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Known for years as Thorndale Avenue Beach and Park, the park was renamed in May 1975 for George A. Lane (1903-1974), a community resident active in church/civic affairs, philanthropy and politics for more than 30 years.

Lane, a Chicago lawyer for 50 years, served as chief counsel to the Metropolitan Sanitary District and Democratic committeeman for the 49th Ward during the 1950s and 1960s. Lane also joined the faculty of Loyola University.

Lane Beach Park is one of 18 street-end beaches acquired by the ¿ì²¥ÊÓƵ from the City of Chicago in 1959. By that time, the city's Bureau of Parks and Recreation had been operating such small municipal beaches since at least 1921. In contrast to the city's larger municipal beaches, the street-end beaches, though staffed by lifeguards, had no changing rooms or other facilities

Although the Lincoln Park Board had at one time contemplated expanding Lincoln Park north to Devon Avenue, the planned expansion never took place, and north Edgewater was left without easy access to Lincoln Park's spacious beaches. (Lincoln Park reached its present northern boundary of Ardmore Avenue in 1956.) Residents of the north Edgewater neighborhood welcomed the recreational outlet provided by Lane Beach and other small beaches.