Washington Square Park (Chicago)
Washington Square | ||
MPS Chicago Park District MPS | | |
NRHP reference No. | 91000566 | |
---|---|---|
Added to NRHP | May 20, 1991[1] |
Washington Square, also known as Washington Square Park, is a park in
History
Origin
On September 4, 1842,[4] the city received a 3-acre (12,000 m2) parcel that was donated by the members of the American Land Company for use as a public park. The property had once been a cow path with a well for farmers to water their cattle.[4] The donors stipulated the name Washington Square. Between 1869 and the 1890s, the city improved Washington Square with lawn, trees, bisecting diagonal walks, limestone coping, picket fencing, and an attractive Victorian fountain. By the time Alderman McCormick became President of Drainage Board in 1906, the fountain had been razed and the park had deteriorated. Alderman McCormick devoted his aldermanic salary to improving the park. He donated a $600 fountain, and the city allocated an additional $10,000 to rehabilitate the park. By the 1910s, the neighborhood surrounding Washington Square had become more diverse.[5]
Development
The original purpose of the neighborhood park was as a place of assembly to discuss community issues.
Washington Square Park has been the geographic center of Chicago public speeches. By the 1890s the park acquired its Bughouse Square moniker. Soapbox orators waxed on topics ranging from gender relations to Communism.[6] It served as a home for soapbox orators on warm-weather evenings from the 1910s to the mid-1960s. Like Speakers' Corner in London's Hyde Park, Washington Square became a popular spot for soap box orators. Artists, writers, political radicals, and hobos pontificated, lectured, recited poetry, ranted, and raved. A group of regulars formed "The Dill Pickle Club," devoted to free expression. For years Washington Square orators appointed their own honorary "king."[5] In its heyday in the 1920s and 1930s, revolutionary left soapboxers were occasionally joined by poets, religionists, and cranks.[2] In 1959, the city transferred Washington Square to the Chicago Park District.[5] In 1964, Life featured an article saying that it was a meeting place for cottaging among homosexuals.[7] Six years later, it played host to Chicago's first Gay Pride March.[8][9]
Washington Square Historic District
Washington Square Historic District | ||
MPS Land Subdivisions with Set-Aside Parks, Chicago, IL MPS | | |
NRHP reference No. | 03000786 [1] | |
---|---|---|
Added to NRHP | August 21, 2003 |
Washington Square Historic District is a
Today
Every July, the Bughouse Square Committee continues to oversee the annual Bughouse Square Debates free speech gathering in conjunction with the Newberry Library's annual book sale.[2] The debates are part of an annual festival to recreate the atmosphere of speeches and debates by soap box orators that once flourished in the park.[4]
Although Alderman McCormick's fountain was removed in the 1970s, in the late 1990s, the park district, the city, and neighborhood organizations agreed on a restoration plan for Washington Square. Improvements include a reconstructed historic fountain, period lighting, fencing, and new plantings.[5] In the west part of the park, there is a memorial tablet designating the park as "Chicago's Premier Free Speech Forum."[4]
Related sites
- Jack Jones's Dill Pickle Club, also known as the indoor Bughouse Square.[13]
- Washington Park forum, also known as the Bug Club.[13]
Notes
- ^ a b c "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
- ^ ISBN 0-226-31015-9
- ^ ISBN 0-226-31015-9
- ^ ISBN 0-7385-0716-4
- ^ a b c d Duo Consulting (2006). "Washington Square Park". Chicago Park District. Archived from the original on March 20, 2006. Retrieved January 2, 2007.
- ^ ISBN 0-226-31015-9
- ^ Life, June 26, 1964, page 68
- ^ Chicago Gay Pride, 1971, pamphlet avail. in stacks of Newberry Library, Chicago
- ^ "Outspoken: Chicago's Free Speech Tradition". Newberry Library. Retrieved July 8, 2007.
- ^ Note: A National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination document describing the district should be available upon request from the National Park Service, although it appears not to be available on-line from the NPS Focus search site.
- ^ "CHICAGO LANDMARKS: Individual Landmarks and Landmark Districts designated as of January 1, 2008" (PDF). Commission on Chicago Landmarks. January 1, 2008.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ "Historic Districts: ILLINOIS - Cook County". nationalregisterofhistoricalplaces.com. National Register of Historic Places. Retrieved February 20, 2008.
- ^ ISBN 0-226-31015-9
External links
- Official City of Chicago Near North Side Community Map[permanent dead link]
- Chicago Park District Page Archived December 29, 2005, at the Wayback Machine