Pratt Beach
Pratt Beach Park
Chicago, IL 60626
Pratt 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 Paul and George Pratt, members of the Rogers Park Building and Land Company, which subdivided and developed Rogers Park in the 1870s. Pratt Beach Park is one of 18 street-end beaches acquired by the Chicago Park District from the City of Chicago in 1959. The city's Bureau of Parks and Recreation was operating 27 such beaches by 1937; many of these were in existence as early as 1921. Although lifeguards manned these small municipal beaches, they had no changing rooms or other facilities. In Rogers Park, the beaches met the summertime recreational needs of residents of the many apartment buildings built in the eastern portion of the community between 1900 and 1930.
Pratt Beach was renamed Tobey Prinz Park in 2014 by the Chicago Park District.
Photos
RPWRHS photo B061-006 shows some unidentified kids playing baseball at Pratt Beach Park, Address given is 1447 W. Pratt--which is impossible, as the beach is several blocks east. Photo circa 1950.
RPWRHS photo L009-0146 shows Nancy Judd jogging at Pratt Beach, 1050 W. Pratt Boulevard, March 25, 1987.
RPWRHS photo S013-0171 shows Pratt Beach, 1050 W. Pratt Boulevard, as seen through trees. September 1987.
RPWRHS photo S013-0172 shows Pratt Beach, 1050 W. Pratt Boulevard, lifeguard chair, as seen through trees. September 1987.
