Located in the Eastside community, Calumet Park totals 181.70 acres and features two gymnasiums, fitness center, Lake Shore Model Train exhibit, gymnastic center, sewing and upholstery studios, woodshop, and multi-purpose rooms. Outside, the park offers a beach, boat launch, an artificial soccer turf, picnic groves, playground, softball, football, and soccer fields. Many of these spaces are available for rental including our gymnasium, fields, and multi-purpose rooms.

Calumet Beach offers beach goers a chance to escape the heat by enjoying the cool waters of Lake Michigan during the summer months. Beach season begins the Friday before Memorial weekend and ends on Labor Day. Beach hours during the season are from 11am - 7pm, unless otherwise posted.  Amenities include restrooms and food concessions.  There is an ADA accessible beach walk available.  Distance swimming at the beach is available from the south end of beach (10 yards north of Taylor Pier), and parallel to shore.  

Park-goers can participate in seasonal sports, gymnastics, sewing, woodshop, and dance. After school programs are offered throughout the school year, and in the summer youth attend the Park District’s popular six-week day camp.Specialty camps are offered in the summer as well, and include Gymnastic Camp and Nature Camp.

In addition to programs, Calumet Park hosts fun special events throughout the year for the entire family including holiday-themed events.

This section is reserved for future use.

Envisioned in 1903 as part of the South Park Commission's revolutionary neighborhood park system, Calumet Park developed slowly.  The South Park Commissioners began acquiring land in 1880 and continued to acquire more property for the park until 1943 when streets and alleys were vacated to expand the park.  The park became part of the Chicago Park District’s portfolio in 1934 when the 22 park districts were consolidated.  The Commission conceived the innovative parks to provide social services and breathing spaces to overcrowded immigrant neighborhoods. Landscape architects the Olmsted Brothers created plans for 14 new parks; however, four were delayed, including Calumet Park. Opened in 1905, the first ten included Russell, Mark White, Davis, Armour, and Cornell Squares, and Bessemer, Ogden, Sherman, Palmer, and Hamilton Parks.

The Commissioners acquired 40 acres to develop Calumet Park in 1904, but they decided to delay construction. The area's population began a period of rapid growth as European and Mexican immigrants settled in nearby South Chicago to work in the steel mills and railyards. Recognizing this population trend as well as the site's unique Lake Michigan frontage, the Commissioners decided that Calumet Park should be much larger than they had originally planned. Initial temporary improvements allowed people to use the beach and some new playfields. Meanwhile, the Commissioners began slowly enlarging the park through additional property acquisition and landfill. The park slowly evolved to approximately 180 acres in size. The South Park Commission constructed a monumental, classically designed fieldhouse in 1924. After the South Park Commission was consolidated into the Chicago Park District in 1934, additional improvements were made, including substantial work on the park's infrastructure and landscape. In 1993, the Chicago Park District acquired more land to expand the park.

The park's name pays tribute to the Calumet region, which encompasses numerous south side community areas and comprises the basin of the Calumet River. The name Calumet comes from the Norman-French word for pipe, "chamulet." Early French explorers who traded with local Native Americans used the term in reference to their "peace pipes."