Uttered at first perhaps as a kind of wishful thinking to the swamps and barren wilderness of the natural landscape, Chicago boosters dreamt of a civilized and idyllic image for a rough frontier outpost.

They also made good on their promise. Within little more than thirty years after becoming a city in 1837, Chicago had planned a vast park and boulevard system that set the standard for park development in America.

As great industry thrived, as the tumult of steel mill and stockyard roared, park plans were gradually implemented. The great parks, Jackson, Washington, Douglas, Garfield, Grant, Lincoln, Humboldt, and many later smaller parks were tied together by a green encircled ribbon of boulevards that stretched open space throughout Chicago's neighborhoods. The cooling shore of Lake Michigan too became our playground, with nearly thirty miles of public parkland with beaches, harbors, and recreational facilities.

As Chicago became a true city citizen of the world, we created more plans for the future that would secure Chicago's place as a most distinguished and beautiful metropolis. The core of this greatness: our parks, our civic sense, our public realm.

-Howard S. Decker, AIA
Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois