CARLI Digitized Book of the Month – June 2017

Report of the Commissioners and a history of Lincoln Park

The history of Lincoln Park, one of the largest and most scenic parks in Chicago, tells a lot about the history of the city as a whole. It started as a swampy area with sand dunes that the city purchased in the early 1850s to house cholera hospitals and quarantine zones during an epidemic. After cholera passed, it was used as a cemetery for several years, until people objected to a cemetery so close to where they lived. Burials were ceased in 1859. Over the following years, a plan came together to buy land and build a park, though at that time the surrounding communities of North Chicago and Lake View were not yet part of Chicago.  Reading through this book gives a picture of the amount of planning and work that went into transforming the city from a natural landscape to a built one. On a hot summer day by Lake Michigan, we can appreciate the work, even though we recognize that we have lost something in that building. Through these photos and stories we start to imagine that lost past and understand how much things have changed.

Written by Margaret Heller, Digital Services Librarian, Loyola University Chicago

This volume was contributed by the Chicago State University. You can find this volume and others from CARLI participant libraries in the Internet Archive.