Plate 79 (2 Drawings) from The Plan of Chicago, 1909: Suggested Location and Arrangement of the Railway Passenger Stations West of the River. Overhead Scheme: 1. Plan at Street Level. 2. Plan Above Street Level 1909

Daniel Burnham made these two drawings in 1909, imagining Chicago’s future with a new railway system. The drawing feels so precise, made with a consistent hand, and a kind of administrative confidence. I wonder what Burnham was thinking about while creating this piece. I think about the amount of work and vision that must have gone into this drawing, made with pencil on paper. It’s not paint, but the lines and details must have felt like the very stuff of life for him. You can see the city grid and how the railway lines might weave through it. I'm struck by how these lines, so carefully rendered, represent not just steel and concrete, but the flow of people and commerce, connecting different parts of the city. This reminds me how even the most functional designs carry a creative spark. He was part of a big conversation on what it meant to live in a modern world, how we could shape it to make our lives better. It’s like the built environment became a canvas for thinking about society.