Gabriel X. Michael
October 3, 2014
Gabriel X. Michael/Chicago Patterns
Douglas Park is one of Chicago’s most scenic city parks in the heart of the west side of Chicago. Spread across 174 acres in the North Lawndale community area, it is located between West Roosevelt Road and West 19th Street to the north and south (respectively), and South California Avenue and South Albany Avenue to the east and west.
Established in 1869 as the southern park of the West Park System, along with Humboldt (formerly “North”) and Garfield (formerly “Central”) Parks, the park exhibits the design talents of multiple renowned architects including William LeBaron Jenney, Oscar F. Dubuis, and Jens Jensen, along with locally-notable designers Michaelsen & Rognstad.
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Gabriel X. Michael
July 17, 2014
View of original northwest corner of Sacramento Square, now part of the West Town Academy, from the Sacramento Boulevard east service drive. Gabriel X. Michael/Chicago Patterns
Sacramento Square
This square is situated at an important transition point in the Chicago boulevard system, where Humboldt Park’s Sacramento Boulevard to the north connects into Garfield Park to the west via Franklin Boulevard. There is little green space at this turning point for the boulevard system, historically overrun by intersecting roadways and industrial traffic. It only retains one of its original corners, the southwest at Whipple Street and the Franklin Boulevard south service drive, and has some nondescript, while pleasantly shady, clusters of trees and shrubs.
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John Morris
June 13, 2014
For Flashback Friday this week we take a look at a long lost South Side treasure–Washinton Park Conservatory.
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John Morris
June 6, 2014
A few years ago on our sister publication Goodnight Raleigh, I started a weekly column (that continues today) featuring vintage postcards, history, and transcribed conversations written in decades past.
I’m excited to announce the addition of this column to Chicago Patterns, which will follow in the footsteps of our sister publication. Most Fridays we’ll feature a postcard with a handwritten letter and history related to the message or subject of the card. Our introductory article in this new column features the Humboldt Park Receptory.
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