Parks of Chicago
Encyclopedia
The Chicago Park District
Chicago Park District
The Chicago Park District is the oldest and largest park district in the U.S.A, with a $385 million annual budget. It has the distinction of spending the most per capita on its parks, even more than Boston in terms of park expenses per capita...
manages 220 facilities in 570 parks covering more than 7600 acres (3,075.6 ha) of land throughout the city. This extensive network of parks also includes nine lakefront harbors over 24 miles (38.6 km) of lakefront, rendering the Chicago Park District
Chicago Park District
The Chicago Park District is the oldest and largest park district in the U.S.A, with a $385 million annual budget. It has the distinction of spending the most per capita on its parks, even more than Boston in terms of park expenses per capita...
the nation's largest municipal harbor system, along with 31 beaches, 17 historic lagoons, 86 pools, 90 playgrounds, 90 gardens, 66 fitness centers, nine ice skating rinks, 10 museums, and two conservatories. In addition to serving residents, a number of these parks also double as tourist destinations, most notably Lincoln Park, Chicago's largest park, visited by over 20 million visitors each year, making it second only to Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
The Chicago Park District
Chicago Park District
The Chicago Park District is the oldest and largest park district in the U.S.A, with a $385 million annual budget. It has the distinction of spending the most per capita on its parks, even more than Boston in terms of park expenses per capita...
also maintains many special use facilities for activities such as golfing, boating, boxing, skating and baseball, as well as a number of specialty parks devoted entirely to dogs. In addition to maintaining its parks and facilities, the Chicago Park District
Chicago Park District
The Chicago Park District is the oldest and largest park district in the U.S.A, with a $385 million annual budget. It has the distinction of spending the most per capita on its parks, even more than Boston in terms of park expenses per capita...
holds thousands of community, holiday, nature, sports, music, arts, and cultural events and festivals for city residents every year, many featuring performances and workshops provided by nationally recognized "Arts Partners" such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
and "Arts Partners in Residence" such as the Citywide Symphony Orchestra, the Albany Park Theater Project, Beacon Street Gallery and Theater, Billy Goat Experimental Theatre Company, Chicago Dance Medium, Chicago Moving Company, Chicago Swordplay Guild
Chicago Swordplay Guild
The Chicago Swordplay Guild is a modern school of swordsmanship and Western martial arts, and non-profit organization based in Chicago, IL USA. It provides organized instruction in the serious study and practice of historical European swordplay, with a principal focus on the Italian school of...
, Free Street Programs, K-Theory, Kuumba Lynx, The Peace Museum
The Peace Museum
The Peace Museum in Chicago was founded in 1981 by Mark Rogovin and Marjorie Craig Benton, a former US UNICEF representative. It was one of two peace museums in the US. The other is the Dayton International Peace Museum...
, Pros Arts Studio, the Puerto Rican Arts Alliance, and the Zephyr Dance Company. The height of these events are during the summer months at the height of the tourist season while children are out of school for summer recess.
Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
's wealth of greenspace afforded by Chicago's parks is further enhanced by the Cook County Forest Preserves
Cook County Forest Preserves
The Cook County Forest Preserves are a network of open spaces, containing forest, prairie, wetland, streams, and lakes, that are set aside as natural areas. Cook County contains Chicago, Illinois, and is the center of a densely-populated urban metropolitan area in northeastern Illinois...
, a network of open spaces containing forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
, prairie
Prairie
Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...
, wetland
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
, stream
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
s, and lake
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
s, that are set aside as natural areas along the city's periphery.
Notable parks
- Millennium ParkMillennium ParkMillennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, USA and originally intended to celebrate the millennium. It is a prominent civic center near the city's Lake Michigan shoreline that covers a section of northwestern Grant Park. The area was previously...
- 24.5 acres (9.9 ha); Chicago's newest marquee park, opened in 2004, just north of the Art Institute of ChicagoArt Institute of ChicagoThe School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
in Grant Park. - Grant ParkGrant Park (Chicago)Grant Park, with between the downtown Chicago Loop and Lake Michigan, offers many different attractions in its large open space. The park is generally flat. It is also crossed by large boulevards and even a bed of sunken railroad tracks...
- 319 acres (129.1 ha); located in The Loop; Home to Buckingham FountainBuckingham FountainBuckingham Fountain is a Chicago landmark in the center of Grant Park. Dedicated in 1927, it is one of the largest fountains in the world. Built in a rococo wedding cake style and inspired by the Latona Fountain at the Palace of Versailles, it is meant to allegorically represent Lake Michigan...
, this downtown park is also a favorite site of major festivals including the Taste of ChicagoTaste of ChicagoThe Taste of Chicago is the world's largest food festival, held annually for ten days in Grant Park, in Chicago starting the Friday before the 4th of July and ending the Sunday after . The event is the largest festival in Chicago...
, Chicago Blues FestivalChicago Blues FestivalThe Chicago Blues Festival is an annual event held in June that features three days of performances by top-tier blues musicians, both old favorites and the up-and-coming. It is hosted by the City of Chicago Mayor's Office of Special Events, and always occurs in early June...
, Chicago Jazz FestivalChicago Jazz FestivalThe Chicago Jazz Festival is a popular and well-known four day free celebration of jazz at Petrillo Music Shell in Grant Park in downtown Chicago. It is run by the Jazz Institute of Chicago during Labor Day weekend, integrating both world-famous and local artists...
, Lollapolooza and others. - Lincoln Park - 1200 acres (485.6 ha); Chicago's largest city park. Located north of The Loop, this is one of the more distinctive parks in terms of geography, because while it is centrally located in the Lincoln ParkLincoln Park, ChicagoLincoln Park, is one of the 77 community areas on Chicago, Illinois North Side, USA. Named after Lincoln Park, a vast park bordering Lake Michigan, the community area is anchored by the Lincoln Park Zoo and DePaul University...
community area it spans many different neighborhoods throughout the north side as it is nestled between Lake Shore DriveLake Shore DriveLake Shore Drive is a mostly freeway-standard expressway running parallel with and alongside the shoreline of Lake Michigan through Chicago, Illinois, USA. Except for the portion north of Foster Avenue , Lake Shore Drive is designated as part of U.S...
and Lake MichiganLake MichiganLake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
. - Jackson ParkJackson Park (Chicago)Jackson Park is a 500 acre park on Chicago's South Side, located at 6401 South Stony Island Avenue in the Woodlawn community area. It extends into the South Shore and Hyde Park community areas, bordering Lake Michigan and several South Side neighborhoods...
- 500 acres (202.3 ha); located on the south side of the city on Lake Michigan, this park is famous for its role in the 1893 World's Columbian ExpositionWorld's Columbian ExpositionThe World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...
. - Washington Park - 372 acres (150.5 ha); located on the south side, it was the proposed location for the 2016 Summer Olympics2016 Summer OlympicsThe 2016 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXXI Olympiad, are a major international multi-sport event to be celebrated in the tradition of the Olympic Games, as governed by the International Olympic Committee...
Stadium. - Burnham ParkBurnham Park (Chicago)Burnham Park is a public park in Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The park, which lines along six miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, connects Grant Park at 14th st. to Jackson Park at 56th St. The of parkland is owned and managed by Chicago Park District. It was named for urban...
- 598 acres (242 ha); runs along the Lakefront for much of the South Side connecting Jackson Park with Grant Park - Columbus ParkColumbus Park (Chicago)Columbus Park, located on the west side of Chicago, Illinois in the Austin neighborhood, is bounded by West Adams Street, South Austin Boulevard, South Central Avenue, and the Eisenhower Expressway, to which it lost nine acres when the expressway was constructed. The remnant park is part of the...
- 144 acres (58.3 ha); considered one of the 150 Great Places in Illinois - Garfield Park - 185 acres (74.9 ha); this west side park contains a grand conservatory and lagoon
- Humboldt ParkHumboldt Park (Chicago park)Humboldt Park is a park located on the northwest side of Chicago, Illinois at 1400 North Sacramento Avenue.The park was named for Alexander von Humboldt, a German naturalist. William Le Baron Jenney began developing the park in the 1870s, molding a flat prairie landscape into a "pleasure ground"...
- 207 acres (83.8 ha) is a center of its community west and north of downtown - Marquette Park - 300 acres (121.4 ha); the largest park in southwest Chicago, it has a golf course and many other attractions
- Douglas Park- 173 acres (70 ha) and named for Stephen Douglas, it is Southwest of downtown.
Other parks
- Abbott Park
- Ada Park
- Adams Park
- Jane Addams Park
- Almond Park
- Altgeld Park
- Amundsen Park
- Arcade Park
- Archer Park
- Armour Square Park
- Armstrong Park
- Arnita Young Boswell Park
- Arrigo Park
- Auburn Park
- Augusta Park
- Austin Park
- Avalon ParkAvalon Park, ChicagoAvalon Park, located on the south side of the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois, is one of the city's 77 official community areas and a park. Boundaries are 76th St. to the north, South Chicago Ave. to the east and 87th St. to the south...
- Avondale Park
- Bessemer Park
- Bell Park
- Berger Park
- Blackhawk Park
- Boyce Park
- Bosley Park
- Promontory PointPromontory Point (Chicago)Promontory Point is a man-made peninsula jutting into Lake Michigan. It is located in Chicago's Burnham Park. The Point was constructed from landfill and by the late 1930s was protected by a seawall or revetment...
- Calumet ParkCalumet ParkCalumet Park is a 198 acre park in Chicago, Illinois. It provides access to Lake Michigan from the East Side neighborhood on the city's Southeast Side. The park contains approximately 0.9 miles of lake frontage from 95th Street to 102nd Street...
- 200 acres (80.9 ha) - Chopin ParkChopin Park (Chicago)Chopin Park is an park located at 3420 North Long in the Portage Park community area of Chicago, Illinois. The park stretches from Roscoe Street on the south to Cornelia Avenue to the north between Linder and Long avenues. The historic fieldhouse was designed by Albert A...
- Donovan Park
- DuSable ParkDuSable Park, ChicagoDuSable Park is an urban park of in Chicago, Illinois currently awaiting redevelopment. It was originally announced in 1987 by then Mayor Harold Washington...
- Dunbar ParkDunbar Park (Chicago)Dunbar Park is a park located at 300 East 31st Street in the south side of Chicago. The site was acquired in 1962, and transformed into Dunbar Park between 1964 and 1966. It was named for poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.-External links:-Notes:...
- Dvorak Park
- Eckhart Park
- Ellis Park
- Fernwood Park
- Foster Park
- Fuller ParkFuller Park, ChicagoFuller Park, located on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas. It is named for Melville Weston Fuller, who was the Chief Justice of the United States between 1888 and 1910....
- Gage ParkGage Park, ChicagoGage Park is one of Chicago's 77 well-defined community areas, located on the city's southwest side; it is also the name of a park within the neighborhood. Gage Park's population is largely working-class, and its housing stock is mostly bungalows. For generations, the neighborhood was Eastern...
- Garfield Park Conservatory
- Gompers Park
- Hamilton Park
- Harrison Park
- Hayes Park
- Holstein Park
- Hoyne Park
- Humboldt ParkHumboldt Park (Chicago park)Humboldt Park is a park located on the northwest side of Chicago, Illinois at 1400 North Sacramento Avenue.The park was named for Alexander von Humboldt, a German naturalist. William Le Baron Jenney began developing the park in the 1870s, molding a flat prairie landscape into a "pleasure ground"...
- 207 acres (83.8 ha) - Independence Park
- Indian Boundary ParkIndian Boundary ParkIndian Boundary Park is a thirteen-acre park in the West Ridge neighborhood of Chicago that opened in 1922. It is named after a boundary line that was determined in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis between the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes and the United States government...
- Jefferson Park
- Jesse Owens Park
- Kelvyn ParkKelvyn ParkKelvyn Park is part of the Chicago Park District. It is located at 4438 W. Wrightwood Avenue in the Hermosa neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.Kelvyn Park High School is nearly adjacent to the park....
- Kenwood Community Park (formerly Shoesmith Field)
- Kosciuszko ParkKosciuszko Park (Chicago)Kosciuszko Park is a park located at 2732 N. Avers Ave. Situated along the northern boundary of Chicago's Logan Square community area at Diversey, it is heavily frequented by residents of Avondale. The historic fieldhouse was designed by Albert A...
- Legion Park runs between Peterson Avenue and Foster Avenue
- Loyola/Leone Park (Chicago)
- Marquette Park - 300 acres (121.4 ha)
- McGuane Park
- McKinley Park - 69 acres (27.9 ha)
- Midway PlaisanceMidway PlaisanceThe Midway Plaisance, also known locally as the Midway, is a park on the South Side of the city of Chicago, Illinois. It is one mile long by 220 yards wide and extends along 59th and 60th streets, joining Washington Park at its east end and Jackson Park at its west end. It divides the Hyde Park...
connects Washington Park to Jackson Park, notable for giving its name to carnival midways - Mount Greenwood Park (Chicago)
- Mozart Park
- Nichols Park
- Northerly Island Park
- Ogden ParkOgden ParkOgden Park was a recreational facility on the near north side of Chicago, Illinois around the 1860s and 1870s. It was home to the Ogden Skating Club. It was on a piece of land east of where Ontario Street T-ed into Michigan Avenue...
- Olson Park and WaterfallOlson Park and WaterfallOlson Park and Waterfallwas a heavily visited park and waterfall complex that was located in the Avondale community area of Chicago. It was built by Walter E. Olson, the owner of the Olson Rug Company, next to his factory and headquarters on the northwest corner of Diversey and Pulaski, and was a...
- A now demolished privately run park that had been open to the public in the AvondaleAvondale, ChicagoAvondale is one of 77 officially designated Chicago, Illinois community areas. It is located on the Northwest Side of Chicago. Its main borders are the North Branch of the Chicago River, Diversey Avenue, Addison Street, Pulaski Road and the Union Pacific/Northwest rail line; bisecting the community...
Community areaCommunity areas of ChicagoCommunity areas in Chicago refers to the work of the Social Science Research Committee at University of Chicago which has unofficially divided the City of Chicago into 77 community areas. These areas are well-defined and static...
. Located on the northwest corner of DiverseyDiversey Parkway (Chicago)Diversey Parkway is a major east-west street on the North Side of Chicago. Diversey separates the Chicago lakefront neighborhoods of Lakeview to the north and Lincoln Park to the south. West of the North Branch of the Chicago River, the street is known as Diversey Avenue, and separates the...
and PulaskiPulaski Road (Chicago)Pulaski Road is a major north-south thoroughfare in the city of Chicago, at 4000 W., or exactly five miles west of State Street. It is named after revolutionary war hero Casimir Pulaski...
, the complex was built by Walter E. Olson, the owner of the Olson Rug Company next to his factory and headquarters. - Oz ParkOz ParkOz Park is a public park in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. It is located at 2021 N Burling Street, at the corner of Lincoln and Webster, just south of the Lincoln, Halsted, and Fullerton intersection. The park borders Lincoln Park High School and features many statues fashioned after...
- Palmer ParkPalmer Park, ChicagoPalmer Park is an urban park located at 201 E. 111th Street on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois.The park is named for Potter Palmer , a successful businessman and real estate investor concerned with the development of Chicago...
- Peoples Park
- Ping Tom Memorial ParkPing Tom Memorial ParkPing Tom Memorial Park is a public urban park in Chicago's Chinatown owned and operated by the Chicago Park District . Located on the south bank of the Chicago River, the park is divided into three sections by a Santa Fe rail track and 18th Street. Currently, only development in the area south of...
, A 12 acres (4.9 ha) park near ChinatownChinatown, ChicagoThe Chinatown neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, is on the South Side , centered on Cermak and Wentworth Avenues, and is an example of an American Chinatown, or ethnic-Chinese neighborhood. By the [ftp://ftp2.census.gov/census_2000/datasets/demographic_profile/Illinois/2kh17.pdf 2000 Census], has...
, unique because of its many Chinese accents, including a riverfront pavilion and bamboo gardens. The park is a popular destination, especially over the summer when the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce organizes a dragon boatDragon boatA dragon boat is a human-powered watercraft traditionally made, in the Pearl River delta region of southern China - Guangdong Province, of teak wood to various designs and sizes. In other parts of China different woods are used to build these traditional watercraft...
race. - Piotrowski Park
- Portage ParkPortage Park (Chicago)Portage Park is a park in the Portage Park community area of Chicago, Illinois on the National Register of Historic Places. The park stretches from Irving Park Road on the south to Berteau Avenue between Central and Long Avenues...
- The site of the swimming portion of the 1959 Pan American GamesPan American GamesThe Pan-American or Pan American Games are a major event in the Americas featuring summer and formerly winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Pan American Games are the second largest multi-sport event after the Summer Olympics...
and where Gold Medalist Mark SpitzMark SpitzMark Andrew Spitz is a retired American swimmer. He won seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, an achievement only surpassed by Michael Phelps who won eight golds at the 2008 Olympics....
set new world's records during the 1972 U.S. Olympic swimming trials. - Pulaski ParkPulaski Park (Chicago)Pulaski Park is a park on the west side of Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1912, and was named after American Revolutionary War hero Casimir Pulaski....
- Rainbow Beach Park
- Revere Park
- River Park borders Foster Avenue on the north and Francisco Avenue on the west
- Rowan Park
- Riis Park
- Russell Square Park
- Shedd Park
- Sherman ParkSherman ParkSherman Park is a sixty-acre park in the New City neighborhood of Chicago. It was designed by Daniel Burnham, John Charles Olmsted, and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., and opened in 1905. It takes its name from John B...
- Skinner Park
- Smith Park
- South Shore Nature Reserve
- Stanton-Schiller Park
- Strohacker Park
- Union Park
- Vittum Park
- Washington Square ParkWashington Square Park, ChicagoWashington Square, also known as Washington Square Park, is a park in Chicago, Illinois. A registered historic landmark that is better known by its nickname Bughouse Square , it was the most celebrated open air free-speech center in the country as well as a popular Chicago tourist attraction...
- Dinah Washington ParkDinah Washington ParkDinah Washington Park is a park located at 8215 S. Euclid Avenue in the South Chicago community area of Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was named for singer and Chicago resident Dinah Washington. It is one of four Chicago Park District parks named after persons surnamed Washington...
- Harold Washington ParkHarold Washington ParkHarold Washington Park is a small park in the Chicago Park District located in the Hyde Park community area on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was recently named for lawyer, state legislator, U.S. congressman, Hyde Park resident, and the first Chicago Mayor of African-American descent...
- Warren Park (Chicago) - 90 acres (36.4 ha)
- Welles Park
- Wicker ParkWicker Park (Chicago park)Wicker Park is an urban park in Chicago, Illinois named after Charles G. Wicker and Joel H. Wicker.- History :Charles G. Wicker and Joel H. Wicker donated a parcel of land to the City of Chicago in 1870. The City of Chicago installed a small reservoir inside the triangular park. In 1890 the West...
- Wilson Park
- Winnemac Park
Arts Partners in Residence
Members of the Arts Partners provide quality cultural content to the parks of Chicago in exchange for the use of space within the park district. These Arts Partners include nationally recognized arts organizations serving park patrons and citizens of the public.- Albany Park Theater Project (Eugene FieldEugene FieldEugene Field, Sr. was an American writer, best known for his children's poetry and humorous essays.-Biography:...
) - Beacon Street Gallery and Theater (Clarendon Community Center)
- Billy Goat Experimental Theatre Company (Broadway Armory)
- Chicago Dance Medium (Seward)
- Chicago Moving Company (Hamlin)
- Chicago Swordplay GuildChicago Swordplay GuildThe Chicago Swordplay Guild is a modern school of swordsmanship and Western martial arts, and non-profit organization based in Chicago, IL USA. It provides organized instruction in the serious study and practice of historical European swordplay, with a principal focus on the Italian school of...
(Pulaski ParkPulaski Park (Chicago)Pulaski Park is a park on the west side of Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1912, and was named after American Revolutionary War hero Casimir Pulaski....
) - Free Street Programs (Pulaski ParkPulaski Park (Chicago)Pulaski Park is a park on the west side of Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1912, and was named after American Revolutionary War hero Casimir Pulaski....
) - K-TheoryK-theoryIn mathematics, K-theory originated as the study of a ring generated by vector bundles over a topological space or scheme. In algebraic topology, it is an extraordinary cohomology theory known as topological K-theory. In algebra and algebraic geometry, it is referred to as algebraic K-theory. It...
(LaFollette) - Kuumba Lynx (Clarendon Community Center)
- Peace Museum (Garfield ParkGarfield Park, ChicagoGarfield Park, Chicago may refer to:*East Garfield Park, Chicago, a City of Chicago community area*West Garfield Park, Chicago, a City of Chicago community area...
) - Pros Arts Studio (Dvorak Park)
- Puerto Rican Arts Alliance (Humboldt ParkHumboldt Park (Chicago park)Humboldt Park is a park located on the northwest side of Chicago, Illinois at 1400 North Sacramento Avenue.The park was named for Alexander von Humboldt, a German naturalist. William Le Baron Jenney began developing the park in the 1870s, molding a flat prairie landscape into a "pleasure ground"...
) - Zephyr Dance Company (Holstein).