Municipal Courses in Chicago
1899 Chicago opened a nine hole links in Jackson Park after an organized effort by professors and students at the University of Chicago. On Memorial Day 1901 over 750 people squeezed onto the 1700 yard course at Jackson Park. In 1902 a 1,900 yard nine hole course was added in the southwest corner of Jackson Park. The South Park commission began planning an eighteen hole course that would play 6,190 yards, in addition they would lengthen the old “practice course” to 2,800 yards. The facilities were up graded due to the flocks of golfers in 1907 to adding a new locker room and showers. Seventeen hundred golfers applied for the 821 lockers at the new facility.
In 1902 residents of the West Side began angrily petitioning the West Park Board to built a nine hole course in Garfield Park. In 1906 the resident wish came true and a course opened. Memorial Day in 1911 left golfer with a seven hour wait to tee off prompting the call for a full eighteen hole course.
Marquette Park opened in 1913 as a full eighteen hole municipal course by the South Parks Commission. In 1917 Marquette Park and Jackson Park attracted 364,491 golfers.
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| Unidentified Course Chicago, IL Early 1900's |
