Exploring Jackson Park (overview)
The big list
Many people are coming to Jackson Park to see the Obama Presidential Center. There are a number of other spots there with interesting histories. This is going to be a set of links to the story behind the locations. I’ll be posting more detail by topic in the next few days, but this is the whole walking tour of things I’ve written about.
1. The Museum of Science and Industry

Part I, the 1893 Palace of Fine Arts (and why it is where it is and looks the way it does)
Part II, the Field Columbian Museum (and the origin of the Field Museum in Grant Park)
2. Japanese Garden/Osaka Garden

Part II, the destruction and resurrection of the Japanese Garden after World War II
3. Wooded Island
4. Golden Lady
5. La Rabida

The original wall from 1893 and the stone of a Silurian coral reef and how a Children’s Hospital ended up in Jackson Park named for a convent in Spain
6. Bob o Link Meadow and the Nike Missile Base
How the Cold War took over the park and then turned into a natural area
7. Frederick Douglass Plaque
This needs to be a much bigger memorial. I was hoping the OPC would care about this and the playground dedicated to Earl B. Dickerson.
8. The Norwegian Pavilion Plaque
8. Darrow Bridge

9. The Iowa Building

10. Windermere Hotel
I wrote a focused history on the Windermere here
But I put it on the tour because it shows how something big in the park can transform a neighborhood. After the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition left huge luxury hotels behind, Hyde Park became a very different place, which is clearer in this Substack:
11. The Earl B. Dickerson Playground
I did a focused article for the Herald here. But I found his story fascinating so did a lot of Substack posts to tell his story in detail. Links in the Jackson Park Rights and Politics post.
X. Hyde Park’s Murals
I realized after I made the map that people would be walking by a part of the Civil Rights and Women’s Movement that Hyde Park is famous for—the mural movement. The last of William Walker’s murals that exist in Hyde Park is at the 56th Street underpass—a hope for the future. His children attended Bret Harte across the street.
12. Bench Dedicated to Two Local Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote
There was a long-neglected bench dedicated to two beloved women who fought for the right to vote. The bench is by the tracks. The women then tried to demonstrate how women’s votes might make life better for others. Luckily, the bench has been restored.










An invaluable resource. Many thanks for this terrific post and for the interactive map.
Thanks for doing this! I haven't read all of these articles, so will now have them all together to look through.