Help Friends continue to improve the Chicago River.

Every donation helps. See how »

The First 1,000 Days

Thirty-six years after writing "Our Friendless River" which launched Friends of the Chicago River, its author, Robert Cassidy, tells the story of how Friends began in his essay, "The First 1,000 Days."

Friends of the Chicago River is the only organization solely dedicated to the Chicago River system.

Since 1979, Friends has been working to improve the health of the Chicago River system for the benefit of people and wildlife and by doing so, has laid the foundation for the river to be a beautiful, continuous, easily accessible corridor of open space in the Chicago region.