Surrounded by Water

Surrounded by Water. . You're standing on some the highest land in Chicago. This was once the tip of an island in ancient Lake Chicago. Look carefully at the map, you'll see the shoreline of Lake Michigan today. Standing in this spot 14,000 years ago, you would have been surrounded by water. , , Why is it called Blue Island? , Towering 60 feet above the surrounding prairie, its steep sides were likely covered with little bluestem grass, making the island appear to be blue. , , Looking Down on the Marsh , Ancient Lake Chicago became smaller as glaciers retreated. Mastodons roamed, followed by nomadic bands of Paleo Indians. Vast grasslands grew in the warming climate. Land from here to present day Lake Michigan, five miles to the east. was swampy and marshy and striped with high sandy ridges-remnants of ancient Lake Chicago's beaches. , , The low wetlands provided rich habitats for plants and animals, and produced abundant food and raw materials for Native Americans. The higher ridges served as transportation routes, and were topped with oak and hickory trees. , , [Caption below graphic describing the high land here:] , Lookout Point , Native Americans used this high point as a lookout. From this breathtaking vista, game animals, friends and enemies would be easy to see. , , Farm to Forest , Like much of the land protected and restored by the Forest Preserves, current day Dan Ryan Woods once hosted a working farm. Purchased in 1872 by John B. Sherman, manager of the Union Stockyard and Transit Company, the land became home to pigs and herds of cattle that grazed freely on the ridges. In 1902 the Chicago Livestock World newspaper described the farm as "the largest within the city limits of Chicago..." , , Part of the Plan , In 1909 architects Daniel Burnham and Edward H. Bennett, under the direction of the Commercial Club of Chicago, published the now famous Plan of Chicago. This ambitious urban planning effort included Sherman's farm in a proposed "outer park system." In 1917, the newly formed Forest Preserves purchased 112 acres of the former farm. It was re-named to honor former Forest Preserves board member Dan Ryan Sr. in 1924.