Washington Park

Originally designed in 1871 as part of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux’s Chicago South Park, Washington Park was divided into two sections – The South Open Ground and the Upper Plaisance. Referred to as the Upper Division until 1881, it was connected to the Lower Division or Jackson Park (01902) via the Midway Plaisance. Consisting of 367 acres, the rectangular shaped park included two proposed main entrances and flat prairie lands in which visitors “will find a view opening before him over a greensward without a perceptible break, considerably beyond the limits of the Open Ground itself, and ending in one direction in a glimmer of water reflecting tall trees nearly a mile away.”

The firm began correspondence with the Park Commissioners again in the 1890s, and the Olmsted Brothers returned to work on Washington Park several years later to “afford a much-needed improvement of the existing facilities for shelter and public comfort” and “to provide recreation facilities of a different though related kind”.

[Report Accompanying Plan for Laying out the South Park _1881-03_Papers of FLO-v.1-p.221] [Olmsted Brothers to Henry G. Forman_1907-07-13_LOC-OAR-B_01903-im.6]