| The Loop is what
locals call the historical center of downtown Chicago.
Most accurately, the term refers to an area bounded
by a public transit circuit along Lake Street on the
north, Wabash Avenue on the east, Van Buren Street on
the south, and Wells Street on the west, but in general
use it refers to the whole central business district.
Chicago's central business district,
bounded on the west and north by the Chicago River,
on the east by Lake Michigan, and on the south by Roosevelt
Road is the second-largest in the United States, after
Midtown Manhattan.[citation needed]
The term The Loop has different
meanings. The term most explicitly applies to the area
surrounded by The Loop (CTA) circuit formed by 'L' train
tracks, and a preceding 1880s streetcar loop, but common
usage defines it as the area bounded by the Chicago
River on the north and west sides, Congress Parkway
to the south, and Columbus Drive to the east. In official
city parlance, delineated by the University of Chicago
in the 1920s, the Loop is community area of Chicago
number 32, bounded by the Chicago River to the north
and west, Roosevelt Road to the south, and Lake Michigan
to the east, though the original boundary is strictly
the area circled by the elevated CTA tracks.
|
