Location:
7700 S Wallace St.
Chicago, IL 60620
Supervisor:
Michael Lindsey (Hamilton Park)
Phone Numbers:
Main
(312) 747-6174
Hours
Park Hours
Description
Located in the Auburn Gresham community area, Lyle Park totals 1.84 acres and it is a relaxing location for families to spend a portion of their day relaxing and enjoying the outdoors. Children can also play on our playground with swings.
History
In 1917, the Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad began elevating its tracks as part of a city-wide effort to eliminate dangerous at-grade crossings. In 1920, Alderman John H. Lyle (1882-1964) asked the City Council to establish a new park along the newly-created embankment on the railroad's western right-of-way between 76th and 79th Streets. By 1940, Lyle Park had shrunk to just over 1.8 acres, stretching south only as far as 78th Street. Though the Bureau of Parks and Recreation developed a plan for enhancing the site with playground equipment, no such improvements were made. The Park District has been leasing this park property from CDOT since 1959. In the 1970s, the Park District installed playground equipment near 77th Street. The playground was rehabilitated in 1992.
By 1921, the City's Bureau of Parks and Recreation had named the 3-acre greenspace Lyle Park. (At the time, the bureau regularly named parks for standing aldermen.) An Indiana native and graduate of John Marshall Law School, Lyle began his political career in 1910 as an Assistant Cook County State's Attorney. In 1914, he became a state legislator, and served as alderman from 1918 until 1925. In 1925, Lyle was elected to the Municipal Court, a position from which he relentlessly battled organized crime. Lyle coined the term "public enemies" for gangland criminals, and gained a reputation as the only Chicago judge that Al Capone could not buy. In fact, it was Lyle who issued the warrant for Capone's arrest on charges of tax evasion in 1930.
