Part of Chicago’s “Emerald Necklace” of parks and boulevards connecting Humboldt Park, Garfield Park and Douglas Park, this site was originally a wetland, drained and dredged to create recreational lagoons and a rudimentary park in 1877. 

Humboldt himself was a Prussian geographer, whose beliefs in the “interconnectedness” of nature laid the groundwork for modern ecology — but most influential name associated with the park is Jens Jensen, a Danish immigrant hired as a laborer who rose to become the park's superintendent by 1896.  Jensen was fascinated by the Midwestern American landscape, and was influential in creating protections for places like the Indiana Dunes (along with his friend Henry Cowles, a University of Chicago botanist who developed many concepts of early ecology). Jensen oversaw the construction of the “prairie river” water feature that defines the west side of the park, and he frequently brought in native plants from the countryside for his "American gardens", foreshadowing the park’s current Natural Areas planted in 2004.