Washington Square Park

In 1842, James Fitch, Orasmua Bushnell, and Charles Butler of the American Land Company donated an approximate three-acre parcel to the City for use as a public park. The donors named the site Washington Square, possibly after a similar park located in an elegant New York City neighborhood. As the developers had hoped, Chicago's Washington Square was soon surrounded by many fine residences and churches. In 1869, the City began improving Washington Square with lawn, trees, bisecting diagonal walks, limestone coping, and picket fencing. By the 1890s, an attractive Victorian fountain adorned the square. Within a decade or so, however, it had been razed and the park had deteriorated. In 1906, when Alderman McCormick became President of Drainage Board, he decided to devote his aldermanic salary to improving the park. McCormick donated a $600 fountain, and the City allocated an additional $10,000 to rehabilitate the park. Landscape improvements were planned by the renowned designer, Jens Jensen, then a member of the board of the City's Special Park Commission. By the 1910s, the neighborhood surrounding Washington Square had become more diverse. Because many old mansions were converted into flophouses, the park earned the nickname, "Bughouse Square." Like Speakers' Corner in London's Hyde Park, Washington Square became a popular spot for soap box orators. Artists, writers, political radicals, and hobos pontificated, lectured, recited poetry, ranted and raved.