List of beaches in Chicago
The beaches in Chicago are an extensive network of waterfront recreational areas operated by the Chicago Park District. The Chicago metropolitan waterfront includes parts of the Lake Michigan shores as well as parts of the banks of the Chicago, Des Plaines, Calumet, Fox, and DuPage Rivers and their tributaries. The waterfront also includes the Illinois and Michigan Canal and the Sanitary and Ship Canal. Historically, the waterfront has been used for commerce, industry, and leisure. Leisure, such as fishing, swimming, hunting, walking and boating, was much more prevalent throughout the river sections of the waterfront system early in the 19th century before industrial uses altered the landscape. By midcentury, much leisure shifted to Lake Michigan. The first City of Chicago Public Beach opened in Lincoln Park in 1895. Today, the entire Chicago lakefront shoreline is reclaimed land, and primarily used for public parks. In the parks, there are 24 sand beaches along the shores of freshwater Lake Michigan.
History
Chicago's earliest sand beaches resulted naturally from capturing sand moved by the current south along the shoreline toward the Indiana Dunes, but these beaches were dynamic, shifted and eroded. When Chicago began building piers and other structures into the lake, large sandy beaches formed generally to the north of a pier due to sand capture. Early beaches were generally funded by private entities such as hotels and private clubs, screened from the public.Late 19th century city ordinances prohibited public bathing, but popular norms created demand for public beaches. Proponents saw public beaches as an opportunity to accommodate demand for public baths and eliminate the expenditure of enforcement resources on ordinance violations for public bathing. The city responded by opening the first public bathing beach in 1895 in Lincoln Park primarily as a response to the efforts of the Free Bath and Sanitary League. Spaces were designated for public use and the city accepted responsibility for maintaining the beaches. By 1900 the lakefront was divided into zones of recreational, residential, agricultural and industrial uses. Lake Michigan water quality concerns lead to the reversal of the Chicago River with deep cut of the Illinois & Michigan canal in 1871 and the construction of the Sanitary and Ship Canal at the start of the 20th century. The 1909 Burnham Plan led to development of the lakefront. Recreational development on the city lakefront became a priority due to the influence of Aaron Montgomery Ward. His belief that the public's access to the Lake left its impression on the development of Jackson, Burnham, Grant and Lincoln Parks. Continued popular support, led to the opening of several municipal beaches in the second decade of the 20th century. Modern beaches are formed from sand deposited by lake current, and occasionally inland sand excavated from nearby sand-pits left by the last ice age, or sand dredged from the lake bottom.
Free Wi-Fi service at city beaches began in 2013.
Rogers Park
The far north Rogers Park neighborhood contains a series of small "street-end" beaches that unlike most Chicago beaches are often separated by private property and therefore, unconnected to each other by public parkland.Juneway Terrace Beach
Juneway Terrace Beach is the northernmost beach in Chicago. It is located at 7800 North and Lake Michigan. It lies within Rogers Avenue Beach and Park. It is separated from Rogers Beach by a stretch of rip rap protecting three apartment buildings.Rogers Beach
Rogers Beach lies in Rogers Avenue Beach and Park at 7705 North. Barely one block long, the park also has tennis courts. After a January 2020 storm further eroded the shoreline, the Chicago Department of Transportation announced that riprap would replace the beach to stabilize the shoreline.Howard Beach
Howard Beach lies in Howard Street Beach and Park at 7600 North, which is just south of Howard Street. It is perhaps long. Also to be deprecated as a result of the 2019-2020 lake erosion.Marion Mahony Griffin Beach (Jarvis)/(Fargo)
Jarvis street is located at 7400 North and Fargo is located at 7432 North. Offshore stretches of riprap act to reduce erosion of this beach, which is about three blocks long.In 2015, the beach was named in honor of architect Marion Mahony Griffin. The Australian Consul General, Roger Price, attended the beach's dedication for the woman who was instrumental in the design the Australian capital of Canberra. When she returned to the United States in 1939, after her husband's death, she lived near the beach.
Loyola/Leone Beach
North Sheridan Road and extending for eight blocks, Leone Beach is Chicago's largest.Tobey Prinz (Pratt) Beach
Contiguous with Leone/Loyola Beach located at 1050 West Pratt Boulevard. Formerly named Pratt Boulevard Beach, it was renamed for local neighborhood activist Tobey Prinz by the Chicago Park District in 2014. There is a fishing pier and during the fall it is possible to catch salmon.Hartigan Beach
Also known as Albion Beach, contiguous with North Shore Beach, located at 6600 North, ends just north of Loyola Avenue. Named for former 49th Ward Alderman David L. Hartigan.Columbia Beach
Columbia Beach is located at 6726 North.North Shore Beach
North Shore Beach is located at 6700 North.Berger Park
Berger Park Beach is a small beach at the northeast corner of Berger Park in Edgewater. The park also contains a cultural center and lakeside café housed in two large century old lake homes and their carriage houses, as well as a playground.Lincoln Park
is Chicago's largest public park and contains the city's remaining north side lake front beaches, running for through the communities of Edgewater, Uptown, Lake View, Lincoln Park, and Near North.Lane Beach Park (formerly Thorndale Beach)
Lane Beach Park, more commonly known as Thorndale Beach, is located at 5932 North in Edgewater at the intersection of Sheridan Road and Thorndale Avenue. This was once a standalone beach, as recently as the 1970s, but shifting sand and water levels later connected it to Hollywood Beach to the south. More recently, hard frozen waves that formed during the winter of 2015 carried much of the sand away, isolating the beach again.There is a boardwalk ramp, to allow stroller or wheelchair access closer to the shoreline as well as a modern playground for children.
The park and beach was named for George A. Lane, a Chicago lawyer heavily involved in community development and politics. Lane also served as a faculty member at nearby Loyola University.
Kathy Osterman Beach (formerly Hollywood Beach)
Kathy Osterman Beach is located at the 5800 North block where Lake Shore Drive ends at a curve that feeds into Sheridan Road in Edgewater, forming a crescent shape. The northern half is largely a family beach and the southern half is largely a gay and lesbian beach. The northern half of the beach has shallow water which makes it kid-friendly and there is a long boardwalk ramp to allow closer access to the shoreline for strollers and wheelchairs near the Ardmore Avenue entrance. Beginning in the 1990s, gay men began to frequent the beach, particularly after the Belmont Rocks were demolished and paved over in 2003. Beach volleyball is popular here. There is a beach house and concession stand, which opened in 2010. Notably among Lincoln Park's northern beaches, there is no nearby parking lot.In the upper beach, north of Ardmore and the boardwalk, near Thorndale beach, is a small park district beach grass reserve for migrating birds and butterflies.