Montrose Beach

Lincoln Park is one of Chicago’s oldest and largest parks. Surprisingly, more than 1,000 acres of this park and its beaches are completely made from landfill.

By 1929, Lincoln Park had 300 acres of landfill extending as far north as Irving Park Road. The Lincoln Park Commissioners had intended to keep landfill operations moving northbound, but work slowed because of the Depression.

In 1934, all of Chicago’s 22 separate park commissions were consolidated into the Chicago Park District. With extensive funding available through Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, the Park District began many park improvements, including the Montrose to Foster landfill extension.

The plan for the extension included several buildings designed by E.V. Buchsbaum, including the beach house at Montrose Beach. Modeled after the beach house at North Avenue, the building looks like a lake steamer.

In the 1950s, the east wing of the beach house burned in a fire and was not rebuilt. Instead, the Park District constructed an open-air changing addition to the south side of the building. Today, the beach house is still in existence and is used by beach-goers.