The Chicago Park District also has more than over 230 field houses, 78 public pools, and dozens of sports and recreational facilities, with year-round programming.

The district is an independent taxing authority as defined by Illinois State Statute and is considered a separate (or "sister") agency of the City of Chicago.

[1] The district's headquarters are located in the Brighton Park neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago.

[2] The Chicago Park District oversees more than 600 parks with over 8,800 acres (3,600 ha) of municipal parkland including their field houses, as well as 27 beaches, 78 pools, 11 museums, two world-class botanical conservatories, 16 historic lagoons and 10 bird and wildlife gardens that are found within the city limits.

[5] In the 1860s, Chicago already had about 40 small parks, but no central plan, and it fell far short when compared to other major cities in the country.

Dr. John H. Rauch MD, who was a member of the Chicago Board of Health and later a president of the Illinois State Board of Health, played a key role in establishing Lincoln Park by persuading city officials to close several festering cemeteries filled with shallow graves of victims of infectious epidemics.

[16] The Service is the largest municipal lifeguard force in the world and is regularly observed by representatives from Japan, Australia, Ireland, Germany, California, Florida and other locales.