Washington Park (Chicago park)

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Coordinates: 41°47′45″N 87°36′40″W / 41.79583°N 87.61111°W / 41.79583; -87.61111
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Washington Park
MPS
Chicago Park District MPS
NRHP reference No.04000871[1]
Added to NRHPAugust 20, 2004

Washington Park (formerly Western Division of South Park, also Park No. 21) is a 372-acre (1.5 km2)

DuSable Museum of African American History. This park was the proposed site of the Olympic Stadium and the Olympic swimming venue for Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. Washington Park was added to the National Register of Historic Places
on August 20, 2004.

Planning

South Side of Chicago
Southdown sheep grazing before they were disallowed circa 1920[4]
Lagoon in Washington Park
Washington Park Conservatory
Washington Park Refectory

Washington Park was conceived by

Paul Cornell, a Chicago real estate magnate who had founded the adjoining town of Hyde Park. Cornell had lobbied the Illinois General Assembly to establish the South Park Commission. After his efforts succeeded in 1869, the South Park Board of Commissioners identified more than 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) south of Chicago for a large park and boulevards that would connect it with downtown and the extant West Park System.[5] Originally called South Park, the property was composed of eastern and western divisions, now bearing the names Jackson and Washington Parks and the Midway Plaisance.[6] Cornell hired Frederick Law Olmsted and his partner, Calvert Vaux, to lay out the park in the 1870s. Their blueprints were destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.[2]

When Olmsted first examined the property, he saw a field filled with bare trees and decided to maintain its character by creating a meadow surrounded by trees. His plan for the park called for sheep to graze as a means of keeping the grass short. Cornell convinced Olmsted to include sporting areas, although Olmsted wanted a more natural feel to the park, which included a 13-acre (53,000 m2) lake.[7] The Western division was renamed Washington Park in 1881.[6]

Rock garden in Washington Park

Olmsted designed the park to have two broad boulevards cutting through it, making it part of the

Chicago Midway International Airport
, or Drexel Boulevard north to the central city.

Construction

D. H. Burnham & Co. at 56th Street and Cottage Grove.[9] The Washington Park Conservatory, like those of other city parks such as Humboldt and Douglas Parks, was torn down in the 1930s due to limited resources as a result of the Great Depression. This left Lincoln Park and Garfield Park as Chicago's main Conservatories.[10]

One of the earliest improvements was the "South Open Green", a pastoral meadow with grazing sheep, also used as a ball field. Architect

Burnham Plan which supported the maintenance of a park system.[11]

Usage

Washington Park Lily Pond
General Grant's Tree

On December 6, 1879, former U.S. President

Ulysses Grant took part in a tree planting ceremony in the park. A memorial boulder with a plaque (both of which have been removed from the park, along with the tree) commemorated the event.[12] In the 1920s black semiprofessional baseball teams played at Washington Park.[2] George Lott began playing tennis at the park.[13]

At the southeast corner of the park, at 61st and Cottage Grove, Washington Park Race Track operated between 1883 and 1905. It was one of the largest and grandest horse racetracks of its time. A nine-hole golf course was built in the infield and several of its buildings survive today as part of the Park District. This includes the stables used by Chicago Police at 58th and Cottage Grove. The racetrack closed after Illinois outlawed gambling, and the name was transferred to a second track in Homewood, Illinois.

The USA Cross Country Championships were held in the park in 1933, 1957, 1958, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1967, 1970 and 1972.[14]

Pergola circa 1916

Washington Park was a site of tension and conflict arising from the demographic changes resulting from the African American expansion into the neighborhood in the period following the

First World War.[2] The park has since 1961 hosted the DuSable Museum of African American History, a leader in the promotion of the history, art and culture of African American heritage.[15]

2016 Olympic bid

On September 21, 2006, Mayor

Olympics. The cost was estimated to be at least US$300–400 million.[16] The plan replaced the initial dual stadium opening ceremony facility.[17][18][19]

Additional details about the plan included new permanent hockey fields, use of Jones Armory, and new pedestrian juncture between the two halves of the park by tunneling part of Morgan Drive (55th).[20][21] A later December 2008 plan added the olympic swimming venue to the park.[22] The plan faced opposition from those holding the view that Washington Park's listing on the National Register of Historic Places could not have survived the execution of this Olympic plan. In addition to the opposition, the plan faced constraints because of the park's landmark status, which precluded federal money from being used to build a temporary stadium in the park.[20] The October 2009 decision to award the 2016 Summer Games to Rio de Janeiro halted these plans.[23]

Today

DuSable Museum, January 7, 2007
Fountain of Time

Washington Park is listed on the

National Guard armory.[25] Washington Park is a social center of the South Side and hosts many festivals in the summer, including Chicago's best organized cricket league and the terminus of the Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic. It is also the host of the annual UniverSoul Circus
which comes to the park each fall (its first performance at the park was 1996). The largest 16" softball league in Chicago is played there on Sundays (called "Sunday's Best Softball League"). There are 34 teams who play on 13 diamonds. There is also a weekday evening league.

Notes

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d e Bachin, Robin (2005). "Washington Park (Park)". The Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society. Retrieved October 22, 2007.
  3. ^
    ISBN 0-7385-0716-4
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 0-7385-0716-4
    .
  5. ^ Encyclopedia of Chicago Map
  6. ^ a b c Duo Consulting (2006). "Washington Park". Chicago Park District. Retrieved January 2, 2007.
  7. ISBN 978-0-684-83138-1
    .
  8. ^
    ISBN 0-226-31015-9
  9. ISBN 0-226-31015-9
  10. ISBN 0-7385-0716-4
    .
  11. ISBN 0-226-31015-9
  12. ISBN 0-7385-0716-4
    .
  13. ISBN 0-226-31015-9
  14. ^ "U.S. National Cross Country Champions" (PDF). therealxc.com. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  15. ^ "Museum History". DuSable Museum of African American History. Retrieved January 25, 2010.
  16. ^ Hinz, Greg (September 20, 2006). "Daley sets site for Olympic stadium". ChicagoBusiness.com. Retrieved December 27, 2006.
  17. ^ Benjy (September 21, 2006). "New Plan for Olympic Stadium". Chicagoist.com. Archived from the original on October 19, 2006. Retrieved December 27, 2006.
  18. ^ Staff writer (September 20, 2006). "Daley Proposes Olympic Stadium To Be Built". CBS2Chicago.com. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved December 27, 2006.
  19. ^ Kamin, Blair (September 21, 2006). "Washington Park plan looks like a gold medal winner for the city". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved December 27, 2006.
  20. ^ a b "The proposal for Olympic 2016 facilities in Washington Park on Chicago's Mid-South Side and an historic Olmsted park with Community commentaries". hydepark.org. October 12, 2010.
  21. ^ For a photographic representation of the plan see Plan maps.
  22. ^ Spielman, Fran (December 12, 2008). "Taxpayers facing more Olympic risk: BIGGER GAMBLE". Chicago Sun-Times. Digital Chicago, Inc. Archived from the original on December 17, 2008. Retrieved December 31, 2008.
  23. ^ Macur, Juliet (October 2, 2009). "Rio Wins 2016 Olympics in a First for South America". The New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
  24. ^ "Illinois - Cook County - Historic Districts". National Register of Historic Places. Archived from the original on May 16, 2008. Retrieved April 1, 2009.
  25. ^ Bachrach, Julia Sniderman (July 2, 2004). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Washington Park" (PDF). United States Department of the Interior/National Park Service. Retrieved April 1, 2009.

External links

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