![]() ![]() Īnother large and notable group of graves relocated from the site of today's Lincoln Park were those of approximately 4,000 Confederate prisoners of war who died at Camp Douglas. As recently as 1998, construction in the park revealed more bodies left over in the nineteenth century burial ground. A plaque placed nearby states that "the remains of six Couch family members and one family friend are in the tomb." Partially due to the destruction of the Chicago Fire of wooden burial markers, it was difficult to identify many of the remains. Couch is believed to not be the only person interred in the old burial ground in Lincoln Park. Ira Couch, who is interred in the tomb, was one of Chicago's earliest innkeepers, opening the Tremont House in 1835. To this day, the Couch mausoleum can still be seen as the most visible reminder of the history as a cemetery, standing amidst trees, behind the Chicago History Museum. An estimated 35,000 people total were buried in the cemetery sections of the park, and the plan required the removal of these graves to other newly opened cemeteries further from the city and lake. The cemetery sections south of North Avenue were also relocated but this land was left for residential development. īy 1864, the city council had decided to add all the 120-acre (0.49 km 2) cemetery lands north of North Avenue to the park by relocating the graves. Rauch MD suggested that the burial grounds were a health risk, which "might serve extremely well for plantations of grove and forest trees" that would be "useful and ornamental to the city." The idea was dropped during the Civil War, but revived by Dr. Throughout the late 1850s, there was discussion of closing the cemetery or abandoning it because of health concerns. Another notable burial in the cemetery was Chicago Mayor James Curtiss, whose body was lost when the cemetery was added to the park. In 1852, David Kennison, who is said to have been born in 1736, died and was buried in City Cemetery. These cemeteries were the only cemeteries in the Chicago area until 1859. This was subdivided into a Potter's Field, Catholic cemetery, Jewish cemetery, and the general City Cemetery. Five years later, on June 12, 1865, the park was renamed to honor the recently assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.Īdded to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994, part of the oldest section of today's Lincoln Park near North Avenue began its existence as the City Cemetery in 1843. In 1860, Lake Park (earlier, Cemetery Park), the precursor of today's park, was established by the city on the lands just to the north of the city's burial ground. Image from Harper's Weekly of people escaping the Great Chicago Fire by fleeing to the cemetery in Lincoln Park A concert in Lincoln Park circa 1907 This mausoleum is the only standing remnant of the cemetery that existed in part of Lincoln Park in the 19th century. ![]() History Couch Mausoleum in Lincoln Park, October 2013. There are landscaped gardens, public art, bird refuges, a zoo, the Lincoln Park Conservatory, the Chicago History Museum, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool, and a theater on the lake with regular outdoor performances held during the summer. The park also features several harbors with boating facilities, as well as public beaches for swimming. The park's recreational facilities include baseball/softball fields, basketball courts, beach volleyball courts, cricket pitches, football/soccer fields, a golf course, lacrosse fields, rugby pitches, tennis courts, volleyball courts, field houses, a target archery field, a skate park, and a driving range. With 20 million visitors per year, Lincoln Park is the second-most-visited city park in the United States, behind Central Park. ![]() To the south, there is a more narrow strip of beaches east of Lake Shore Drive, almost to downtown. Further to the north, the park is characterized by parkland, beaches, recreational areas, nature reserves, and harbors. Two museums and a zoo are located in the oldest part of the park between North Avenue (1600 N) and Diversey Parkway (2800 N) in the eponymous neighborhood. Named after US President Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, to near Ardmore Avenue (5800 N) on the north, just north of the DuSable Lake Shore Drive terminus at Hollywood Avenue. Lincoln Park is a 1,208-acre (489-hectare) park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. ![]()
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