Last week 25 volunteers from The Family Handyman and Haven Home, both of Reader’s Digest, and the Chicago Gateway Green team had the opportunity to plant 12 trees along the Burnham Greenway. This path was transformed from an old railroad corridor between Chicago and Lansing, IL. Some recent news which we are excited to discuss is the trail’s expansion – the Burnham Plan Centennial wants to create more miles of green area in the city. As many organizations work to close the two mile gap between the two segments of this trail, we were happy to help out with further greening initiatives for the city park.
This is a huge green project which is going to bring together state parks for the public’s use in the years to come. On the northern part of the trail lies the Wolf Lake Park with a playground area and areas for fishing, swimming, and biking. At the southern part of the trail lies Green Lake Woods Park with baseball fields, a playground, and a skate park. The greenway between 106th and 111th Streets has recently been renamed the John “Beans” Beniac Greenway Park, after a man who lived in the neighborhood and first began transforming the abandoned railway into public greenspace.
We want to call attention to this transformation by Burnham Plan Centennial in their effort to co-align with our efforts to continue to upkeep Chicago and make it the most beautiful city it can be. We look forward to tracking the process of this project while watching the growth of our recently planted trees.
photo credit: Matt Mansueto Photography