Featured, Culture, Landscape, Urban Design + Planning

DuSable Park

Chicago, Illinois | In Design
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Jean Bap­tiste Pointe DuS­able arrived in Checagou (Chica­go) around 1778 with his wife Kiti­hawa and fam­i­ly to estab­lish a trad­ing post where the Chica­go Riv­er and Lake Michi­gan met (near the present day Michi­gan Avenue Bridge). 

In 1987 May­or Harold Wash­ing­ton ded­i­cat­ed a penin­su­la of reclaimed land sur­round­ed by sim­i­lar geog­ra­phy as a pub­lic park in his honor. 

DuS­able Park is posi­tioned as both a crit­i­cal piece of Chicago’s lake­front and joins a series of recent pub­lic space invest­ments includ­ing the Navy Pier Fly­over, Polk Bros Park at Navy Pier, and the Chica­go Riverwalk.

The park design is anchored by a series of mounds, formed from exist­ing on-site soils. Mean­der­ing paths frame views of the city, lake, and landscape. 

The park’s edge is lined with a board­walk that tran­si­tions from prairie wet­land to forest­ed grove. This gra­di­ent pro­vides a glimpse into the land­scape that DuS­able and Kiti­hawa like­ly expe­ri­enced when they arrived in Checagou (Chica­go) around 1778.

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Chicago 1779 c Chicago History Museum Edit

Chicago in 1779, Illustrated by Raoul Varin circa 1926-1932 © Chicago History Museum

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DuSable Lake Shore Drive opening day, 1937 © Chicago Tribune

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The 3.44 acre park was home to var­i­ous indus­tri­al uses begin­ning in the late 1800’s, from coal stor­age to a gaslight man­tle man­u­fac­tur­ing company. 

In 2001, the Unit­ed States Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency (USEPA) iden­ti­fied the site as hav­ing the poten­tial for tho­ri­um con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed soil. In 2018 and 2020, tho­ri­um screen­ing and reme­di­a­tion work was com­plet­ed in prepa­ra­tion for the future park.

Parallel Histories 01 c Hall Merrick Mc Caugherty Photographers
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Existing Conditions

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Con­nec­tions to the riv­er esplanade beneath DuS­able Lake Shore Dri­ve and the Lake­front Path pro­vide access to the park, link­ing this oasis with the city that sur­rounds it. 

DuS­able Park will be con­struct­ed in con­junc­tion with Relat­ed Midwest’s 400 Lake Shore Dri­ve. Design ren­der­ings pre­sent­ed here are in-progress and sub­ject to change as the project advances. 

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An inscribed pavil­ion marks the spir­i­tu­al cen­ter of the park, acti­vat­ed year-round with gath­er­ings and cel­e­bra­tions. The size of the pavil­ion recalls the pri­ma­ry res­i­dence with­in DuSable’s estate, a frame house mea­sur­ing 40’ x 22’. 

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The design of DuS­able Park has been a col­lab­o­ra­tive process in part­ner­ship with a robust steer­ing com­mit­tee that includes com­mu­ni­ty voic­es from: Alder­man Bren­dan Reil­ly’s Office (42nd Ward); Asso­ci­a­tion of Hait­ian Physi­cians Abroad (Chica­go Chap­ter); Bronzeville Chil­dren’s Muse­um; Chica­go His­to­ry Muse­um; DuS­able Her­itage Asso­ci­a­tion; DuS­able Park Coali­tion, DuS­able Park PAC; May­or Harold Wash­ing­ton Lega­cy Com­mit­tee; Float­ing Muse­um; Friends of DuS­able, Friends of the Chica­go Riv­er; Friends of the Parks; Hait­ian Amer­i­can Coali­tion; Hait­ian Amer­i­can Lawyers Asso­ci­a­tion; Jane Addams PAC; IIT Depart­ment of Land­scape; Mid­west Asso­ci­a­tion of Hait­ian Amer­i­can Women; Ohio State Pro­fes­sor of Amer­i­can Indi­an Stud­ies and Cit­i­zen of the Pok­agon Band of Potawato­mi; Streeter­ville Orga­ni­za­tion of Active Res­i­dents; The Art Insti­tite of Chica­go — Fer­gu­son Fund; The DuS­able Black His­to­ry Muse­um & Edu­ca­tion Cen­ter; and the UIUC Depart­ment of Land­scape Architecture.

Du Sable Park Engagement 01
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