Chicago Park District Records: Drawings

Historical Note, written by Julia Bachrach, Chicago Park District Historian

In the 1830s, Chicago's emerging government adopted the motto "Urbs in horto," a Latin phrase meaning "City in a Garden." The slogan proved to be prophetic. For nearly two centuries, Chicago's citizens have rallied for the creation and protection of parkland, and many of the city's parks have served as testing grounds for important ideas and social movements. Many of the parks were originally created or shaped by nationally acclaimed architects, planners, landscape designers or artists, such as Daniel H. Burnham, Frederick Law Olmsted Sr., Jens Jensen, Alfred Caldwell and Lorado Taft.

The earliest parks were created in Chicago between the 1830s and 1860s. Grant Park began as a strip of green space along Lake Michigan known as Lake Park. On the city’s north side, a physician, Dr. John Rauch, led a successful campaign to set aside a 60-acre section of a public cemetery as parkland, marking the beginnings of Lincoln Park. As Chicagoans increasingly recognized the need for parks throughout the city, a movement emerged which led to the formation of one of the nation’s first comprehensive park and boulevard systems. This system was spurred by the adoption of three separate acts of state legislation establishing the Lincoln, South, and West Chicago Park Commissions in 1869. Although the three park commissions operated independently, the overall goal was to create a unified ribbon of green that would encircle Chicago.

The three agencies each commissioned their own designers to create pleasure grounds and interlinking boulevards that could be enjoyed by the whole city. The Lincoln Park Commissioners hired Swain Nelson and Olof Benson to expand their existing park and to construct the old Lake Shore Drive. The West Chicago Park Commissioners hired William Le Baron Jenney to lay out Humboldt, Garfield and Douglas Parks. The South Park Commission selected the nationally renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Sr. to design its park system, now known as Washington Park, Jackson Park and the Midway Plaisance. Olmsted also helped transform Jackson Park into the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 and return the site to parkland after the fair closed.

At the turn of the century, each of the three commissions made efforts to expand its park system to respond to the city’s rapidly growing population. The South Park Commissioners worked with D.H. Burnham & Co. architects and Olmsted Brothers landscape architects to pioneer new neighborhood parks that offered recreational opportunities as well as social and educational programs. These parks, which included the nation’s first field houses, were described by President Theodore Roosevelt as “the most notable civic achievement in any American city.” During this period, Prairie style visionary Jens Jensen served as the General Superintendent and Chief Landscape Architect for the entire West Park System. Jensen designed numerous improvements to the existing parks and created plans for small west side parks such as Eckhart and Dvorak Parks. Similarly, the Lincoln Park Commissioners hired Prairie School architect Dwight H. Perkins and landscape gardener Ossian Cole Simonds to create beautifully-designed improvements to Lincoln Park and new small parks such as Hamlin and Seward parks.

At this time, the city was expanding by territory as well as population. The most remarkable increases occurred in 1889, when areas outside of Chicago were annexed to the city. An 1895 state act allowed voters within newly annexed areas to create their own park districts. By 1930, 19 new park districts had been formed resulting in a total of 22 independent agencies operating simultaneously in the city. The smaller park districts often wanted to build field houses, and many of them hired local architect Clarence Hatzfeld to design their buildings.

By 1934, all of Chicago’s 22 park districts were hindered by the Great Depression. To reduce duplication of services, streamline operations and gain access to funding through President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal, voters approved the Park Consolidation Act of 1934, which established the Chicago Park District (CPD). In order to create jobs, the newly established CPD hired architects, engineers and landscape architects to produce record plans and drawings that provide a detailed understanding of the park buildings and landscapes as they appeared in the 1930s.

Since its formation, the Chicago Park District has continued its tradition of innovative programs and ideas and beautifully designed landscapes and facilities. In the late 1940s, a Ten Year Plan led to dozens of new parks, including a progressive school-park concept. In 1959, the system expanded again when the City of Chicago transferred more than 250 parks, playlots, natatoriums and beaches to the Chicago Park District. In 2014, the Chicago Park District is the steward of over 8,000 acres of open space, totaling more than 570 parks, 31 beaches, 50 nature areas and 2 world-class conservatories. CPD hosts thousands of special events and cultural, nature, sports and recreational programs. It remains the nation’s leading provider of green space and recreation.

Prior to the 1934 consolidation that created the Chicago Park District, 22 independent Park Districts existed. Listed below are the dates of organization for the original 22 park districts and the method by which each was organized:

Prior to the 1934 consolidation that created the Chicago Park District, 22 independent park districts existed. They are listed below, along with their respective parks:

Scope and Content

From large, famous park, to small, neighborhood playground, from Chicago’s boulevard system, to its beaches, the Chicago Park District is represented in its entirety in this collection. The records of the Chicago Park District are comprised of a wide variety of landscape and architectural drawings of parks, park buildings and related green spaces. Included are property surveys of park sites; maps of site areas; maps showing Lake Michigan, its shoreline changes and sounding depths; plans showing utility lines for water, sewer and electricity; elevations, sections, plans and details for park buildings, structures and decorations; maps of boulevards; and planting plans for park landscapes. Versions of these drawings are available to view as scanned PDFs.

These drawings represent the work of in-house architects of the Chicago Park District and its predecessor park commissions, as well as select outside architects, landscape architects and designers. The records include the work of famed architects, planners and landscape architects such as Frederick Law Olmsted, Daniel Burnham and Jens Jensen. While most of the materials were produced by the Chicago Park District, its predecessor park districts or those it employed, some drawings were created by affiliated and related entities, including the Works Progress Administration (WPA); various engineering and construction firms; the City of Chicago; the United States Coast Guard; and other municipal and federal agencies whose work covers utilities and shoreline maintenance.

Arrangement

Over 105,000 drawings have been digitized into over 30,000 PDF files. These are available to view in our Reading Room. The PDFs are stored in two sets, each with its own Excel spreadsheet index, also available in our Reading Room. These indices are keyword searchable and also have filters set for a number of different fields.

The first set, approximately 100,000 drawings, has been only minimally processed, often neglecting to list all names of architects or landscape architects. Researchers are encouraged to browse widely by date and geographic area. The drawings primarily focus on parks and boulevards, with some treatment of utilities, Lake Shore Drive, transportation and other associated projects.

The second set, approximately 5,500 drawings, has been fully described. This set contains the older drawings, though some early drawings can be found in the first set. Those drawings done by more famous architects and landscape architects such as Jens Jensen, William Le Baron Jenny, Frederick Law Olmsted, Daniel Burnham and Alfred Caldwell, can be found in this set. The drawings related to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and the 1933-1934 Century of Progress world’s fairs are also included. Other drawings of note include those that show the changes to Lake Michigan’s shoreline over the years, original plans for important park buildings like the Garfield Park Conservatory and a map of the land that would become Lincoln Park while it was still a cemetery.

The Chicago Park District assigns a number to each park; park names can change, but park numbers remain the same. The drawings in the first set are organized by this park number. The drawings in the second set have been assigned unique numbers by CPL staff. For greater detail, please view the indices in our Reading Room.

Related Materials

• Chicago Park District Records: Photographs
• Millennium Park, Inc. Archives
• Millennium Park, U.S. Equities Realty Collection
• Open Space Section Records
• Neighborhood History Research Collections

Subject Headings

• Bennett, Edward H. (Edward Herbert), 1874-1954
• Burnham, Daniel Hudson, 1846-1912
• Caldwell, Alfred, 1903-1998
• Century of Progress International Exposition (1933-1934 : Chicago, Ill.)
• Chicago (Ill.). Commissioners of Lincoln Park
• Chicago (Ill.). West Chicago Park Commissioners
• Chicago Park District (Chicago, Ill.)
• Jenney, W. L. B. (William Le Baron), 1832-1907
• Jensen, Jens, 1860-1951
• Landscape architecture--Illinois--Chicago--History.
• Landscape architecture--Illinois--Chicago--History.
• Olmsted Brothers.
• Olmsted, Frederick Law, 1822-1903
• Olmsted, Frederick Law, 1870-1957
• South Park Commission (Chicago, Ill.)
• United States. Works Progress Administration.
• World's Columbian Exposition (1893 : Chicago, Ill.)

Park List

The following parks and boulevards, listed alphabetically, are represented in the collection: