Introduction

To the casual observer, the Skokie Lagoons seem like a completely natural environment.  Ducks drift languidly along the water as breezes stir the trees.  Deer graze beside the streams, obscured by tall prairie grasses and wildflowers.  Fishermen cast their lines into the depths, hoping to reel in a largemouth bass or walleye.  But a closer inspection of this idyllic space reveals numerous dams and dikes – man-made structures that channel the water of the Skokie River into a chain of lagoons as it makes its way toward the Main Stem of the Chicago River.

For thousands of years, the Skokie River wandered south through a series of marshes paralleling Lake Michigan’s shoreline through what are now Chicago’s northern suburbs.  In 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps set out to change the marsh into lagoons and channels to help prevent floods and provide recreation space.  Thanks to the effort of the thousands of young men who worked on the project from 1933 to 1941, the area has become
the Skokie Lagoons – a public park, offering a place for people to fish, bike, picnic, and enjoy the outdoors.

This exhibit explores the history of the Skokie Lagoons from marsh to park, looking beyond just the physical construction of the landscape to the ideas that inspired its transformation.  History can be found not only in books and records but also in the places in which people lived, worked, and played.  Join us for a stroll through time in the Skokie Lagoons to discover what the environment reveals about the past.