It is part of the larger Indian Boundary Prairies managed by Northeastern Illinois University and The Nature Conservancy.

[1] The Gensburg-Markham Prairie dates its origins back to the closing years of the Wisconsin glaciation, when postglacial Lake Chicago deposited a large sand beach in what would later become a section of southern Cook County.

The poorly drained, damp, sandy soil resisted successful farming, and early pioneer settlers left patches of tallgrass prairie grasses and forbs alone.

[2] Much of the prairie area was annexed by the municipality of Markham, Illinois, a suburb located south of Chicago.

[2] At the time of donation in 1971, the Gensburg-Markham Prairie had become deeply degraded by invasive exotic plants.