Lincoln Park Commissioners

From HistoryWiki

Lincoln Park Commissioners Soundex Code L524

The state of Illinois created the Lincoln Park Commission as a special district, one of three Chicago-area park districts, in 1869, with authority over lakefront land between North Avenue and Diversey Parkway.

When the newly formed Lincoln Park Board of Commissioners began meeting in 1869, its first concern was to transform the remaining burial ground (Chicago City Cemetery) on the southern end of the park's new boundaries between Diversey Parkway and North Avenue. Through condemnation proceedings, heirs of the cemetery's lot owners were given a six-month period and compensation to exhume bodies and transfer them to other cemeteries. One family mausoleum, The Couch Tomb, was never removed, and it remains a symbol of Lincoln Park's early history.