Chicago Park District

In the 1860s, Chicago already had about 40 small parks, but no central plan, and it fell far short when compared to other major cities in the country. Lincoln Park was Chicago's first large park, created in 1860. Dr. John H. Rauch MD, who was a member of the Chicago Board of Health and later a president of the Illinois State Board of Health, played a key role in establishing Lincoln Park by persuading city officials to close several festering cemeteries filled with shallow graves of victims of infectious epidemics. Rauch next formulated a central plan for parks across the entire city, noting that they were "the lungs of the city", and pointing out that Chicago's parks were inferior to those in New York's Central Park, Baltimore's Druid Hill Park, and Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. His influence was key in setting up Chicago's modern park system.

The current Chicago Park District was created in 1934 by the Illinois Legislature under the Park Consolidation Act (70 ILCS 1505 et seq). By provisions of that act, the Chicago Park District consolidated and superseded the then-existing 22 separate park districts in Chicago, the largest three of which were the Lincoln Park, West Park, and South Park Districts, all of which had been established in 1869. In the late 1960s, the district lent its support for a Special Olympics for developmental challenged children. The Park District co-sponsored the first Special Olympics at Soldier Field in 1968.

In the past several years, the Park District has initiated a program of renovating and beautifying existing parks and playgrounds, as well as initiating the building of a number of new parks, including Ping Tom Memorial Park, Ellis Park, DuSable Park, Maggie Daley Park and others. The Chicago Park District has also expanded programming in neighborhood parks throughout the city, and created a lakefront concert venue on Northerly Island on the site of the former Meigs Field airport. In 2014, the district won the National Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Parks and Recreation.

Police Department

The Chicago Park District Police Department was a law enforcement that was operated by the Chicago Park District. The department was established on May 1, 1934, and operated until being disbanded and absorbed by the Chicago Police Department on December 31, 1958. The territorial limits of the agency were the municipal boundaries of Chicago. The department was given jurisdiction over 135 parks, including facilities housed within the parks (such as swimming beaches, outdoor swimming pools, field houses, recreation centers, the Lincoln Park Zoo, the Garfield Park Conservatory, and the Lincoln Park Conservatory. The department also had jurisdiction over the 205 miles (330 km) of boulevards that are part of the Chicago park and boulevard system, as well as 28 miles (45 km) of Lake Michigan shoreline.

Similar to other Park District employees, members of the force of 639 officers were recruited by the Chicago Park District Civil Service Board and were directly employed by the Park District. Since the Park District had its own independent jurisdiction separate from the city government, the department was functionally unattached to the Chicago Police Department, despite close cooperation between the two departments.

The department was responsible for the enforcement of park ordinances, state laws, and the preservation of peace and good order. Its Division of Police operated a fleet of approximately 100 two-man squad cars, each with two-way radios. Its central headquarters were housed in the Chicago Park District Administration Building in Burnham Park (which was located behind southmost end of Soldier Field). The department had stations located in several parks, including its North Police Station in the Lincoln Park Administration Building (today the location of the Lincoln Park Cultural Center).

The disbandment of the department came with a Second Consolidation Act for the city's parks, which saw management of the city's boulevards transferred away from the Parks District, ownership of more than 250 parks (previously owned by the city government) transferred to the parks district, and the Parks District Police's force merged into the Chicago Police Department. In Illinois, park district police departments have become a rarity. As of 2017, only 19 of 339 municipal park districts in the state had their own police departments.

Parkways Foundation

Founded in 1994, Parkways Foundation was the non-profit, philanthropic partner of the Chicago Park District. Parkways sought private investment to enrich the physical and cultural landscape of Chicago's neighborhood parks. The foundation was led by its board of directors and supported by over 200 board members including Chicago's corporate and philanthropic leaders. Parkways invested in capital projects, youth cultural and sports programs, and historic preservation in Chicago's neighborhood parks. Parkways projects focused on underserved neighborhoods for the enrichment of the lives of children and families.

Lifeguard Service

The Chicago Lifeguard Service, or the Chicago Park District Beaches and Pools Unit, employs over 1000 as aquatics staff during the summer and 300 year round to protect the lives of patrons. Lifeguards are stationed at 23 beaches on Lake Michigan plus one inland beach, as well as, 26 indoor and 51 outdoor pools at city parks and 15 pools in public schools. The Service is the largest municipal lifeguard force in the world and is regularly observed by representatives from Japan, Australia, Ireland, Germany, California, Florida and other locales. The Service also covers more waterfront than any other individual lifeguard force in the world; Chicago beaches cover over 26 miles of the lakefront.

Facilities

The 58,100-square-foot (5,400 m2) headquarters is in Park 596 in Brighton Park.

Its previous headquarters was designed by Holabird & Root. Construction began in 1938 and ended in 1939.