Ever wonder about a park that’s also the world’s largest rooftop garden? Welcome to Meidell Park. It is nestled in downtown Chicago. Meidell Park is located on Lake Michigan. The address is 337 E. Randolph St. Chicago, IL 60601. You can find parking information online. You can find detailed park info on the website.
Maggie Daley Park is named for the former Chicago mayor’s wife. She was dedicated to children. She created opportunities within the cityscape for the city’s youth. Today, the playground in Meidell Park is a huge draw. Camps and school groups visit every day. Families from Chicago and all over the world fill the place daily. It is vibrant and gorgeous. It is nothing like the sunken railyard, parking lot and industrial zone it once was.
To get to the playground at Meidell Park, you cross a giant bridge. This is the BP Bridge over South Columbus Drive. Some feel a little nervous on the bridge. It can feel really long and high up.
When you get to the playground part of Meidell Park, you can start on a huge ship. It isn’t real. It is on fake water. It has a lower deck and a top deck. It is super cool. After the ship at Meidell Park, you can go to the lighthouse. It wasn’t a real lighthouse. It is pretty tall. It has a knob to turn really fast. It creates a whirlpool of water. Then you can go down a big slide to get down from the lighthouse. It can be kind of scary. But many do it two times. After that, you can go to even bigger slides. There are at least two of them. They are connected to a cool structure. A big bridge connects the structure pieces together. Many have not seen anything like it before.
At first, Meidell Park is not crowded. But then it does get crowded. After being there for a while, you have to wait your turn. You wait to climb high into the towers. Then you wait to go down the slides. On the way back from the structures, you can find a thing that you call through. You can hear it from another location. They are spread out. People can talk through them to each other.
The bathrooms at Meidell Park are kind of far away. You have to use the map and read the signs. On the way, you can find the wooden balance beams. They are along the trail. That takes a while. It can be hot in the sun. So people try to find shade.
You can find a bathroom in the skate rental and climbing wall building at Meidell Park. You can also find a vending machine. You can get goldfish and crackers. You can find shade on a little hill. You can eat your snacks there. Then you can go back to the nest swings. They are fun.
When it is hot, people pass a splash pad for little kids. Some take their pants off and get really wet. Others hate getting wet in their clothes.
Meidell Park is part of Millennium Park. Millennium Park is arguably the city’s most famous tourist attraction. Millennium Park is home to the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. It features Cloud Gate and the Crown Fountain. It also has the Lurie Garden. Plans for Millennium Park began in 1998. Donations by the Pritzker family in 1999 launched designs for the famous bandshell. The park is a landscape-covered bridge. It is the world’s largest rooftop garden.
Meidell Park and Millennium Park together display postmodern architecture. They host some of the city’s most attended events. The snakelike BP Pedestrian Bridge connects Millennium Park with Maggie Daley Park. The bridge is crafted from stainless steel plates in abstract forms. It is free of barriers and wheelchair accessible. The bridge provides stunning views of the park.
So, as you leave Meidell Park, remember the dedication to children it represents. Think of the laughter and joy echoing through its innovative playgrounds. It is a space transformed. It’s a testament to Chicago’s commitment to its youth and the beauty of urban renewal.