If you’re coming from the east, Estes Avenue turns without warning, and quite seamlessly, into Indian Boundary Park. It’s as if somebody threw some sod over the street and called it a day: the trees stand in boulevard formation, and the ground has a slight rise to it. In fact that’s more or less what happened. The park was so “well-received,” according to the Chicago Park District, that in the 1960s it was decided to extend it over Estes. The grounds extend as far south as Lunt, and include ponds and a Tudor-style field house. A nominal “zoo” opened in the 1920s with just a single black bear; these days it houses goats, sheep, chicken, and ducks. Indian Boundary Park gets its name from a territorial line established in 1816 between the Potawatomi and the U.S. government. The line only held till 1833, though, when the tribe was forced out entirely.
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