The area along the Chicago River between Belmont and Addison (now Clark Playlot Park) was for years an urban no-man’s-land where bums slept, kids rode dirt bikes and builders dumped construction materials. But before that it was Riverview: the city’s largest amusement park, where rollercoasters roared, parachutes tumbled, bumper cars crashed and carnie freaks and clowns roamed the Midway, from 1904 to 1967. The summer’s greenery hides much, but when the leaves fall just south of Clark Park, worn foundations that once housed carnival structures reveal themselves, as well as a cement chute, once part of a narrow canal that fed the tunnel of love. As the air cools and evenings darken, you may even hear long lost echoes of children screaming and barkers calling in the pre-winter air. (David Witter)
