Lincoln Park began as a small public cemetery on the northernmost boundary of Chicago where victims of cholera and small pox were buried in shallow lakeside graves. Aware of the public health threat, citizens began demanding the cemetery's conversion to parkland in the 1850s. In 1860, the City reserved a 60-acre unused section as Lake Park. The Lincoln Park District acquired more land for the park in 1886. Shortly after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (1809-65), 16th President of the United States, the park was renamed in his honor. The City allocated $10,000 for improvements, and nurseryman Swain Nelson created and implemented the park's first plan. An early donation of mute swans marked the beginnings of the Lincoln Park Zoo.
Citizens argued for the removal of the remaining burial ground. This contributed to a larger parks movement, and in 1869, the state legislature created three park districts: the South, West, and Lincoln Park Commissions, each responsible for the parks and boulevards in its region. Under the direction of the Lincoln Park Commission, bodies were exhumed and relocated to other cemeteries, and the park was expanded south to North Avenue and north to Diversey Parkway. Severe winter storms in 1885 resulted in the construction of a breakwater system which included the first of many landfill projects extending Lincoln Park's boundaries.
The Lincoln Park District continued acquiring land throughout the 1900s from various sources. Streets were also vacated in 1915 to expand the park property. The independent park commissions were consolidated into the Chicago Park District in 1934, and Lincoln Park was expanded north to Foster Avenue. The Chicago Park District acquired more land for the park from the 1940s-1960s. A final expansion in1998 brought the park to its current size of 1,208 acres. Throughout Lincoln Park's history, renowned artists, landscape designers, and architects contributed to its development. These included sculptor Augustus-Saint Gaudens, landscape designers Ossian Cole Simonds and Alfred Caldwell, and architects Joseph Lyman Silsbee and Dwight H. Perkins.
