948 until mayor Richard M. Daley had the runway destroyed overnight in 2003.