Ahima Today September 18, 2019

City in a Garden:
A History of Chicago’s Park District

By Lexi McPike

ASK any resident and they’ll tell you: Chicago is a fantastic place to live (and
visit), and not just for its big-city amenities.
Sure, the skyline is breathtaking from every
direction, the architecture is steeped in history,
and the pockets of culture and communities in
the city’s vast neighborhoods mean that one can
live here for years and still find new places to
explore. But one of the truly remarkable things
about Chicago is the abundance of green spaces,
public parks, and natural areas within its
borders. Early efforts to preserve public plots
such as the lakefront have resulted in sprawling
expanses of grassy parks, wide-open beaches,
and outdoor art installations—the true
embodiment of a Midwestern city. It also has
one of the largest and oldest park districts in the
country. Chicago’s city motto, adopted in the
1830s, even reflects its penchant for greenery:
“Urbs in horto,” Latin for “City in a garden.”
Many, though, are unaware of how far back
those efforts date, and to whom Chicagoans
owe gratitude for the expansive landscapes not
often seen in such urban areas. The history of
Chicago’s parks stretches back to before the
city was incorporated in 1839, when the Board
of Canal Commissioners publicly auctioned off
the city’s first lots. Convinced by early citizens
to preserve two of the lots for public space, an
area east of Michigan Avenue was designated
by the commissioners as “public ground—a
common to remain forever open, clear and free
of any buildings, or other obstruction, what-
ever.” What was originally named Lake Park
came to be known in 1901 as Grant Park, the
beautiful city center that’s home to Millenni-
um Park’s Cloud Gate sculpture (affectionately
known as the Bean), Buckingham Fountain,
and the museum campus—all hotspots for
tourists and natives alike.

But early residents didn’t stop there. Chicagoans were adamant about the creation of parks in their neighborhoods. While the city largely ignored demand for public spaces as the metropolitan area grew in subsequent years, developers were beginning to realize such spaces on a smaller scale could boost their property values. In 1842, the American Land Company donated a small square parcel to the city to be utilized for a public park. This became Washington Square. Goudy Square Park and Union Park followed in the next decade.

It wasn’t until 1860 that the city’s next large-
scale parkland project came into being. John
Henry Rauch, a local public health official,
voiced concerns about the large cemetery that
occupied a vast stretch of land on Lake Michi-
gan. The unburied area was redesignated as a
park and renamed Lincoln Park in 1865, with
the directive that all of its graves be relocated.

Recognizing the need for a governing body over the city’s rapidly growing parks system, the state of Illinois adopted legislation in 1869 to establish the South, West, and Lincoln Park Commissions, which worked together to produce a cohesive park and boulevard system. From the South division came Washington Park, Jackson Park, and the Midway Plaisance. Each of these spaces was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, and the Midway Plaisance was specifically created for the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, also known as the Chicago World’s Fair. The West division produced Humboldt, Garfield, and Douglass parks, still the largest parks on the city’s west side. The northern sector oversaw the creation of the original Lake Shore Drive and the Lincoln Park Zoo.

In the decades to come, Chicago residents
were fortunate to have many advocates for not
only large-scale public parks, but smaller, more
accessible parks in neighborhoods throughout
the city, including low-income areas. In the
1890s, Frank Foster, a superintendent of the
South Chicago Park System, sought to create
small-scale recreational spaces in working-
class neighborhoods, with playing fields, field-
house buildings, and social and educational
programs. Many of the early models were de-
signed by Olmsted’s sons, Frederick Law Olm-
sted Jr. and John Charles Olmsted. Their de-
signs and plans proved to be influential across
the country, with President Theodore Roos-
evelt describing the resulting neighborhood
parks as “the most notable civic achievement in
any American city.”
Daniel Burnham—another key player in the
design and creation of the Chicago World’s Fair
and the namesake of its location, Burnham
Park—created a comprehensive plan of Chica-
go in the early 1900s, which effectively became
a blueprint for the city’s rapid growth. Along-
side ambitious proposals for the lakefront and
river spaces, the plan reinforced one important
aspect of the city’s roots: that every citizen
should be within walking distance of a park. A
century and many parks later, tourists, trans-
plants, and natives alike are fortunate to reap
the benefits of the hard work of Chicago’s early
park players—whether they know it or not. n