In the mid-1800s, Chicago was a city fighting the lake itself. With storms eroding its shoreline and railroads racing to reach downtown, engineers made a bold gamble: they built a trestle bridge across Lake Michigan. Stretching hundreds of feet over open water, the Illinois Central’s wooden causeway carried trains above the waves—and forever changed Chicago’s lakefront.

This unlikely structure triggered fierce battles over commerce, corruption, and public space. It blocked ships, created new land, and ultimately set the stage for Grant Park and the landmark Supreme Court ruling that defined America’s “public trust” doctrine. Join us as we uncover the rise, fall, and legacy of Chicago’s lost lake trestle bridge—a forgotten engineering marvel buried beneath one of America’s most iconic parks.