LakeView Historical Chronicles: Parks, Gardens & Greenscapes

Urbanize Spaces for the Mass

This WTTW video highlights how Chicago neighborhood parks were the answer for urban dwellers.

A landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted believed that public parks could serve as meeting grounds for people of different backgrounds and economic means that could be played out in a rich diversity of ways.
Urban and regional parks could serve and

as memorials for each of their communities.

Wendt Playlot on Roscoe Street
More Background

'In the early 1850's, a park movement emerged in Chicago, when visionary citizens began to rally for the creation of the nation's first comprehensive park and boulevard system. A physician, Dr. John Rauch led a successful protest to set aside a 60-acre section of a public cemetery as parkland, marking the beginnings of Lincoln Park. This inspired citizens to press for three separate acts of state legislation establishing the Lincoln, South, and West Park Commissions in 1869. Although the three park commissions operated independently, the overall goal was to create a unified ribbon of green that would encircle Chicago.' - Chicago Park District

The Parks/Gardens of Lake View:
Kerfoot Park
It began with S.H. Kerfoot

half of stereotype image - Calumet412
Chicago History Museum dates photo late 1860's

This ten acre park space area was located along Irving Park Road probably from Halsted Street toward existing lakefront by 1860. It was not an actually park but according to the property owner S.H. Kerfoot “first specimen of artistic landscape gardening in this section of the country“. This section of the country was rural and beyond the borders of the City of Chicago within the Township of Lake View. Mr. Kerfoot huge park-like space included planted evergreens, rustic ambers, and man-made ponds to be crossed by bridges according to a publication called ‘Constructing Chicago’ by Daniel Bluestone. His property was located steps away from one of the original resort/hotels in the township that was to be named Lake View Hotel by 1857 the same year the township was granted a charter by the State of Illinois within County of Cook.

Another Account

by an unknown source

Read more about the life of

Samuel H. Kerfort 1896

S.H. Kerfoot was not only a known horticulturist but a one of the saviors of property re-recognition after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 (most of the property records were destroyed during the fire). When 17 year old Kerfoot moved to Chicago he was hired by a real estate company that was owned by James Rees, the same person who co-owned Lake View Hotel along with Elisha Huntley (his original home).

Mr. Rees, Elisha Huntley, and S.H. Kerfoot would use the hotel and the park/garden space to attract visitors from Chicago to vacation and buy property around there properties, an area that was known by the 1870's for it’s county-like breezes from the lake. In fact, the hotel was located off a bluff over-looking the lake for decades until late 1880’s when a roadway was constructed along the lake shore to be called Sheridan Road, but that is long story and for another blog post.

Sharpshooter Park
When a park was for meant for prize shooting

The Chicagoan 1930

This hunting area officially called Schuetzen Park and was located along the North Chicago River and Clybourn Avenue general area. The area was established in 1853 and at the time located in both in the old township of Ridgeville
(Lake View & Evanston township combined 1850-1854) and the Township of Jefferson. Western Avenue was the borderline between the two townships from 1854-1887, hence part of the history of Lake View to be share. The park space location west of Western Avenue was to be the future sight of Riverview Amusement Park originally named Riverview Sharpshooter Park.

The Germans of the area loved their sport and apparently the North Chicago River area was dense of forest with wild life.

The following are articles will give insights of its attraction to the once dominate ethnic group in the Chicago.

The Evolution of a Park

The Gathering in 1866

It was a two day outing

(click on article to enlarge)

Picnic with a Hunt 1867

(click on article to enlarge)

The Socialists
have a gathering in 1880

(click on article to enlarge)

Bowling and Shooting in 1886

(click on article to enlarge)

Picnic and shooting in 1891

District of Lake View - Chicago

The Location as of 1894
Western Avenue was the western border between former Jefferson Township and the City of Lake View - both annex to the City of Chicago in 1889

a zoomed view below
images - Sanborn Fire Maps 1894

Green Spaces of All Kinds:

Playgrounds

How conventional park spaces began

In the early 1850's, a park movement emerged in Chicago, when visionary citizens began to rally for the creation of the nation's first comprehensive park and boulevard system. A physician, Dr. John Rauch led a successful protest to set aside a 60-acre section of a north-side public cemetery (Chicago Cemetery) as parkland that marked the beginnings of Lincoln Park, the park.

The first official urban public park in the City of Chicago was located at Hull House on South Halsted Street in 1897.

Poster of opener
Lincoln Park Expands Northward
The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of 1905 show the proposed park along the lakefront to be called Belmont Yacht Harbor.

Sanborn Fire Maps that depict the plans for Belmont Harbor which was open to the public in 1913

Between the years 1900-20 of Lincoln Park greatly expanded with creation of Diversey Harbor, Belmont Yacht Harbor in 1913 and the start of landfill for Montrose. Ernest Burgess created a concept that each neighborhood of Chicago should have their own park land available for residents in 1929.

Note: View my post called Official City Neighborhoods for more on a revolutionary neighborhood concept that Earnest Burgess helped design.

1908 Residents of the District of Lake View

Petition for Parkland

Working class citizens demanded open space during this time period that was closer to their homes and workplaces (manufacturing plants along the North Chicago River and Fullerton Avenue) other than along the lakefront.
That same year in 1908 Wrightwood Park, located in the new District of Lake View, was created from an old clay pit that was currently used as a ice pond as the Sanborn Maps show below. Clay Pits were used for the manufacturing of bricks for streets and dwellings. A number of pits were located in this area in the 19th century.

Sanborn Fire Map 1894

Sanborn Fire Map 1923

In 1910 the Northwestern Elevated had a garden contest along their tracks from Belmont Station through the Ravenswood Line (Brown) hence creating a concept of green space on a very local level other than grand boulevards and established parks. One can say garden walks may have stem of this idea. Also in 1910 when Lake View was referred to as a district within Chicago, there was a park listing by the Daily News Almanac under 'small parks' there was a green space called Gross Park on Otto Street - Otto Street was renamed
Gross Park on Henderson designed by Samuel E. Gross who had an ornate park space in mind for working class citizens of his subdivision. This concept would be repeated almost a century later by Mayor Richard Daley with the construction of green-space medium strips throughout the city.

General Area of the Park

zoomed view of the green space

Sanborn Fire Maps 1923

The Chicago Park District received substantial funds through President Roosevelt's (WPA) Works Progress Administration for park improvements and programs. In the late 1940s, a Ten Year Plan led to dozens of new parks including a progressive school-park concept. In 1959, the system expanded again, when the City of Chicago transferred more than 250 parks, playlots, sanatoriums, and beaches to the Chicago Park District.
As of 2012, CPD is the steward of over 7,700 acres of open space, totaling more than 570 parks, 31 beaches, 50 nature areas, and 2 world-class conservatories and host of thousands of special events, cultural, nature, sports and recreational programs. The Chicago Park District still remains the nation's leading provider of green space and recreation.

Redline greens
Greenview Avenue just north of Roscoe

In 1993 the City of Chicago drafted a plan of action.

The City Space Plan presented their key findings and recommendations of a comprehensive effort for creating

and preserving open spaces in an urban landscape.

1922 cartoon called 'Their Playground'
image - National Archives and Records Administration

Although the first sandlot opened in Boston in 1886, the playground movement didn't begin to develop until the mid-1890's, when playgrounds were opened in nine major cities including Chicago. After that owners of 'settlement houses' or local civic groups opened 'open vacant spaces' called playlots, often modest dirt lots, on land donated or lent by philanthropists. A wide coalition of child-saving reformers including social settlement house workers, progressive educators, and child psychologists urged municipal governments to construct playgrounds where the city's youth could play under supervised and controlled conditions.

1937 Donation of property

for playlots

1940 Status of Playlots

in Lake View

1945 Police lead organizations
for Playlots

1966 A Neighborhood Association

Petitioned for a Park

(click on article to enlarge)

1969 A Coal Yard
into a Parkground

(click on article to enlarge)

1971 A New Park
Sheridan Road & Broadway

The List of Parks in Lake View

Lake View is fortunate to have four playground parks and eight playlots within its neighborhood borders. Most playlots are associated with existing playgrounds for means of administration and maintenance.

These following park spaces are classified as park grounds

with a size of 5 to 25 acres in size.

Lincoln Park

'Band Concert Lincoln Park Chicago'

image - New York Public Library

From 1869-1889 Lincoln Park was administered by a board of commissioners from both the City of Chicago and the Township of Lake View. Before the annexation of 1889, Lake View Township's southern border was Fullerton Avenue except a small and narrow portion of the lakefront that the State of Illinois granted to the City of Chicago in 1869

(Fullerton to Diversey) but still administered by both city and township administrations. Currently, there is a park within a park at Lincoln Park parallel to Roscoe Street on the other east side of LSD called Arthur Telscer Memorial Playground. Read more about the connection between Lake View and this park within my post called 'Sharing Lincoln Park.'

The City Public Parks of Lake View

1969 - South Lake View Playground Park

1972 - Gill Park

1975 - Sheil Park
2011 - Lois Klein Park

2014 - Margaret Donahue Park

2018 Google Map View

South Lake View Playground Park

Referred by the kids as 'Blue Park'

photo - Chicago Park District

In the mid-1960's, the South Lake View Neighbors Association began to push for a playground in their crowded community. In 1966, the Chicago Park District agreed to create a new park at the corner of N Lakewood Avenue and W Wolfram Street. Using both city Park Improvement Bond funds & U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Grant Funds, the park district purchased the property two years later. Before long, the new park was equipped with basketball and volleyball courts, playground apparatus, a sand box, and a spray pool. In 1969, the park district recognized residents' efforts by naming the site South Lake View Park. Subsequent improvements include a 1993 playground rehabilitation. As of 2018 the patrons of the park were looking for private funds to renovated this less than an acre space. Before that it was a coal yard called Clark Coal & Company per this 1950 Sanborn Fire Map below.

and it final demise in 1958 after its abandonment

photo below - Time Out Chicago

Lois Klein Park

photo - Pinterest

Lois Klein Park was created by the Chicago Park District in 2010 after several years of planning and land acquisition. Designed by the Hitchcock Design Group, the park has a whimsical playground. In 2011, the Chicago Park District’s Board of Commissioners named the park in honor of Lois Klein, a neighborhood activist who inspired members of the Lake View community in the 1980's and 1990's. Born and raised in Chicago Lois Klein (1931-1997) lived for over 30 years just two blocks from the site that now bears her name. During her life, she made many positive contributions to her neighborhood by participating in community meetings and volunteering for the local alderman’s office.

However, the bulk of her energy was focused on helping children. For many years she volunteered at two local schools, John J. Audubon Elementary School and St. Andrew School. Ms. Klein’s concern about neighborhood children prompted her to advocate for safety improvements to address the dangerous intersection at Lincoln Avenue Addison Street, and Ravenswood Avenue. She rallied the community to petition for improvements at the intersection. Ironically, in 1997, Lois Klein was struck by a car at that very intersection. Due to Ms. Klein’s tragic death, the intersection was soon modernized and made safer for pedestrians.

Gill Park

photo - Erica C. via Yelp

Gill Park honors Lake View resident Joseph L. Gill (1886--1972), a Chicago Park District Commissioner, and local Democratic party leader. Gill served as 46th Ward Democratic Committeeman for more than 60 years. He was chairman of the Democratic County Central Committee from 1950 to 1953, and is said to have engineered Richard J. Daley's first nomination for mayor in 1955. Gill served the public in various capacities, including as controller of the Forest Preserve District beginning in 1919, as Illinois state representative from 1926 to 1930, and as clerk of the Municipal Court for most of the subsequent three decades. In 1960, Mayor Daley appointed Gill to the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners. Gill was serving as park district vice president at the time of his death in 1972. Two years before, the park district had decided to establish a recreational facility on West Sheridan Road in the densely-populated Lake View neighborhood. By 1972, the site had been acquired with the help of funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and plans had been developed for a multi-story field-house with a swimming pool, a gymnasium, and an assembly hall. Neighbors refer to the impressive structure as the "high-rise field-house." The park district installed a new soft surface playground at Gill Park in 1991. The park once surrounded one of last SRO's in Lake View called the Chateau Hotel.

Plans in 1970

entrance to indoor facilities on Sheridan Road
photo - Gill Park Basketball

outside park area

2012 photo - Adriane P. via Yelp

photo - Kieth H. via Yelp 2013

Gill Park is trying to get a face lift due to the sale and renovation of the Chateau Hotel as of 2014

Sheil Park

photo - Google Maps

Sheil Community Center honors the memory of Archbishop Bernard J. Sheil (1886-1969), pastor at Lake View's St. Andrew's Catholic Church for more than three decades. A supporter of ecumenical efforts and of the rights of racial minorities and laborers, Archbishop Sheil was often referred to as "the friend of the little guy." His interest in young people led him to found the Catholic Youth Organization in 1930. Sheil Community Center is located in the heavily-populated Lake View neighborhood, on land once occupied by the Hanson Laundry Company. The Chicago Park District purchased the property in 1973, demolishing the laundry plant. In 1975 the park district broke ground for a field-house with a gymnasium, a craft-shop, & club rooms.

Margaret Donahue Park
once referred to as School Street Park

The design for Margaret Donahue Park in 2013

photos - Red Tricyle

The Chicago Park District has worked closely with the School Street Advisory Council, Alderman Thomas M. Tunney of the 44th ward and the Chicago Cubs on the development of a new park in the Lake View community. The $1.2 million park includes a major playground installation. The advisory council formally requested that the new park be named in honor of Margaret Donahue (1892 – 1978), one of the first women executives in major league baseball. The Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners complied with the request, and the park was officially named in 2014. Born on a farm in Huntley, Illinois, she moved to Chicago at the age of 16 to find a job as a secretary. In 1919, with only one year of high school a year of secretarial training, and a brief position at a laundry, Donahue was hired as a stenographer by William Veeck, President of the Chicago Cubs (and father of longtime Cubs owner Bill Veeck).

photo - Chris Gent Landscaping Studio

At the time, the only other woman who worked for the Cubs was the team’s bookkeeper. That woman soon left, and Donahue took over, performing as both secretary and bookkeeper. She quickly took over many responsibilities including ticket sales, stock transfers, providing press passes, and handling gate receipts for other Wrigley Field events such as Chicago Bears professional football games. Before long, she was traveling with the Cubs. In 1926, Veeck promoted Donahue to corporate secretary, an unprecedented role for a woman in the major leagues at that time. She brought many innovations to professional baseball such as season tickets, providing off-site ticket locations, and selling reduced priced tickets for children. When Donahue was promoted to vice president of the Chicago Cubs in 1950, she was the first woman in this role in the major league to have come up through the ranks. Donahue retired in 1958, prompting Phillip K. Wrigley to issue a proclamation describing her as a “nationally acknowledged authority on the intricacies of baseball rules and regulations.” When Donahue died in 1978, she was eulogized by Jack Brickhouse / WGN.

Margaret Donahue Park - 2015 photos

Lake View High School Park
photo - Chicago Historical Schools

The Playlots

These following public green spaces are classified as playlots that average between 0.5 to 1.5 acres in size.

Playlots are administered by a park supervisor of an existing nearest neighborhood park. Let's begin with a vintage lot...

Pines Kiddie Park

once located on Pine Grove and Brompton Place

with some articles from 1949

article #2

The List of Playlots as of 2017
1938 - Hermitage Avenue Park (same as Helen Zatterberg)

1946 - Pines Kiddy Play-Yard (not in existence today)

1949 - Weisman Playlot Park

1950 - Merryman Playlot Park

1952 - Wendt Playlot Park

1954 - Kenmore Playlot Park

1958 - Evergreen Playlot Park

1973 - Juniper Playlot Park

1973 - Wieboldt Playlot Park

1970's Martin Playlot Park

1987 - Warner Park and Gardens (private-owned)
1991 - Kelly Playlot

2000 - Chi Che Wang Playlot Park
2004 - Helen Zatterberg Park

2012 - Space Park
2019 - AIDS Garden Chicago

Juniper Playlot was once called Greenview/Waveland Baby Park per this 1963 headlline photo

from the Lincoln-Belmont Booster Newspaper

Wendt Playlot Rehab in 2013

A sample of a play-lot's renewal and re-dedication

This playlot earned the approval of the city park district in 2012 to renovate the space as well as a re-dedication that following year. The first dedication was in 1991.

old is gone waiting for the new equipment

The design plan was chosen

by the neighborhood association

new equipment and new cement in place

The 'suits' were there!

Photos below are vintage playlot photos

when it was just a near vacant lot

photos 1980's - George GEO

"back in the late 80's when the park was first converted from a run down empty space to the new and improved version, there was a party and dedication to celebrate... there was an effort made by the Wendt family to have the park named in his honor and they did some fund raising ( as I remember ) to cover expenses of the conversion that were not covered in the Park District budget ( like the front gate and fence, among other items )... his wife and daughters that survived him spoke at the dedication." - testimonial from 'GEO' 2014

'Space Park' on Roscoe
photos via Triangle Neighbors Association

a pamphlet for the new park

The Final Product

AIDS Garden Chicago
to be located in Lincoln Park at Barry & Lake Shore Drive by the underpass by 2019

2018 Google Map view

'The AIDS Garden will be built along the Belmont Rocks, a space the gay community would gather at since the early days of Chicago's LGBT movement. The Rocks were about claiming the right to be, to exist, to gather outside and to be out of the shadows and the closet. The AIDS Garden seeks to help preserve that memory and to honor the history of HIV/AIDS in Chicago. It is fitting to create a garden in that Belmont Rocks space.' Read more from the link above.

2018 photo - Tom Tunney - alderman

The Triangular Garden

3800 N Lake Shore Drive/Sheridan Road

My favorite garden with a historical story

Then there is a green space on Sheridan Road and Lake Shore Drive called Sheridan Triangle Garden. Although

owned by the CTA this 'garden park-like' space is managed by the volunteer residents who reside near by as a non-profit.

photos from their website

'About six years ago, Weinberg, a resident of 3800 N. Lake Shore Drive, started the nonprofit after she was given the keys to the shack by a resident of 3900 N. Lake Shore Drive. Inside was, as Weinberg described it, "floor-to-ceiling CTA junk, metal chairs and old-fashioned Christmas bulbs. "Weinberg and a few hardworking volunteers, including a city police officer and 46th Ward Ald. James Cappleman, cleaned out the shack and started planting perennials, trees and shrubs in the garden. Weinberg said the nonprofit volunteers also hang up Christmas lights that still are lit now, plus change the decorations for Halloween and spring.'

from an article from DNAinfo 2017

photos - Sheridan Triangle Garden

I am a volunteer as of 2013

2016 photo - Garry Albrecht
The Annual Spring Clearing & Cleaning 2017
photos by me

a planning discussion by the shed

a new look for the garden below

the initial design changed - the tree has been removed for a another designed then planned ...

photos - their website

photo - Jill Weinberg

My Facebook page, LakeView Historical supports this space - a non-profit organization for two reasons ....

1) the voluntarism involved in the creation of a wonderful green space along the inner drive and ....

A 1869 University of Chicago map of northern part of Pine Grove (Lake View East) subdivision that shows the hotel

2) it marks the area location of the Lake View Hotel - the hotel/resort that served as a meeting place for potential real estate investors and homeowners from 1854-1890ish. The Kerfoot property mentioned in the beginning of this post was located just north of the Lake View Hotel. Mr Kerfoot garden space was apparently along Irving Park Road & Halsted Street near the existing shoreline of the lake.

3) I have a petition to the 46th Chicago Ward office to petition the Landmark Commission to safeguard and existing garden space that was a block away from the hotel.

Written by me for a local historical association

and then published in a local newspaper - p.11

Warner Garden Parks
a private garden much like Sheridan Triangle Garden that is supported the Graceland West neighborhood of Lake View.

In the late 1990’s, NeighborSpace, a non-profit organization devoted to creating community open spaces in Chicago, established a passive park with a perennial garden in an under-served area of the Lake View community. The organization named the 14-acre site the Warner Garden because it is located on Warner Avenue. The Chicago Park District has a long-term lease with NeighborSpace for this property. The organization and neighborhood want to retain the long-used 'Warner Garden Park' name.

Lakeview Community Garden
established in 2017

photos - their Facebook page

Gallagher Way at Wrigley Field
a green space to gather

2017 photo - Southport Corridor News and Events

'Sitting in the heart of Wrigleyville, the Park at Wrigley offers a beautiful open-air destination for farmers markets, community events, festivals, dining and much more. The Park at Wrigley serves as Wrigleyville’s town square

- a year-round gathering place for neighbors, families, fans and visitors. There’s room to stretch out at the Park at Wrigley - with a flexible space for festivals, concerts and neighborhood celebrations. Check back often to see upcoming cultural celebrations, food and wine festivals, concerts and more. Like Wrigleyville itself, the Park at Wrigley has something for everyone.' - their website

2017 photo - Southport Corridor News and Events
2017 photo below - CBSChicago

Illinois Masonic Hospital Complex

912 W Barry Avenue

a wall of green

image - Google

3 2017 photos - Garry Albrecht

A 'Central Park' for Lake View

The Sisters of Good Shepherd Property
We could have had a couple acres of land!

1922 University of Chicago zoomed map

A 1966 Article

The Parks of Ravenswood
Chase Park

Neighborhood of Uptown

formerly known as Gunther Park
4701 N Ashland Avenue

photo - YouTube

photo above - Yo Chicago
photo below - Running to Globe

Some History ...
Sanborn Fire Maps of the location

1928 view when Our Lady of Lourdes Church when the building was located east of Ashland Avenue

1950 view view when Our Lady of Lourdes Church when the building was moved west of Ashland Avenue

Our Lady of Lourdes students walk from the clubhouse along Ashland Avenue in 1944. The park district allowed the students access to the building after a school fire.

Welles Park

Neighborhood of North Central

2333 W Sunnyside Avenue