Initially called Lake Park, it was renamed in 1880 in honor of Andrew Jackson,[2] the seventh President of the United States.

The aquatic islands and lagoons have since been developed to include boat harbors, playing fields, prairie restoration, a golf course, and three beaches.

The park also hosts the Barack Obama Presidential Center[3] and La Rabida Children's Hospital.

Lois Willie explained in her book Forever Open, Clear, and Free, "Olmstead said Jackson Park should be water oriented, with a yacht harbor, winding walkways around the lagoons, small bridges, bathing pavilions, and plenty of space for boating.

"[4] However, their designs were not put into place at that time, and Jackson Park remained untouched until Chicago was chosen to host the World's Fair several years later.

[6] Known originally as "South Park", the landscape had eastern and western divisions connected by a grand boulevard named the Midway Plaisance.

[5] Olmsted and Chicago's architect and planner, Daniel H. Burnham, with his partner John Wellborn Root, laid out the fairgrounds.

A team of architects and sculptors created the "White City" of plaster buildings and artworks in Beaux-Arts style.

[8] Colonel B. J. D. Irwin, a retired military surgeon and local golfer, sought democratization of recreation in Chicago, and ensured that Jackson Park Golf Course be made open to the public for free, such that "golfers of limited means... can play at almost nominal cost, and cheaper facilities in Chicago would permit of a number enjoying the game who at present are debarred by the dues demanded by the local clubs".

By 1915, plans were underway for a new club house with sixteen life memberships the core of the funding for the new structure which was dedicated on Memorial Day 1916 by Governor Edward F. Dunne, who arrived on William A. Lydon's 181-foot steam yacht Lydonia.

[11][12] On July 17, 1916, zoologist and philosopher J. Howard Moore killed himself on Jackson Park's Wooded Island.

[citation needed] During the Cold War, part of Jackson Park contained a Nike Surface-to-Air Missile site and the nearby point was used as its radar station.

[16] In 1965, the people of South Chicago were growing tired of the traffic jams on Lake Shore Drive, so the city made plans to widen the road, straighten its curves and run it straight through Jackson Park.

[17] The park's East Lagoon, or Music Court Bridge was featured in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers.

At a cost of about $8.1 million,[21] habitat restoration on Jackson Park's Wooded Island began in 2015 and will continue until 2019.

[24][25] While a comfort station and the North Pond Bridge, both of which date from the 1880s, are still in use, every structure built for World's Columbian Exposition was long ago destroyed by fire, demolished or moved elsewhere, except for the old Palace of Fine Arts, now the Museum of Science and Industry, the only fireproof building at the fair, which fell into disrepair and was rehabilitated with a $5 million grant in 1930 from Julius Rosenwald (President of Sears, Roebuck and Co.).

The full-scale replica of Columbus's flagship the Santa María rotted in the Jackson Park Yacht Basin (along Promontory Drive) near La Rabida.

In accordance with a canal that Olmsted wanted built between the two parks, a long excavation was made on the Midway, but water has never been allowed in.

[40] In 2014, Jackson Park came under scrutiny as a member of the short list of potential sites for the Barack Obama Presidential Center.

Sonya Malunda from the office of civic engagement of the University of Chicago requested a meeting with Louise Mccurry, president of the Jackson Park Advisory Council, to talk about the library.

[41] On July 27, 2016, former president Barack Obama officially selected the park to be the location where his presidential center would be built.

"[3] In an unveiling of the presidential center's plans on May 4, 2017, the compound was revealed to incorporate the Jackson Park end of Midway Plaisance from the north (which is to be readapted into a water basin), and a 20 acre parcel of parkland and the park hockey fields to the south, where the main buildings will be predominantly located.

[44][45] The focal point will be a 235-foot (72 m) museum tower; the center will also include a branch of the Chicago Public Library, a great lawn, a children's play area, and several gardens.