Humboldt Park is a 207-acre (84ha)park located at 1400 North Sacramento Avenue in West Town,[2] on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois. To its west is the neighborhood named after it, also called Humboldt Park. It opened in 1877, and is one of the largest parks on the West Side. The park's designers include William Le Baron Jenney, and Jens Jensen.
Pavilion in 1908Aerial photo of the Field House and RefectoryAerial photo of Humboldt Park's Boat House.
William Le Baron Jenney began developing the park in the 1870s, molding a flat prairie landscape into a "pleasure ground" with horse trails and a pair of lagoons. Originally named "North Park",[3] it opened to the public in 1877, but landscape architects such as Jens Jensen made significant additions to the park over the next few decades. Between 1905 and 1920, Jensen connected the two lagoons with a river, planted a rose garden, and built a fieldhouse, boathouse, and music pavilion.[4]
In 2018, the Chicago Park District and Chicago Parks Foundation partnered with the Garden Conservancy organization to improve the Jens Jensen Formal Garden. They rehabilitated the natural landscape and repaired deteriorating infrastructure, winning the 2018 Jens Jensen Award from the IL chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.[5]
The park played a prominent role in the past for Chicago's Polish community. The Polish Constitution Day Parade once traditionally terminated here at the Tadeusz Kosciuszko statue that was located here before it was moved to Solidarity Promenade on the lakefront Museum Campus in 1981. Additionally, pianist and Polish statesman Ignace Paderewski delivered a famous address where he rallied Chicagoans to the cause of a free and independent Poland.
From 2012 to 2014, Humboldt Park was the home of the punk rock–based music festival Riot Fest and Carnival. For 2015, the three-day music festival was met with opposition from Alderman Roberto Maldonado and local residents over the condition of the grass, lack of accessibility during and after the festival, and gentrification of the surrounding area. This led to the festival's relocation south to Douglass Park.
In 2019, an alligator (a non-native species to the Midwest) was found at the park's lagoon, capturing much interest and media attention.
The Receptory was the visitor center and main building of the park. It included the park superintendent's office, first occupied by Jens Jensen. Visitors would park their carriages there.[3]
The rear portion of the building was the stable, with stalls for 16 horses. It is less ornate, but still features many roof dormers and a spire.[3]
Near the boathouse stands a ten-foot-tall statue of Alexander von Humboldt. Sculpted by Felix Gorling and donated by Francis Dewes, the statue encompasses a globe, a twig in his right hand, a lizard atop a manuscript, and plants at his feet. These inclusions were to symbolize Humboldt's travels and role in establishing geophysics and physical geography sciences.[10]
At the east entrance to the park, a pair of bronze American bison face the gardens. The sculptor, Edward Kemeys, also known for the lions at the entrance of the Art Institute of Chicago, created the Bison for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.[10] The bronze reproductions of the Bison were created by Jules Bercham. They were placed in Humboldt Park's formal garden since 1915.[11]
German American residents of Chicago commissioned to have a monument created of Fritz Reuter, a German novelist and political martyr and located it in the park.[12] The German American sculptor for this monument, Franz Engelsman had also originally created four relief plaques depicting Reuter's achievements that were placed at the base of the sculpture. However, they were stolen in the 1930s and never salvaged.[12]
The Statue of Leif Erikson is a bronze Viking sculpture set atop a granite boulder in Humboldt Park. Some believe Erikson to be the first European to discover North America. The Norwegian American community of Chicago commissioned the monument, which was sculpted by the Norwegian artist Sigvald Asbjørnsen.[13]
↑ "WEST TOWN"(PDF). City of Chicago. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
1 2 3 4 Chicago Department of Planning and Development, Landmarks Division (2007). "Landmark Designation Report: Humboldt Park Receptory Building and Stable"(PDF). [The Receptory and Stable] is a visually-striking fusion of both building types: the visually-rich and diverse Queen Anne architectural style, combined with the "old Germans tyle of country house architecture," [...] and Medieval and Romanesque details made from eclectic building materials and textures
Grant Park is a large urban park in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. Located within the city's central business district, the 319-acre (1.29 km2) park's features include Millennium Park, Buckingham Fountain, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Museum Campus.
Garfield Park is a 184-acre (0.74 km2) urban park located in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on Chicago's West Side. It was designed as a pleasure ground by William LeBaron Jenney in the 1870s and is the oldest of the three original parks developed by the West Side parks commission on the Chicago park and boulevard plan. It is home to the Garfield Park Conservatory, one of the largest plant conservatories in the United States. It is also the park furthest west in the Chicago park and boulevard system.
Jackson Park is a 551.5-acre (223.2 ha) urban park on the shore of Lake Michigan on the South Side of Chicago. Straddling the Hyde Park, Woodlawn, and South Shore neighborhoods, the park was designed in 1871 by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux and remodeled in 1893 to serve as the site of the World's Columbian Exposition. It is one of the largest and most historically significant parks in the city, and many of the park's features are mementos of the fair—including the Garden of the Phoenix, the Statue of TheRepublic, and the Museum of Science and Industry.
The buildings and architecture of Chicago reflect the city's history and multicultural heritage, featuring prominent buildings in a variety of styles. Most structures downtown were destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire in 1871.
Humboldt Park, one of 77 designated community areas, is on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois. The Humboldt Park neighborhood is known for its dynamic social and ethnic demographic change over the years. The Puerto Rican community has identified strongly with the area since the 1970s. Humboldt Park is also the name of the Chicago Park District's historic 207-acre (0.8 km2) park or public garden adjacent to the community area.
Northerly Island is a 119-acre (48 ha) human-made peninsula and park located on Chicago's Lake Michigan lakefront. Originally constructed in 1925, Northerly Island was the former site of the Century of Progress world's fair and later Meigs Field airport and, since Meigs Field's closure, has been a recreational area part of Chicago's Museum Campus. It is the site of the Adler Planetarium, the Huntington Bank Pavilion, the Northerly Island Natural Area, the 12th Street Beach and numerous art installations. Per its name, Northerly Island was constructed as an island, but is connected to the lakefront by a causeway at the northern end carrying Solidarity Drive to the planetarium.
Logan Square is an official community area, historical neighborhood, and public square on the northwest side of the City of Chicago. The Logan Square community area is one of the 77 city-designated community areas established for planning purposes. The Logan Square neighborhood, located within the Logan Square community area, is centered on the public square that serves as its namesake, located at the three-way intersection of Milwaukee Avenue, Logan Boulevard and Kedzie Boulevard.
Fair Lane was the estate of Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford and his wife, Clara Ford, in Dearborn, Michigan, in the United States. It was named after an area in Cork in Ireland where Ford's adoptive grandfather, Patrick Ahern, was born. The 1,300-acre (530 ha) estate along the River Rouge included a large limestone house, an electrical power plant on the dammed river, a greenhouse, a boathouse, riding stables, a children's playhouse, a treehouse, and extensive landmark gardens designed by Chicago landscape architect Jens Jensen.
Parks in Chicago include open spaces and facilities, developed and managed by the Chicago Park District. The City of Chicago devotes 8.5% of its total land acreage to parkland, which ranked it 13th among high-density population cities in the United States in 2012. Since the 1830s, the official motto of Chicago has been Urbs in horto, Latin for "City in a garden" for its commitment to parkland. In addition to serving residents, a number of these parks also double as tourist destinations, most notably Lincoln Park, Chicago's largest park, visited by over 20 million people each year, is one of the most visited parks in the United States. Notable architects, artists and landscape architects have contributed to the 570 parks, including Daniel Burnham, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jens Jensen, Dwight Perkins, Frank Gehry, and Lorado Taft.
Tower Grove Park is a municipal park in St. Louis, Missouri. Located on the south side of the city, the elongated 289-acre (117 ha) park extends 1.6 miles (2.6 km) from Kingshighway Boulevard east to Grand Boulevard. The park’s predominately residential surroundings include the neighborhoods of Southwest Garden, Shaw, Tower Grove East, and Tower Grove South.
West Town, northwest of the Loop on Chicago's West Side, is one of the city's officially designated community areas. Much of this area was historically part of Polish Downtown, along Western Avenue, which was then the city's western boundary. West Town was a collection of several distinct neighborhoods and the most populous community area until it was surpassed by Near West Side in the 1960s. The boundaries of the community area are the Chicago River to the east, the Union Pacific railroad tracks to the south, the former railroad tracks on Bloomingdale Avenue to the North, and an irregular western border to the west that includes the grand city park called Humboldt Park. Humboldt Park is also the name of the community area to West Town's west, Logan Square is to the north, Near North Side to the east, and Near West Side to the south. The collection of neighborhoods in West Town along with the neighborhoods of Bucktown and the eastern portion of Logan Square have been referred to by some media as the "Near Northwest Side".
Jens Jensen was a Danish-American landscape architect.
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Columbus Park is a 135-acre (55 ha) park located on the far West Side of Chicago, Illinois, in the Austin neighborhood. It is considered the finest work by landscape architect Jens Jensen and was consequently named a National Historic Landmark in 2003.
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Tadeusz Kościuszko is one of the most honored persons in Polish history, in terms of places and events named in his honor.
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