At 185 acres, Garfield Park is the largest of the three major parks in the original West Park System. First named Central Park because of its location between Humboldt and Douglas Parks, it became Garfield Park after the assassination of President James A. Garfield in 1881. The lagoon pictured here was the work of architect (and briefly the employer of young Daniel Burnham) William LeBaron Jenney, who was the first designer of the the West Parks. The enormous conservatory for which Garfield Park is perhaps best known today is the work of landscape architect Jens Jensen, who headed the Special Park Commission of 1904 and became General Superintendent and Chief Landscape Architect of the West Park System in 1905.

Photographer: Unknown
Source: Chicago Historical Society (ICHi-03386)