River Park

River Park is the largest of the six parks established by the River Park District, one of 22 independent park commissions consolidated into the Chicago Park District in 1934. Northwest side residents created the River Park District in 1917 to provide recreational opportunities and increase property values in the territory along the Chicago River's North Branch and the North Shore Channel. Almost immediately after its creation, the River Park District began to purchase land north of Argyle Avenue, where the river and the channel separate. Although the River Park District did not complete their land acquisition for River Park until 1930, the site opened to the public on July 4, 1920, when the park district dedicated a new flagpole there to neighborhood children. Formal improvements began two years later, with the remodeling of an existing building for fieldhouse use. In 1926, landscape architect and River Park District board member Jacob L. Crane, Jr. developed a plan for River Park. Crane's plan covered nearly 40 acres of land, including approximately ten acres northwest of the fork. (This ten-acre plot was never actually developed as parkland, and now belongs to North Park College.) In 1927, the Chicago Landscape Company implemented a modified version of Crane's plan that included beautiful greenspaces, a footbridge over the North Branch dam and waterfall, children's playgrounds, athletic fields, and pathways for walking, bicycling, and horseback riding. Chicago architect Clarence Hatzfeld designed an impressive brick fieldhouse with a three-story central section and a long wing on either end. Constructed in 1929 to replace the original structure, the fieldhouse included a 300-seat assembly hall and a fully-equipped kitchen.

 River Park became part of the Chicago Park District’s portfolio in 1934 when the 22 park districts were consolidated.  The Park District expanded the park in 1962 after leasing additional property form the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.  The Chicago Park District installed a new swimming pool in 1948. During the fall of 1999, the City of Chicago began constructing a boat launch and river walk along the south side of the North Branch, which the park district will operate once completed.  The Chicago Park District is reclaiming the Chicago River as a major system of parks and water-based recreation for all Chicagoans with the completion of four new boathouses and river launches. The River Park boathouse was completed in 2014. Two other boathouses opened in 2013 (Ping Tom and Clark Park), and the fourth boathouse opened thereafter at Park No. 571 (2828 S. Eleanor).