Chicago Park District Records: Photographs

CPL's Digital Collections document life in Chicago through archival images, documents and artifacts.

2 men in suits on tandem bike as photographer takes photos

Mayor Richard J. Daley and Dr. Paul White, Ogden Park, opening of bicycle program, 1956

Two women in a park hold bows and arrows, ready to shoot

Palmer Park, archery, circa 1935

A boy and two younger girls ride a large hobby horse. Behind them is a cabinet full of toys and a toy tea set.

Stanford Park, toy lending, 1938

Three boys dressed in suits and vests stand at a microphone and play recorders. Adults watch from off stage.

Addams Park, undated

Young children tend plants in a narrow vegetable garden at the side of a building

Stanford Park, junior garden club, 1937

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About

Parks have always been a part of Chicago’s city planning. Explore their growth, development and use from six large parks begun around 1870 to more than 500 today.

The 10,000 images in this digital collection capture the parks’ construction, architecture, plant life and public enjoyment. Highlights include photos of:

Music concerts in the parks
Parks being built from the ground up
Bird’s-eye views of parks around the city
People of all ages playing sports, doing arts and crafts and generally enjoying their local parks

This collection represents 93 of Chicago’s over 500 parks, covering the city’s wide geography.

More than 50,000 additional photos of Chicago’s parks are available in person. The Chicago Park District Records: Photographs collection is housed in the Special Collections and Preservation Division at Harold Washington Library Center.

Questions or concerns about rights and access to this digital collection? See our Copyright and Takedown Policy.

This digital collection is made possible by a generous grant from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation through the Chicago Public Library Foundation.

Acknowledgment of Harmful Materials

Chicago Public Library collects images, documents and other archival materials from different communities and time periods to preserve and make available the cultural and historical record. As historical objects, some of these materials contain harmful or disturbing content. CPL presents these artifacts as an unfiltered social record and does not endorse the views expressed therein.