Olyvia Jarmoszka, Treasurer
Chicago Park District Investor Relations
Chicago Park District Investor Relations
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5531 S. King Dr.
Chicago,IL60615
United States
Washington Park
In Spring 2022, the Chicago Park District announced the kick-off of the Washington Park Framework Plan process. The project team is led by MUSE Community + Design, a woman-owned urban planning and public engagement firm founded in 2014, who has extensive experience in Chicago and across the region leading equity-centered planning processes. Also on the team is Rudd Resources, a woman- and Black-owned public relations firm based on Chicago's South Side, who is leading community engagement and outreach. In addition, the award-winning landscape architecture team at Hitchcock Design Group will lead the technical and design aspects of the project.
The updated Washington Park Framework Plan will provide a vision for improvements in the park over time and will serve as a planning tool for the Park District and the greater community as resources become available to invest in the park. The plan will address the park’s role as a South Side community hub, a city destination, and as a nationally significant historic park. Once complete, the plan will be the guiding document that outlines community priorities and ensures that improvements are implemented in a coordinated manner with respect to the historic integrity of the park and the evolving needs of the community.
Washington Park is a 367-acre Chicago Park District site bounded on the north by East 51st Street, on the south by East 60th Street, on the east by Cottage Grove Avenue, and on the west by South King Drive. It was conceived in 1871 by Frederick Law Olmstead as part of a large 1,055-acre park known as South Park, a complex that is now home to modern-day Jackson Park, the Midway Plaisance, and Washington Park. Today, Washington Park continues to reflect many of its original design elements, and of the three parks comprising the original concept for South Park, Washington Park remains the most intact representation of Olmstead’s plan.
In 2002, the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners adopted the Washington Park Framework Plan. The framework plan outlines recommendations and principles to guide land use and management for Washington Park. In 2004, Washington Park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a United States Registered Historic District. Since the early 2000s, the Park District has accomplished a number of plan objectives with respect to the park’s historic context, and significant changes have occurred in the surrounding community and connecting parks – the Midway Plaisance and Jackson Park.
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