Skip to product information
1 of 24

Local Landmarks & Heritage

  • Bohemian National Cemetery
  • North Park University's Old Main Building
  • Chicago's Only Waterfall at the North Shore Channel
  • LaBagh Woods Forest Preserve

Neighborhood History

North Park takes its name from North Park University, whose Old Main building rose in 1894 along Foster Avenue on the north bank of the Chicago River's North Branch. The surrounding land was platted decades earlier, in 1855, as a village within Jefferson Township, when German and Swedish farmers began cultivating vegetable fields along the riverbank. The university's Swedish founders anchored the neighborhood's identity, and gradual development through the early twentieth century filled in what had long been agricultural land.

The Bohemian National Cemetery, opened in 1877, remains one of the neighborhood's most enduring landmarks, drawing Czech families to its northwestern corner and preserving that heritage in stone to this day. Nearby, the confluence of the river's North Branch and the North Shore Channel produces Chicago's only waterfall, a modest four-foot drop marking the neighborhood's eastern edge. LaBagh Woods Forest Preserve extends this natural corridor along the channel, protecting acres of woodland within the city limits.

From the university grounds of Old Main to the quiet trails of LaBagh Woods, North Park's landscape has shaped a neighborhood defined as much by nature as by academics — a history worth wearing, whether you walk its campus or its woods.

MY-NHD

North Park - Chicago - Unisex Heavy Blend Hoodie

North Park - Chicago - Unisex Heavy Blend Hoodie

Regular price $46.95 CAD
Regular price Sale price $46.95 CAD
Sale Sold out

North Park is named for North Park University, whose Old Main rose in 1894 on the North Branch of the Chicago River. Swedish founders shaped its identity, and Bohemian National Cemetery, opened in 1877, lies at its northwestern corner.

View full details