Prinz (Tobey) Beach Park

This beach park lies just south of Loyola Park in the Rogers Park neighborhood, where Pratt Boulevard meets Lake Michigan. The boulevard and the beach are named for George and Paul Pratt, members of the Rogers Park Building and Land Company, which subdivided and developed Rogers Park in the 1870s. The Chicago Park District acquired this park property in 1965.

In 2014, the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners officially renamed Pratt Beach Park in honor of Tobey Prinz (1911 – 1984) a teacher, community activist, and advocate for lakefront green space. In the 1950s, Prinz was a founding member of the Rogers Park Community Council (RPCC), and over the years, she served as the organization's conservation committee chairman and vice-president. Prinz was also involved in many other local organizations and devoted her efforts to improving the Rogers Park community.  She was a longtime member of the Chicago Teachers Union and a board member for Truman City College. Actively involved in the 1960s civil rights movement, Ms. Prinz attended the March on Washington in 1963 and helped organize “Education vs. Racism,” the second conference in the U.S. to promote the teaching of African-American studies in the schools— an award-winning initiative. 

Tobey Prinz strived to encourage open housing practices in Rogers Park and was a founder and leader of the Rogers Park Tenants Committee which had a long-lasting influence on Chicago’s housing conditions.  She was also a strong proponent for parks and open space in the Rogers Park Community.  She was involved in the successful campaign to convert the Bryn Mawr Country Club into Warren Park, when developers wanted to convert the site into a shopping center and housing complex.  In the late 1950s and early 1960s, when lakefront property in Rogers Park was available for development, Prinz led a “Save the Beaches” campaign that resulted in the protection of approximately a dozen street-end beaches. Renaming Pratt Beach in honor of Tobey Prinz is a fitting tribute to Tobey Prinz’s extraordinary commitment to saving beaches and parkland as well as to make life better in Rogers Park and throughout Chicago.