Chicago Municipal TB Sanitarium

  • by John Denune
  • Updated

Free to citizens of Chicago, the Chicago Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium was opened in 1914 in response to an urgent need. Today a park, it was located in Chicago's north west side and was the largest in the world with 1500 beds and 32 buildings connected by underground tunnels. 

The 160 acre site was donated in 1903 by the family of a Swedish immigrant named Pehr Peterson, for the express purpose of building a TB sanitarium.

Located downtown, the Lakeview clinic for TB screening was opened in 1956.