Douglas Park (Chicago)

Douglas Park
This Douglas Park Greenhouse was torn down in 1905.
Type	Municipal
Location	Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
Area	173 acres (0.70 km2)
Operated by	Chicago Park District
Open	All year

Douglas Park is a large Chicago Park District park that also serves as a cultural and community center on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is named after the U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas, who died in 1861. Originally named South Park, its 173 acres (0.70 km²) are in the North Lawndale community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States with an official address of 1401 S. Sacramento Drive.

In 1869, the Illinois state legislature established the West Park Commission, which was responsible for three large parks and interlinking boulevards. Later that year, on November 4, 1869 the commissioners named the southernmost park in honor of Stephen A. Douglas (1813–1861). Best remembered for his pre-Civil War presidential defeat by Abraham Lincoln despite superb oratorical skills, Douglas was a United States Senator who helped bring the Illinois Central Railroad to Chicago. In 1871, designer William Le Baron Jenney completed plans for the entire West Park System which included Douglas, Garfield, and Humboldt parks. Jenney's engineering expertise was especially helpful for transforming Douglas Park's poor natural site into parkland. He had manure from the and sand added to the marshy site. This process brought the 173 acres (0.70 km²) of land to grade level. In the center of the landscape, Jenney created a picturesque lake, and a small section of the park was formally opened in 1879. Inflated construction costs and post Great Chicago Fire tax collection difficulties resulted in phased projects. The first improvements were made to the park by Oscar DuBuis in the 1880s. Between 1886 and 1888 Douglas Park, like the other West Park System parks, replaced its greenhouse with a conservatory. In 1895, members of several German turners' clubs petitioned for an outdoor gymnasium, and the following year one of Chicago's first public facilities was constructed with an outdoor gymnasium (pictured right), swimming pool, and natatorium.