Captain on the Helm, 2000
Michael Martino
Navy Pier
600 East Grand Avenue,
south side of the main entrance
In
1909, as part of the “Master Plan of Chicago,” Daniel Burnham envisioned five
piers reaching into Lake Michigan. However, only one was completed. Municipal
Pier took two years to build and cost $4.5 million. Used for years for shipping
business and for Army and Navy housing and training during both World Wars, the
name officially changed in 1927 as a tribute to Navy personnel who served
during World War I.
Today, Navy Pier is one
of Chicago’s top tourist destinations. Greeting visitors is this bronze
sculpture of a captain on a Great Lakes vessel. He stands on a pitched deck of
granite. Commissioned by the Chicago Lodge of Shipmasters International, it was
dedicated in 2000 as a gift of value to their home port: “To those courageous
mariners who guided their ships through perilous waters, carrying cargo and
people. Their contributions have been so much a part of our history. May they
never be forgotten.”
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