Humboldt (Alexander Von) Park

Humboldt Park in Chicago traces its naturalistic prairie river and stone bridges to Jens Jensen, a Danish immigrant landscape architect who took the superintendent's job here in 1895 and refused to play along with the political graft running through park contracts. The guide follows his ouster around 1900, the years he spent watching his unfinished plans sit idle, and the 1905 reform that finally brought him back with real funding. It points you toward the boathouse ahead, its arches and circle-patterned brick going up the same year his vision took hold.