Report of the Special Park Commission to the City Council of Chicago on the Subject of a Metropolitan Park System

Very early efforts to establish the Cook County Forest Preserves.

This spectacular 1904 Report of the Special Park Commission represents some of the earliest large-scale urban conservation efforts in America. It was compiled by Dwight Heald Perkins and published in Chicago in 1905 by W.J. Hartman Company.

Divided into eight separate parts, the report presents recommendations for a comprehensive and connected system of protected wilderness that would eventually become the Cook County Forest Preserve. According to the CCFP website;

“At the start of the 20th century, it was clear that Chicago was fast becoming one of the world’s great cities. It was also clear that the beautiful landscapes surrounding the city could soon vanish under the aggressive spread of houses and factories. Led by the same ideals that were launching the National Park System around the same time, community leaders came together to propose an audacious idea: Create a huge expanse of public land around the city’s core and protect it forever in its natural state.

The visionaries behind the efforts to create a forest preserve district included Jens Jensen, a landscape architect famous for celebrating Illinois’ native plants, and Dwight Perkins, an architect who helped found the Prairie School Movement. Starting in 1904, they advocated tirelessly for the creation of a permanent preserve system, and turned local leaders into supporters, including noted city planner Daniel Burnham and The Commercial Club of Chicago.”

The report includes nearly sixty photographic plates showing various lands encompassed by the proposed reserve. These range from forest-covered bluffs on the shores of Lake Michigan to low marshes along the Sag Valley. Part six contains recommendations by the landscape architect Jen Jensen and 6 folding plans and diagrams are included, in addition to a series of maps comparing the parklands of Washington, D.C. to those of Chicago.

Source: Forest Preserves of Cook County; CITIES AND SOCIAL JUSTICE: LESSONS FROM THE LAISSEZ-FAIRE METROPOLIS