Community, environmentalists declare “Point Day” to save Promontory Point Park revetment in Hyde Park

CHICAGO (WLS) — Community members, preservationists and environmentalists have declared Saturday is “Point Day,” an event aimed at repairing and saving the historic limestone step-stone revetment at Promontory Point Park.

The park features the last remaining stretch of limestone steps from the Works Progress Administration-era, built under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.

The steps, known as “The Point,” was recently named one of Chicago’s most endangered sites in the city. It was designed by landscape architect Alfred Caldwell and completed in 1937.

On Saturday, which would have been Caldwell’s birthdate, the community will celebrate the first Point Day with educational walking tours, music and cultural performances, art-making, and other family-friendly activities.

The organizers say engineering studies have found preservation would be an environmentally superior, more durable and less expensive way to protect the lakeshore compared to the city’s preferred plan.