Local Landmarks & Heritage
Local Landmarks & Heritage
- Peterson (Pehr Samuel) Park
- North Park Village Nature Center
- Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium Complex (NRHP 2019)
- The former sanitarium fieldhouse and gymnastics center
Neighborhood History
Neighborhood History
Peterson Park takes its name from the 23-acre park at its center, named in 1978 for Pehr Samuel Peterson, a Swedish immigrant who developed the surrounding land as a tree nursery beginning in the 1850s. Peterson's nursery supplied trees for Chicago's parks, boulevards, and the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, and after his death in 1903 his family donated the 158-acre tract to the city. In 1915, the city opened the Chicago Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium on the site — the largest municipal sanitarium in the country.
The sanitarium treated patients for nearly sixty years before closing in 1974, and community opposition to a proposed shopping-center redevelopment led the city to convert the grounds into North Park Village and Peterson Park instead. The old morgue and laboratory building now serves as the park fieldhouse and gymnastics center, while the surrounding Nature Center preserves 46 acres of the original grounds as wetland, prairie, and woodland. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.
From a Swedish nurseryman's tree farm to a public health landmark to a neighborhood park, Peterson Park's ground has been repurposed for the public good for over a century — a history worth wearing on your own walk through the woods.
MY-NHD
Peterson Park - Chicago - Unisex Heavy Blend Hoodie
Peterson Park - Chicago - Unisex Heavy Blend Hoodie
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Peterson Park is named for Pehr Samuel Peterson, a Swedish nurseryman who grew trees here from the 1850s for Chicago’s parks and boulevards. The city opened a tuberculosis sanitarium on the land in 1915, and the grounds became a park and nature center.
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