{"nrhp_refnum":"94001029","name":"Lincoln Park","other_names":["Park #100","See Also:South Pond Refectory"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"2045 Lincoln Park W.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.91866655800004,"lon":-87.63408022999994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1994-08-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Entertainment/Recreation","Social History","Architecture","Landscape Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Lincoln Park is a 1,208-acre public park and historic district stretching more than six miles along Chicago's lakefront in Cook County, Illinois, from Ohio Street north to Ardmore Avenue. It began in 1860 as a sixty-acre parcel of former cemetery land and grew through nine stages of expansion.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the park as the product of more than 130 years of work by notable landscape designers, architects and artists. Its naturalistic landscape, buildings, monuments and lakefront landfill extensions reflect the growth of Chicago's park system. The park retains its historic character and integrity despite many changes.","narrative":"Lincoln Park is a 1,208-acre lakefront park along more than six miles of Chicago's shoreline, running from Ohio Street to Ardmore Avenue. It started in 1860 as sixty acres of unused cemetery land that had never had burials. About a quarter of the present park was original lakeshore, and the rest was created from landfill. The park grew in nine stages between 1860 and 1957. Its first landscape, designed by Swain Nelson in 1865, followed the natural ridges and swales with winding drives, paths and a chain of artificial lakes. Olaf Benson later extended that naturalistic approach across a 250-acre park. Surviving features include the Couch Tomb, a remnant of the City Cemetery, the South Pond, the Hans Christian Andersen monument, the Prairie style Cafe Brauer designed by Perkins, Fellows and Hamilton, Carlson Cottage and the Lincoln Park Conservatory. The park was listed as a district because it brings together the work of many designers and still conveys its layered historic character.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Swain Nelson, Olaf Benson, Perkins, Fellows and Hamilton, William LeBaron Jenney, Joseph L. Silsbee, John M. Van Osdel, Alfred Caldwell, O.C. Simonds (as named in the description)","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival; Prairie School; Art Deco","criteria":[],"status_note":"Currently used as a public park with museum, outdoor recreation and sports facilities; Cafe Brauer was recently rehabilitated.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.300389-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/30/8910/28891030/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/94001029.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94001029/7f10dbf124-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94001029/7f10dbf124-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.5","author":"Fritz Geller-Grimm","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lincolnzoo_fg01.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Fritz Geller-Grimm</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.5</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lincolnzoo_fg01.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891030","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Park","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2123262"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/lincoln-park-94001029/"}