The City in a Garden

A History of Chicago's Parks, Second Edition

Julia S. Bachrach

Julia S. Bachrach

Distributed for Columbia College Chicago Press

224 pages | 150 halftones | 9 x 8

Center for American Places - Center Books on Chicago and Environs

Paper $37.50 ISBN: 9781935195221 Published May 2012

The City in a Garden is a compelling look at Chicago’s remarkable and long-overlooked park system. Through unprecedented access to a cache of historical plans, photographs, and drawings, Julia S. Bachrach documents the city’s 175-year commitment to its public parks and explains how luminaries such as architect Daniel H. Burnham, landscape architect and conservationist Jens Jensen, and social reformer Jane Addams shaped and influenced the city’s green spaces.

This revised edition of The City in a Garden illuminates Chicago’s ongoing commitment to its expansive park district. Since 2001, Chicago’s parks have seen a renaissance. More than a billion dollars have been invested in a wide range of projects, including the restoration of dozens of historically significant buildings, landscapes, and artworks; the reconstruction of the lakefront revetment system; the creation of new gardens and natural areas; and the construction of new beach and field houses. Chicagoans now enjoy the addition of new and innovative green spaces such as Millennium Park and Palmisano Nature Park—a twenty-seven-acre park created from an old stone quarry in the South Side Bridgeport neighborhood.

Featuring new research, an expanded glossary, and additional documentary photographs, this beautifully illustrated book is a must for any Chicagoan.