CHAPTER IV

THE CHICAGO PARK SYSTEM

The motto of Chicago 43

Beginnings of the Chicago Park system 43

The Chicago boulevards 44

Park legislation 44

The small parks of Chicago 44

A metropolitan park system proposed 44

The Special Park Commission 44

London’s larger parks 48

The pleasures of Henley 48

The great parks of Paris and Vienna 49

Boston park reservations 49

The park system of the District of Columbia 49

The possibility of a comprehensive park system for Chicago 49

Treatment of the Chicago Lake front 50

A system of lagoons and lake parkways proposed 50

The acquisition and improvements of forest spaces 53

Physical characteristics of the country surrounding Chicago 55

An encircling system of forest parks 57