Parks & Recreation
Famed landscape architect Jens Jensen once said, “I have always thought that if the city cannot come to the country, than the country must come to the city.” And that is exactly what he and others helped do for Chicago—through their efforts to maintain and nurture the natural, they left a legacy of green spaces, shady parks, big open athletic fields, and beautiful gardens. So, although Windy City residents might not all be lucky enough to have their own private backyards, it doesn’t matter much when they have a park or playground (or two) just down the block, plus expanses of beachfront, gardens, and public space at Grant Park and Millennium Park, not to mention the forest preserve at the city’s outer boundaries. The following is just a selection of Chicago areas where the country comes to break up the big buildings, letting us all breathe a little deeper and play a little longer.
City: Chicago, IL
Category: Parks & Recreation
2. Chicago Botanic Garden
City: Chicago, IL
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (847) 835-5440
Address: 1000 Lake Cook Rd.
Insider Pick:
Description: Stop and smell the roses—and hyacinths, irises, pansies, daffodils, daisies, and dozens of other types of flowers, flowering plants, trees, and shrubbery that fill 385 sprawling acres. Free admission; parking $20 for cars and $25 for vans; on Tues, senior citizens park for $7. On Sun, from spring through early fall, a trolley runs from the nearby Glencoe Metra train station and is $2 round-trip per person. Open daily 8 a.m. to sunset.
City: Chicago, IL
Category: Parks & Recreation
City: Chicago, IL
Category: Parks & Recreation
City: Chicago, IL
Category: Parks & Recreation
6. Grant Park
City: Chicago, IL
Category: Parks & Recreation
Description: Encompassing a variety of formal gardens and a dozen baseball fields, as well as ornate Buckingham Fountain and the world-class institutions of the Museum Campus, the 320-acre Grant Park is one-of-a-kind, and well deserving of its nickname as Chicago’s “front yard.” It started taking shape in 1835 when a public park was first formed. It grew much larger when rubble from the Chicago Fire of 1871 was moved there. Although Chicago “planner” Daniel Burnham envisioned museums and civic buildings along the parkland, mail-order mogul Aaron Montgomery Ward sued to preserve its open stretches of land—and we’re grateful that he did. Ward now has both a garden and a park in the River North neighborhood named after him in tribute to the cause he fought and its stunning green results.
City: Chicago, IL
Category: Parks & Recreation
Address: 1440 N. Sacramento Ave.
8. Indian Boundary Park
City: Chicago, IL
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (773) 764-0338
Address: 2500 W. Lunt Ave.
Description: You might miss this tucked-away park unless you live in the surrounding West Ridge neighborhood. But it’s worth finding it. Besides typical parkland, you’ll discover a lazy duck-filled lagoon and the 1929 Tudor-style field house designed by Clarence Hatzfield and now a Chicago Landmark and listed in the National Register of Historical Places. It’s the site of numerous art and music classes, events, plays, and concerts. For kids of all ages, the wow factor comes when they get a glimpse of the castlelike wood play structure built by 1,500 community volunteers over 5 days in 1989. It’s a maze of ins and outs, ups and downs, and nooks and crannies too small for grown-ups and perfect for imaginative kids (just know that after a rainy day, those crannies can get a bit muddy).
City: Chicago, IL
Category: Parks & Recreation
City: Chicago, IL
Category: Parks & Recreation
11. Lincoln Park
City: Chicago, IL
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (312) 742-7726 (Lincoln Park C
Description: The mother of all Chicago parks, Lincoln Park extends for an impressive 1,208 acres along the lakeshore. First known as Lake Park, it was renamed in honor of the 16th president soon after his assassination in 1865 and includes several sections of landfill. It also encompasses the Lincoln Park Zoo and Lincoln Park Conservatory; numerous beaches, lagoons, harbors, and ponds; a golf course and a driving range; the Theatre on the Lake; several prominent statues (including one of Honest Abe himself); the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, and the Chicago History Museum.
City: Chicago, IL
Category: Parks & Recreation
City: Chicago, IL
Category: Parks & Recreation
Address: 201 E. Randolph St.
14. Northerly Island Park
City: Chicago, IL
Category: Parks & Recreation
Address: 1400 S. Lynn White Dr.
Description: After a controversial, middle-of-the-night destruction of its airstrips in 2003 orchestrated by the former Mayor Richard Daley, this once municipal airfield was reverted back to its original purpose as a natural habitat, now operated by the Chicago Park District. Jutting out into Lake Michigan as a 91-acre peninsula that parallels the shoreline, the parkland features strolling paths, and a field house that’s open on weekends from November to April and daily during the late spring and summer. Several year-round festivals take place here as well, and Charter One Pavilion’s temporary 7,500-seat outdoor stage is erected each summer for alfresco concerts.
City: Chicago, IL
Category: Parks & Recreation
Address: 5801 N. Pulaski Rd.