Marquette Park

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Marquette Park is a 300-acre park located in Community Area 66, or Chicago Lawn, in Chicago, Illinois. The Park is named for Father Jacques Marquette (1637-1675).

1 History
- 1.1 Planning and Development
- 1.2 1966
2 Facilities
3 Location
4 References
5 External Links

[edit] History

[edit] Planning and Development

Marquette Park is part of a system of 14 parks designed in 1903 by the Olmsted Brothers. The original plans called for "a golf course on two islands surrounded by naturalistic lagoons; indoor and outdoor gymnasiums; swimming and wading pools; a children's playground; formal gardens; and a concert grove."¹ Due to its size, construction of the park went slower than most of the others in the system, and several features of the original plan were dropped due to difficulties with the landscape. Still, "by 1917, the park included playing fields, a children's playground, tennis courts, propagating houses for the nursery, and a large, classically-designed golf shelter."¹ After the consolidation of Chicago's park commissions into the Chicago Park District in 1934, park workers redesigned the golf shelter, built comfort stations, and expanded the walking paths in the park to include the islands. In 1935, public support helped secure a statue honoring Lithuanian-American aviators Darius and Girenas.¹

[edit] 1966

Martin Luther King decided to take his protest north in 1966. He led a group of marchers (protesters) into the all-white housing areas near Marquette Park in Chicago. It was one of King's worst moments. The reaction of Northern white people was even worse than that from the South. The protesters had bottles, bricks and rocks thrown at them - one of the bricks hit King himself but he was not severely hurt and continued with the march.

The incident at Marquette Park was part of the protests led by the Chicago Freedom Movement (of which King was co-chairman). It was a year-long campaign for open housing. It started in January 1966 when King and his wife Coretta moved into a North Lawndale slum (on the west side of Chicago). King and the movement wanted to make Chicago a racially open city. They wanted it to be a place where everyone could live without fear of racial attacks.

The march was not as successful as King and the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) had hoped. A rather vague agreement was created with Richard J. Daley (the Mayor of Chicago) containing unkept promises of open housing legislation and improving living conditions. It was an eye opener for King and the SCLC and showed just how violent the Northern white people could be.

This march was part of a series of marches coordinated by the Chicago Freedom Movement the marriage of King's SCLC and the CCCO (Coordinating Council of Chicago Organizations) lead by King's co-leader in Chicago Al Raby.

There are several books that deal with King and Raby's "Northern Experiment". Arguably the best is Northern Protest by historian James Ralph.

It is a common misbelief that the incident in which Dr. King was struck with a rock happened in Cicero rather than Marquette Park. The Chicago Freedom Movement never marched in Cicero.

It is the fortieth anniversary of the Chicago Freedom Movement, in commemoration a three day conference is being helf in mid-July by Chicago community organizers, vetrans of the Chicago Freedom Movement, academics. The official site of the Chicago Freedom Movement and the most detailed web accessible source of CFM information is www.cfm40.org