Fish Hotel
Checking Into The Fish Hotel?
…you’re not the only one!
Thousands of visitors from around the world are amazed by the beautiful floating garden off of the Chicago Riverwalk. Known by locals as the Fish Hotel, this glimpse of color along Chicago’s second waterfront not only provides an oasis in the midst of a busy city, but it also gives valuable habitat in an otherwise barren river.
Many know the tale of the remarkable engineering feat Chicagoans took in the 1890s to reverse the flow of the river. Yet even before that was completed in 1900, we dug a large straight channel downtown for shipping that removed many of the best fish hang-out spots. Throughout the lifecycle of fish, they seek out shallow, rocky areas for spawning, mating, and maturing. Given the depth of the main stem downtown however, the Chicago River has been less than a four star resort for its aquatic life.
Take a peak over the edge and you might see a shimmering green sunfish, baby bluegills, carp, and sometimes even Lake Michigan fish like trout and salmon find their way in. Also frequenting the Fish Hotel are Monarch caterpillars, muskrats, and a large diversity of insects and birds.
Come Follow Us…We’ve Moved!
With the expanding Riverwalk at Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive, the Fish Hotel has relocated to a slightly quieter part of town. Check it out in late spring when it opens for the season on the Chicago Riverwalk just east of the Dearborn Street bridge. Not only is the Fish Hotel now offering quieter abodes for fish down below, it will also be enhanced with a more diverse menu for its all inclusive buffet. Fully rigged this year with submerged plantings, we can now feed more of our finned friends. The Fish Hotel also has a larger landscaping plan with additional flowering native plants around the perimeter to be more aesthetically pleasing from river view.
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