Union Park Advisory Council seeks more committed volunteers
By Kathy Catrambone
People volunteer for all kinds of reasons, and members of the Union Park Advisory Council have theirs.
Eve Benton volunteers to pay the park back for the fine treatment her
daughter received starting with her first park program: day camp at the
age of seven. Her daughter now is 18. Nedra Nixon volunteers so that
today’s children can have the opportunity to enjoy the park as she did
when she took dancing, sewing, and acting classes there 60 years ago.
Jean Darling, a minister, sees her work on the council as an extension of her ministry.
Now, they are looking for more people who have a commitment to the park, located at 1501 W. Randolph St., and to its programs, to join them in their mission.
The council’s roster currently consists of eight local residents, six of whom volunteer on a regular basis. It formed in 2002 and Darling, its vice president, calls it a “work in progress.” The group, like all advisory councils throughout the city, operates independently of Chicago Park District officials and administration. It is completing its first set of bylaws, which will establish rules for membership and voting privileges, among others. The council meets at 6:30 p.m. the second Monday of each month in the park’s fieldhouse.
Darling said that, when she joined the council about two years ago, the park had problems: three or four staff positions were vacant, grounds and facilities looked neglected, and the park offered few programs. The council took action by writing letters to inform the main park district administration about these issues and ask for remedies. Its persistence got results: positions were filled, facility upkeep improved, and programs expanded.
“The council has managed to do quite a bit,” Darling said.
Union Park has a storied past. The City created it in 1853 after local residents convinced developers to sell 13 acres of their subdivision to the City at a reduced price. Named in honor of the Federal Union, it was one of Chicago’s most fashionable places in the 19th century.
In 1885, the City transferred Union Park to the West Park Commission, a forerunner of the Chicago Park District, which made the park its headquarters.
Three years later, landscape architect Jens Jensen, then working as a gardener, planted an experimental wildflower garden there called the American Garden. This marked the beginnings of his venerable naturalistic style, which later blossomed into one of his most famous accomplishments: New York City’s Central Park.
In the 1910s, African-Americans began moving into the neighborhood, and Union Park was one of the first city parks to be racially integrated. Between the 1920s and the 1950s, the park became known for cultural and social events, and a number of notable musicians performed there. Among them were gospel music pioneer Thomas A. Dorsey, trumpeter Sunny Cohn, and jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis. Photographs capturing the events of these four decades encircle the fieldhouse interior. One photo shows people fashionably dressed at a fundraiser held at the park for Roosevelt University, one of the city’s first universities to enroll black students.
Today, in addition to the fieldhouse, the park maintains tennis courts,
a gymnasium, a swimming pool, a playground, basketball courts, lighted
baseball fields, and Jensen’s American Garden.The facilities are used, but as Darling and the others lament, often by people from outside the neighborhood and groups that have no connection with the park or the neighborhood. The park district assigns teams to parks around the city and rents its property to outside groups as a way to increase revenues; Union Park hosts many food, music, and cultural festivals.
The advisory council wants residents to use the park and invites them to take advantage of its many programs. Right now, summer camp, swimming, gardening, and fitness programs are underway. At dusk on Tuesday, Aug. 19, neighbors are invited to bring their blankets and stretch out under the summer night sky to enjoy a free screening of the movie Shrek the Third.
To join the advisory council or for more information about park programs, call (312) 746-5494.
