Northerly Island Bike Ride: Paths, Access, Hours and History

Northerly Island is a short ride with a long story: a fairground, then an airfield, now a prairie with the skyline behind it. Add it to a ride on the Lakefront Trail; more rides are in Routes & Trails.

The island

Northerly Island is a 119-acre man-made peninsula on Chicago’s lakefront, first built in 1925². It forms the southern end of Chicago Harbor and the eastern edge of Burnham Harbor². A causeway at the north end carries Solidarity Drive to the Adler Planetarium². The Park District places it on the Museum Campus, at 1521 S. Linn White Dr.¹.

The Natural Area has prairie, savanna, a 5-acre pond and strolling paths with views of birds and other wildlife¹. More than 150 varieties of native plants grow there, along with an emerging savanna of 20,000 trees and shrubs¹.

Where to ride

A 40-acre park opened on the southern part of the island in 2015, with a concrete trail for walking and bicycle riding, a lagoon and landscaped habitat². The paved paths cover about a mile and are unlit, so ride in daylight². The Park District describes a path along the western side of the peninsula that ends at the southern tip¹.

The park is open 6 AM to 11 PM daily¹. Dogs are not allowed, to protect the wildlife². Herons and monarch butterflies are among the residents². More than 11,000 shrubs and 400 trees were planted around the lagoon².

Getting there

From the Lakefront Trail, ride to Museum Campus³. Divvy’s south-side ride reaches Museum Campus a mile past the Grant Park and Maggie Daley Park stretch, with docks at the Field Museum, Adler Planetarium and Shedd Aquarium stations³. Divvy lists Northerly Island and the Adler Planetarium under the Adler Planetarium station³. You can enter the trail at any point, and many stations sit on or near it³. The mileage guide shows where the museums fall on the trail.

If you need a bike, see bike rental on the Lakefront Trail.

Concert days

Huntington Bank Pavilion, the island’s concert venue, can close parts of the park¹. The Park District warns that some parts of the island may be inaccessible during Pavilion events and on the days before and after one¹. It advises calling ahead for current information¹. The Visitor Center also closes on Bears home game days¹.

The venue says parking is not included with a ticket, and it recommends public transportation or rideshare⁴. It has a bike rack⁴. It stands 1.1 miles from the Roosevelt L station, 0.9 miles from the Museum Campus/11th Street Metra station and under 0.2 miles from the 146 bus stop on Solidarity Dr.⁴. Metered parking is available in the lot on site¹.

Burnham’s island

Daniel Burnham published his lakefront vision, with lagoons, harbors, beaches and a scenic drive, in the 1909 Plan of Chicago¹. Northerly Island was the only lakefront structure built from that plan². Burnham imagined a series of man-made islands between Grant and Jackson Parks, and this is the only one completed¹.

The South Park Commission began landfill in 1920, and the site was chosen for Chicago’s second World’s Fair in 1928¹. Max Adler built the Western Hemisphere’s first planetarium as a gift to the city, and it was built in 1930^1,2. The Century of Progress fair ran on the island in 1933 and closed in 1934^1,2. A causeway built by the Works Progress Administration joined the island to the mainland in 1938².

From airfield to prairie

Meigs Field operated on the island under a 1946 lease¹. When the lease expired in 1996, Mayor Richard J. Daley decided to turn the airfield into the green space Burnham had envisioned¹. On the night of March 30, 2003, city crews bulldozed large X-shaped gouges into the runway to make it unusable². An outdoor concert venue opened on the north end in 2005, and it has carried the Huntington Bank name since January 2017².

The Park District runs year-round programs here, including youth nature programs, guided field trips, camping, fishing, paddling and festivals such as Polar Adventure Days¹.