Navy Pier Celebrates 100 Years on July 15

It's a Birthday Party!


For:  Navy Pier


Date:  Friday, July 15, 2016


Place:  Navy Pier, 600 East Grand Avenue, Chicago


Time:  10 a.m.–10 p.m.


Navy Pier is celebrating 100 years on July 15, 2016, and is having a birthday party! The festivities are free and open to the public.

What can you expect at this centennial celebration?

  • There will be a giant birthday cheesecake from Eli's Cheesecake! Visitors can stop by Pier Park (#8 on map) for a free slice of cheesecake, which will be cut between 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

  • There will be games and activities for the kids.

  • From 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., Miller Lite Beer Garden will have a special 100 Pennies Menu featuring food and beverage items for $1.00 each. Several other businesses located at Navy Pier will also have special offers in celebration of Navy Pier's birthday.

  • At 6:30 p.m., as part of its 2016 Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks program, Chicago Shakespeare Theater will be presenting a 75-minute abridged version of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, a romantic comedy. This free performance will be held on the plaza at the east end of Navy Pier (#15 on map).

  • The celebration will end with a special 100th Anniversary Fireworks show starting at 9:30 p.m.


Highlights from Navy Pier's diverse history:

  • 1916: Navy Pier (then named “Municipal Pier No. 2”), conceived by famed architect and city planner Daniel Burnham, was the only one of five piers Burnham envisioned for the Chicago lakefront that was actually built.

  • World War I: The Pier housed several regiments of soldiers, Red Cross, and Home Defense units, as well as barracks for recruits, and even a jail for deserters. The Pier was later renamed “Navy Pier” to honor Naval veterans of WWI.

  • 1920s: A site for both shipping commerce and entertainment, it even hosted dance marathons.

  • World War II: Navy pilot training orientation took place here. As many as 200 WWII planes may still rest at the bottom of Lake Michigan as a result of training accidents.

  • 1960s: Navy Pier was the original University of Illinois-Chicago campus and was known as “Harvard on the Rocks.”

  • 1970s: Navy Pier hosted the first “ChicagoFest,” which would later evolve into the world-renowned “Taste of Chicago” food festival.

  • 1990s and beyond: Navy Pier becomes home to a myriad of attractions, activities, and events, including the Chicago Children’s Museum, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Pepsi Tall Ships Festivals, the first-ever freshwater competition of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Chicago, the country’s newest Ferris wheel (named the “Centennial Wheel”), plus new arts and cultural programming.


To learn more about the history of Navy Pier, please visit 100yearsofpier.com, which is scheduled to go live on July 15.