This 50-ton mausoleum – designed in 1858 by John Van Osdel, Chicago's first professional architect, for Ira Couch, a successful hotelier – is the sole reminder of Lincoln Park’s pre-1864 use, when the area was a municipal cemetery. (Many of the graves contained dead soldiers from Camp Douglas, a horrific prisoner-of-war stockade on the city’s South Side during the Civil War.) The city eventually relocated the bodies – except for the Couch family tomb, which was considered far too costly to move.
Couch Tomb
Chicago
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
2.71 MILES
Built in 1914, Wrigley Field – aka the Friendly Confines – is the second-oldest baseball park in the major leagues. It’s home to the Chicago Cubs and…
8.82 MILES
The MSI is the largest science museum in the Western hemisphere and a place to completely geek out. Highlights include a WWII German U-boat nestled in an…
2.35 MILES
The second-largest art museum in the country, the Art Institute houses a treasure trove from around the globe. The collection of impressionist and…
2.18 MILES
There's free admission to Millennium Park, the playful heart of the city. It shines with whimsical public art, both permanent and temporary exhibits, and…
2.4 MILES
Willis Tower is Chicago's tallest building (and one of the world's loftiest). Breathe deeply during the ear-popping, 70-second elevator ride to the 103rd…
Field Museum of Natural History
3.31 MILES
The Field Museum houses some 30 million artifacts and includes everything but the kitchen sink – beetles, mummies, gemstones, Bushman the stuffed ape –…
1.86 MILES
Half-mile-long Navy Pier is one of Chicago's most-visited attractions, sporting a 196ft Ferris wheel and other carnival rides ($9 to $18 each), an IMAX…
National Museum of Mexican Art
4.47 MILES
Founded in 1982, this vibrant museum – the largest Latinx arts institution in the US – has become one of the city’s best. The vivid permanent collection…
Nearby Chicago attractions
0.07 MILES
Sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ Standing Lincoln (1887), considered one of the best statues of the 16th US president, shows him deep in contemplation…
0.08 MILES
Curious about Chicago’s storied past? Multimedia displays at this museum cover it all, from the Great Fire to the 1968 Democratic Convention. President…
0.13 MILES
The park that gave the neighborhood its name is Chicago’s largest. Its 1200 acres stretch for 6 miles from North Ave north to Diversey Pkwy, where it…
0.18 MILES
Stands of purple cabbages, red radishes, green asparagus and other bright-hued produce sprawl through Lincoln Park at Chicago's biggest farmers market…
0.21 MILES
The 1885 mansion, complete with 19 chimneys, is where seven of Chicago's past archbishops lived. World figures from Franklin D Roosevelt to Pope John Paul…
6. Patterson-McCormick Mansion
0.31 MILES
This 1893 neoclassical home designed by NYC architect Stanford White is a Gold Coast standout. Originally built for Elinor Patterson (who would later…
0.31 MILES
Located at the Lincoln Park Zoo's southern end, the farm features a full range of barnyard animals and offers frequent demonstrations of cow milking,…
8. International Museum of Surgical Science
0.32 MILES
This small but fascinating museum, set inside a former residential mansion facing the lake, is dedicated to the world of surgery and medicine. Exhibits…