Olmsted in Chicago: Washington Park Walking Tour

5531 S. Russell Drive,Chicago IL 60637

16 July, 2022

Description

April 26, 2022, marks the 200th birthday of Frederick Law Olmsted, author, conservationist, social reformer, and America’s seminal landscape architect. Olmsted and his successors designed some of Chicago’s most beloved and important greenspaces. In partnership with the Hyde Park Historical Society, Chicago park historian Julia Bachrach leads free walking tours of Frederick Law Olmsted’s iconic Chicago landscapes: Jackson Park, Washington Park, and the Midway Plaisance. On this tour, learn about the ways Olmsted expressed democratic principles in his design for Washington Park, and how the greenspace became an important oasis for African American newcomers during the Great Migration. Highlights include the park’s original sheep meadow. Meet in front of the Washington Park Refectory (S. Russell Drive just south of Morgan Drive). This tour is presented by the Hyde Park Historical Society as part of Art Design Chicago Now, an initiative funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art that amplifies the voices of Chicago's diverse creatives, past and present, and explores the essential role they play in shaping the now.