Hyde Park has a storied past as one of Chicago’s most famous neighborhoods and host to a who’s who of history makers, writers, world-class institutions, a U.S. president and a boxer considered the greatest of all time.
Settlement of the neighborhood began in 1853, when speculator Paul Cornell, a cousin of Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell University, bought 300 acres of land. In return for a train station, he donated 60 acres to the Illinois Central Railroad. The area was named Hyde Park, after the place in London. Transportation improved over the next few decades.
Urbanization did not come until after the founding of the University of Chicago in 1890, and the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. The neighborhood was then incorporated into Chicago in 1889. New settlers and businesses were attracted to the neighborhood along with several hotels making the area a resort area. During the Great Depression, many of the hotels were closed, only to be reopened as condominiums and apartments.
In addition to its stately mansions, Hyde Park has a number of pre-war high-rises, modern high-rises and architecturally significant mansions. Hyde Park also has a variety of new construction condominiums, lofts, town homes and single-family homes.
Several Hyde Park landmarks are in included in the National Register of Historic Places, including : Chicago Beach Hotel, East Park Towers, Flamingo-on-the-Lake Apartments, Isadore H. Heller House, Charles Hitchcock Hall, Hotel Del Prado, Hotel Windermere East, Frank R. Lillie House, Arthur H. Compton House, Robert A. Millikan House, Shoreland Hotel, Poinsettia Apartments, Promontory Apartments, Frederick C. Robie House, George Herbert Jones Laboratory, and St. Thomas Church and Convent.
Hyde Park is home to several neighborhoods and subdivisions including East Hyde Park, South Kenwood (also referred to as Kenwood-Hyde Park), and the University of Chicago campus.
East Hyde Park differs greatly from the rest of the area. Located east of the Metra, the area is mostly of high rise buildings facing the lake. Whereas the majority of homes in Hyde Park is low rise buildings and single family homes.
