Hyde Park is located on the South Side of Chicago, seven miles (11 km) south of the Chicago Loop.  It is home to the University of Chicago, the Hyde Park Art Center, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Oriental Institute and The Renaissance Society. It is formerly the name of a Township that included numerous other neighborhoods that have all been annexed by the city of Chicago.

Hyde Park was founded by Paul Cornell in the 1850s near the Illinois Central Railroad south of Chicago. In 1861, the Hyde Park Township was incorporated, extending from 39th to 63rd Streets. The southern border was later extended as far as 138th Street. The community was organized as a township and was independent of Chicago until 1889.[1] As a township, the 1889 Hyde Park stretched from 39th Street south to 138th Street and as far west as State Street; but as a 21st century neighborhood, its definition has shrunk to a core area grouped closely around Cornell's development on 53rd Street and the lakefront. Today, the name Hyde Park is officially applied to the neighborhood from 51st Street ("Hyde Park Blvd.") to the neighborhood around Midway Plaisance Blvd. or simply "The Midway" (between 59th and 60th)[1] The neighborhood's eastern boundary is Lake Michigan and its western boundary is Washington Park.