Coast Guard Station Chicago History

Coast Guard Station Chicago is located on the southern end of Chicago's lake front in Calumet Park and was originally placed into service in 1933 as Station South Chicago. Before that, the previous station bearing the same name, commissioned in 1915, was located on the north bank of the Calumet River, just inside the river's mouth. In a continued state of growth, the station has undergone two renovations: the addition of floating boat docks and three mobile homes.

Early on in it's history, Station Chicago serviced only the southern portion of Chicago and northwest Indiana. Staffing consisted of a Chief Petty Officer and a crew of seven, with a life boat, pulling surfboat, and a dinghy.

Over the past 73 years, Chicago's area of responsibility has grown on four separate occasions. When Station Jackson Park first closed in 1964, when Station Chicago closed in 1969, and n 1986 when Station Wilmette became a sub-unit, which later regained its independent status in 2003. The most recent change was post-September 11 when Station Chicago picked up the remaining 120 miles of the Illinois river system extending south, nearly to Peoria, IL.

The U.S. Department of Defense is committed to making its electronic and information technologies accessible to individuals with disabilities in accordance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 794d), as amended in 1998. DoD websites use the WCAG 2.0 AA accessibility standard.

For persons with disabilities experiencing difficulties accessing content on a particular website, please use the form DoD Section 508 Form.  In this form, please indicate the nature of your accessibility issue/problem and your contact information so we can address your issue or question. If your issue involves log in access, password recovery, or other technical issues, contact the administrator for the website in question, or your local helpdesk.