Historical Context: The Development of Landscaped Urban Parks
I began the search for information on Chicago Parks and realized quickly that I needed to get a grasp on the nuanced history of public parks locally and nationally. As we discussed in my seminar, those acting as public historians-- which, for this project, includes my students and me-- need to know the histories they are telling as well as the ways in which they can interpret and use them in their projects. I propose that all teachers attempting this project structure the facilitation of students’ general knowledge acquisition on two levels: 1) the history of parks, specifically landscaped urban parks, and 2) the local context and history of the development of such parks. The history of New York’s Central Park and the community debate that preceded that development establishes a foundation for a discussion of similar development of landscaped parks in Chicago.
Developing New York’s Central Park
Central Park, opened in 1857, was the “first landscaped public park in the United States,” and set the tone for the development of other urban parks in the nation.8 The idea of park space evolved from the time the term “park” found its way into the English language until Central Park’s opening. The term “park” dates back to medieval and early modern England, where parks-- tracts of land owned by the crown-- were enclosed spaces used for hunting. In the 18th century, parks evolved into landscapes with a more scenic purpose. By the late 18th and early 19th centuries, parks in England became urban structures designated, increasingly, for public use. In the late 17th and early early 18th centuries in the United States, the concept of town “Commons” permeated New England colonial towns. By 1797, the word “park” was used to describe the New York Commons and then the term made its way into the vernacular after it was landscaped. According to historians Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar, by the early 1800s, “governments had begun to establish and landscape parks that represented the romantic ideal of rus in urbe-- country in the city.”
Central Park was a part of bringing the country to the city of New York. The park-- monumental in its proportions-- was a direct descendant of the European landscaped tradition. Frederick Law Olmstead, who was the park’s first director, “said that the public would have to be ‘trained’ to use a park ‘properly so called’ by which he meant a pastoral landscape in the English tradition.” 9 The park was impacted by public use and by technological innovations such as the automobile. It also evolved as did the nation-- weathering wars both civil and international, economic collapse, social strife, and political upheaval.
It would be irresponsible to consider the story of Central Park’s position in history without acknowledging the controversy surrounding it from its onset. For, the area had to be cleared of its inhabitants before it could be developed, displacing many in the process. This act of removal and exclusion was a part of the park’s history and the histories of others like it. Furthermore, in this era of park development, there was a prevailing idea that somehow parks could “purify” unclean and crowded cities. Central Park’s development and the ebb and flow of its declines and revitalizations can serve as a microcosm for studying other parks in the United States.
Urbs in Horto: Park Development in Chicago
Most discussions of Chicago’s park system reference the motto the city developed in the late 1830s: Urbs in horto-- city in a garden.10 And, inevitably, said discussions go on to remark on the irony of that motto, given the city’s deficit of formally-designated park space at the time the motto was adopted. The area we now know as Chicago was-- before European settlement-- a mix of swampland and prairie; and eventually, the development of industrial and commercial spaces all but erased the idea of Chicago’s position as a city in a garden. The intent of those who adopted the motto wasn’t to comment on the presence of the garden in the city, but rather the city located inside of the prairie lands of the Midwest.
Two park spaces were dedicated along Lake Michigan early in Chicago’s history-- the now-nonexistent Dearborn Park in 1839, and Lake Park (which is, today, part of Grant Park) in 1840. More parks developed near the city’s central business district and south sides throughout the 1840s. There was, as architect Daniel Burnham notes in his 1909 Plan of Chicago, an idealized vision of connecting these parks via a system of roadways (one conceived in 1849 by businessman John S. Wright). That idea never fully came into fruition; however, the eventual development of the city’s boulevard system to link parks does have its origins in that vision.
The city’s most ambitious park to date in the mid 1860s, Lincoln Park, actually began as a cemetery. As a result of environmental studies linking the waterlogged burial ground to the spread of disease, Chicago Dr. John H. Rauch successfully campaigned to transform it into parkland. It, too, was called Lake Park but eventually-- to memorialize Abraham Lincoln, who was assassinated in 1865-- transformed into Lincoln Park. Grander yet was the South Park system, designed by architect of Central Park Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux-- present-day Jackson and Washington parks and the Midway Plaisance. Those lands developed with the 1893 World’s Fair: Columbian Exposition, of which Daniel Burnham was also a part. The anticipation of Chicago’s time in the world’s spotlight was the impetus behind widening the city’s boundaries, including the annexation of Jefferson Township, as noted in this paper’s introduction.
By the time Daniel Burnham published the Plan of Chicago, much of the area developed for the 1893 World’s Fair had burned and was transformed into park space, forming the majestic swath of green space separating the city from Lake Michigan. In Burnham’s vision for the city, he called for an expanded, robust park system that included what he referred to as “playgrounds” and evoked the systems of cities of grand proportions: London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and Boston. He also addressed the continued development of Chicago’s shoreline and set the tone for what would eventually become Cook County’s forest preserve system. And, as in the case of Central Park, the development of parks throughout the city’s neighborhoods was seen as an issue to address concerns around morality and sanitation. By the turn of the century, Chicago’s parks system was one of world class propositions-- one worthy of reworking the motto into “garden in a city.”
But, like New York’s Central Park, Chicago’s parks had their eras of decline. Originally, Chicago was divided into three park districts (North, South, and West); and, with the annexation of land, independent park commissions (such as the Old Portage Park District) were established. In Chicago’s West Park District during the early 1900s, conditions were poor. Jens Jensen, Prairie School architect, became the head of that district in 1905 and transformed the parks within that district, adding “fieldhouses, boathouses, refectories, music courts, pergolas, and in Douglas Park, a Flower Hall”. Jensen was also responsible for Garfield Park, which is to this day one of the largest greenhouses in the United States.11 Jensen’s design influenced the development of other parks that shared in the Prairie School aesthetic, including Clarence Hetzfield’s Portage Park.
A History of Portage Park
To understand the present state of Portage Park-- one with many uses and users-- one must understand the history of the neighborhood that takes its name. The neighborhood itself was carved out of pieces of the Dunning, Irving Park, and Grayland subdivisions—two of which still exist today. And, naming the area after Portage Park—now one of 77 officially designated areas within the city of Chicago—didn’t happen around until after the park district was started in 1912. As the Native American peoples used it, prior to European settlement, it was a part of the portage-- a place where canoes traversed between rivers, in this case the Chicago and Des Plaines River.12 Irving Park Road, the Park's southern boundary, was some of the higher ground in the area that allowed easier travel through the waterlogged land. This usage continued until Native American tribes were driven west of the Mississippi River as a result of the 1832 Black Hawk War and subsequent (1833) Indian removal of the Potawatomi Indians.
Then, Europeans began to settle the land that eventually became known as Jefferson Township. In 1841, a businessman by the name of E.B. Sutherland established a tavern. It was later acquired by a Chester Dickinson, who also inherited the job of postmaster of the post office built in 1845. In 1850, Jefferson Township-- a 37 square-mile area--was born, and it centered on Dickinson Tavern. The area known now as Portage Park, just 0.8 miles west of Dickinson’s Tavern, grew out of the township center. The current park space was originally used for farming, in spite of being marshy, and it attracted settlers looking to build lives away from the congestion of Chicago’s downtown area but with the benefit of proximity to the city for trade.
The development of the Northwest Plank Road around 1849-- the precursor to the modern-day Milwaukee Avenue-- allowed travel to happen more efficiently to downtown. Northwestern Railroad built a route through the neighborhood that further enhanced residents’ ability to travel to the Loop. With the developments in travel combined with the population explosion Chicago experienced at the end of the Civil War, the neighborhood was primed for suburban development as farmland turned into subdivisions. Jefferson Township was short-lived; in 1889, it was annexed by the City of Chicago to complete an acquisition of land that made it the second most-populous city in the United States at the time. The access to transportation increased with the neighborhood’s official entry into the city; and, with it, land development exploded.
As the rural became the urban, the parkland began to take more formal shape. Originally purchased by Swedish Lutherans, the current 36-acre park space was a part of 80 acres set aside as the Martin Luther College subdivision. The plan included homes as well as a college, and-- for a brief time after its 1893 purchase-- the plan was actualized. The still-pastoral landscape was a tranquil respite from the hurried life in Chicago, and people left the city center to live in the new subdivision. Eventually, the college moved out of Jefferson Township, and the plot of land in which Martin Luther College was situated became the current park space.13 A developer named Arthur W. Dickinson and a man named George F. Koester convinced the residents of the area in 1912 to name the new park district The Old Portage Park District as a nod to the Native American portage, in 1913 construction began, and in 1917 the park became a formal part of the neighborhood.
The park has a history of centering people in the neighborhood. Chicago historians Daniel Pogorzelski and John Maloof write that, between the Civil War and World War I, "Portage Park was one of those areas where immigrants and their children who had grown up in these ethnic enclaves [Polish Downtown, Little Italy, and the Bohemian South Side neighborhood of Pilsen] came to take part in the timeless American Dream.” 14 The migration of immigrants and their children to Portage Park often began with the establishment of a church. For example, Polish migration away from Polish Downtown occurred when Saint Wenceslaus Roman Catholic Church (itself a church established to alleviate overcrowding in a parish in Polish Downtown) established what is now known as Saint Ladislaus Parish. This happened in 1913, the same year the Old Portage Park District was established.
The park, then, became a gathering place for these otherwise ethnically-separate groups of individuals. Nearly 70 per cent of the neighborhood’s residents in 1930 were either foreign-born or native-born of foreign parentage, according to census data.15 And, it was not uncommon for tens of thousands of those residents to gather in the park space to celebrate national events such as Independence Day or to commemorate war dead as was done after the First World War and during World War II. In fact, not long after the park opened, it hosted Independence Day celebrations that were some of the grandest in the city.16 Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the Portage Park fireworks displays grew-- coming to a halt only after a 1938 explosion injured seventeen. But, on that day, attendance was at least 50,000.17 As a point of modern comparison, the Chicago Cubs 2015 attendance hovered at around 35,000 as of the end of July 2017. The park, then, drew crowds that equaled more than half of the population of the neighborhood at the time of the 1930 census.18
The presence of fireworks displays during Independence Day celebrations throughout major events in US history reflects the sense of stability the park was able to offer the community in spite of social and economic instability occurring throughout the city, nation, and world. The park was constructed, after all, during World War I; and, it weathered the subsequent economic collapse of 1929. Though the stock market crash caused the Chicago Parks District to fall on hard times, the Great Depression led to the consolidation of 19 independent park districts (including Old Portage Park) and the three major city park districts. This was possible because of New Deal Funding, which also led to jobs creation efforts of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the late 1930s. The WPA rehabilitated parks throughout the Northwest side of Chicago in 1937, including Portage Park. It was then that the park district (via WPA efforts) replaced the sand-bottomed swimming area that had existed since the park’s opening. The New Deal also made programming possible-- programming that provided residents a much-needed outlet for recreation and introspection. According to Pogorzelski and Maloof, historian Ellen Skerrett “maintains that during the height of the Depression few urban or suburban parks could equal the wealth of activities held here at Portage. Games [...] created a sense of community, bridging across ethnic and religious lines to foster a sense of a common American identity.” 19
The residents of the neighborhood continued to use the park as a gathering place, but the development of the neighborhood reached a plateau as population varied little between 1930 and 1960.20 Similarly, the park changed little in terms of usage: it continued to provide opportunities for recreation (in particular, outdoor swimming in the summer and indoor in the winter-- noted by Chicago Tribune articles from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s) and community celebration (including a less explosive version of Independence Day festivities, which by the 1950s had morphed into simpler parades and gatherings). The next major development occurred in 1950, when the city hosted the Pan-American Games. A third iteration of the outdoor swimming pool was constructed; the WPA-era pool was replaced by an Olympic-sized swimming pool and diving area, which is still in use today. The games drew significant crowds, and Portage Park residents were engaged both economically and recreationally, resulting in a renewed appreciation for the park. The pool was used again in 1972 as the park played host to the United States Olympic swimming trials.
In some ways, the current state of Portage Park presents historical artifacts in situ-- the third-generation pool, the Prairie School field house and natatorium, and the stone entrances all remain largely untouched by time.21 But, some additions have been made that remind the park user that the space evolves with the city around it. Portage Park, one of northwest side’s largest landscaped parks, is lucky. It has not fallen into disrepair as others may have done; but at the same time, it lacks the sense of modernity that originally lured its users to revel in its pools and picnic in its grass. Now, park programming consists largely around youth sports and does not engage the neighborhood’s adult residents in the ways that the earlier offerings-- from woodworking to Czech language classes-- did.
The Present and Future of Chicago Parks
As Jeff Hubner writes, Chicago’s parks continued to be impacted after World War II by “urban development, the accommodation of the automobile, the need to include various sports fields and facilities, vandalism, lack of funding, fear of crime, and general neglect.” However, he continues, much of the elements of Chicago’s parks created by visionaries such as Frederick Law Olmsted and Jens Jensen remain intact and, today, are the subjects of restorative efforts. So, as Chicago and its social climate change, so does park space. For example, there was a case in 1982 where the United States Justice Department charged the Chicago Park District with deliberately isolating communities made up of people of color and poverty. Hubner continues, “That case was settled a year later, when the Park District agreed to a court order to spend more money in minority, largely low-income neighborhoods.”22
The question over equity continues to be present when the city makes the decision to build large, architecturally-stunning parks in areas with heavy tourist traffic such as Millennium Park, opened in 2005, and Maggie Daley Park, opened in 2015. Meanwhile, parks in the city’s poorer neighborhoods-- disproportionately populated by people of color-- languish, often caught up in gang turf wars.23 Chicago author and Crain’s Chicago Business commentator Kathleen Rooney says, in her criticism of Maggie Daley Park, that “It works and reworks the same small space—downtown, near the lake—where privilege resides, leaving the rest of the city to figure out how to grow on its own.”24 But, similar criticism exists when parks are built in some of the same neighborhoods noted earlier as being historically-underserved. This is the case with the newly-developed Bloomingdale Trail and Park—known locally by its nickname, the 606— a park created across 2.7 miles of what was an abandoned railway that connects some of Chicago’s west side neighborhoods, from Logan Square to Humboldt Park.25 Then, the criticism is framed in the conversation of gentrification.
There is also the matter of the future. In the spirit of the Plan of Chicago, The Commercial Club of Chicago (which also published Burnham’s original plan) published a revised vision for the city’s future in 2001. This text, written by project director and Commercial Club member Elmer W. Johnson, entitled Chicago Metropolis 2020, addresses what the author and the club saw as the primary needs and concerns of the city at the time of its proposal. It is a plan that is a part of Chicago’s efforts to revitalize the city beyond the central business district. The plan places social issues ahead of infrastructure; whereas, Burnham’s plan reverses the emphasis. It is also important to note that the discussion of parks in the Metropolis 2020 plan prioritizes natural rather than landscaped parks, but Johnson does emphasize that the vision presented in the text-- one for untouched green space they call Greenways. It builds on Burnham’s original plan for forest preserves-- one that paved the way for the City Beautiful movement of revitalization that began in 1913 and is, perhaps, inspiring today’s public space renaissance. However, Metropolis 2020 does not discuss recreation in the form of playgrounds, sports facilities, or park space; the plan’s only discussion of social issues impacting youth is in its heavy emphasis on school reform and teacher quality.
So, what will be the future of Chicago’s parks; and, why has there been an effort to return to and build on Burnham’s original plan? These will be interesting matters for student historians to weigh in on, basing their predictions on historical fact and patterns they notice in the historical record. In the activities section of this unit, I will describe how students will use both the Burnham and Metropolis 2020 plans to think about Chicago’s past, present and future.
Different Parks, Different Cities
The history of urban park development in the United States-- especially the story of New York’s Central Park can be useful for any teacher in any city or small town because of its significance. Beyond looking into the resources mentioned in the notes section of this unit, I would recommend that individuals begin their searches for information about public parks by first searching their local libraries. Teachers can check local historical societies for information, too. In large cities, it is likely that small neighborhoods have their own historical societies in addition to the larger historical societies that exist as representative of the entire city. If there are colleges or universities where one lives, one can seek the assistance of their special collections or archival libraries. Lastly, parks departments may maintain some of their own histories; it is the case with the Chicago Park District, which has its own historian.
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