Legion Park

Legion Park was created by the River Park District, one of 22 independent park systems consolidated into the Chicago Park District in 1934. The Park District acquired property for the park in 1908 and in 1930. Residents of northwest Chicago established the River Park District in 1917 specifically to promote recreational opportunities along the North Shore Channel and the nearby North Branch of the Chicago River.  Therefore, when the board of the Sanitary District of Chicago offered to lease a 330-foot, 18-acre stretch of the channel's east bank in 1930, the River Park District readily accepted.

The Park District named the site Legion Park to honor veterans who served in the World War I U.S. Expeditionary Forces, and promptly began improvements, installing a playground, a volleyball court, a softball field, and an outdoor gymnasium. In 1933, the Garden Club of the Peterson Woods Improvement Association planted a flower garden in the park.

The following year, in the depths of the Depression, the Illinois Relief Commission erected a rustic bridge across the channel at Ardmore Avenue. All 22 of the City's independent park boards were consolidated into the Chicago Park District in 1934. In 1962, the Park District began to lease additional property on both sides of the channel from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. Seven years later, the Park District leased still more land from MWRD, bringing total park acreage to 48.35 acres. Over time, the Park District has installed and improved concrete walkways, bike paths, and playgrounds along the length of Legion Park. In 1999, the Park District purchased .4 acres of land at the corner of Lincoln and Peterson Avenues from the Public Building Commission, and removed a neighborhood eyesore, a dilapidated motel. This property, with its new ornamental fountain, will serve as a gateway to the park.