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BETWEEN THE LEAVES C E LE B RAT I N G C H I C AG O ' S PA R K S

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a c h i cag o par k s fo u n d ati at i o n p u b li cat catii o n

BETWE E N THE LEAVES NO. 01 — FALL 2023 BRANCHING OUT: AIDS Garden Chicago

The Chicago Parks Foundation welcomes you to the very first edition of Between the Leaves Magazine, dedicated to Chicago’s incredible parks and the people who love them.

I NSIDE / O UTSID E: SheShe Taylor

Our parks are an essential part of our city’s physical landscape. And in 2013, the Chicago Parks Foundation (CPF) was established to ensure that they are just as essential to Chicago’s charitable landscape.

INSIDE / OUTSID E: John Rafetto

PARK PEOPLE: Tracy Raoul

PARK HISTORY: Promontory Point

PARK PARTNER: Bank of America

Chicago Marathon

PARK CONNECT I O N S: Support the Parks

BENCH STORIES: Watanabe Family

This year marks the CPF’s tenth anniversary as your 501c3 nonprofit park partner. In the last decade of our work, we’ve experienced that it’s the people who make the parks. Now, we want to bring those stories to you – what happens between the leaves. Here in the first edition, you’ll explore how community ideas are brought to action throughout our city’s 600+ parks. Our debut cover story features a particularly special project in our portfolio, AIDS Garden Chicago, a new legacy park that CPF led to completion for our city. “Park People” introduces you to community members doing important work to advance diverse, inclusive park programming. You’ll meet “Park Professionals” whose experience in the parks system has led to incredible opportunities. And you’ll discover the rich “Park History” that has made our parks the foundation of our city. With a deeper understanding of the efforts that support our parks, we hope that you will want to invest in them - and the communities that depend on them. This first edition is just the beginning. At the CPF, we encourage park users and lovers to become park givers and stewards. We look forward to hearing from our readers to continue telling our park stories together. We’ll meet you in the parks!

Willa Igli tze n La ng Executive Director, Chicago Parks Foundation

I SSU E

BRA NC H I NG OU T :

AIDS Garden Chicago Now and Then Owen Keehnen

AIDS Garden Chicago occupies a stretch of lakefront that holds memories for many LGBTQ+ Chicagoans. For decades, the limestone blocks along the lake and the green to the east of the bike path— from the skeet-shooting range that once stood north of Diversey Harbor to the curve into Belmont Harbor—was an area known as “The Belmont Rocks.” The Belmont Rocks was a place Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community claimed for their own. After years of oppression and living in the shadows, the simple act of being LGBTQ+ and being outdoors, with a lover or friends—or even with strangers—was revolutionary. It was an act of empowerment. The Belmont Rocks was a symbol of our right to be here, our right to exist, and our right to gather in the sunshine at a time when our bars still had blackened windows. Coming together at the Rocks with a mix of other LGBTQ+ people fostered a sense of community years before we even believed our “liberation” was a possibility. At the Belmont Rocks we played music, we barbequed, we danced, we baked in the sun, we swam, we laughed— and we talked. When we came together we shared our stories and our lives. In the process we discovered that despite con’t pg 4

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all our differences, we had an enormous amount in common. Over the decades, the Belmont Rocks became an integral part of Chicago’s LGBTQ+ social landscape. Relationships and friendships were born here. Unions. Picnics and cookouts. Hook-ups happened here. Bar parties. Sober parties. Dance parties. Pride Parade after-parties. Rallies. Life happened here. This stretch of what was once a weed-strewn field and those tiers of jumbled limestone blocks were the stage for much of Chicago’s unfolding LGBTQ+ story. Artwork covered many of the lakefront limestone slabs, making the Belmont Rocks a queer open-

pioneers who played, loved, and laughed here—and in the process, also quietly fostered a community. In coming together we got a sense of our collective power and learned to push back after years of harassment and oppression. However, the strength of that fledgling social structure was soon put to an even greater test by the AIDS epidemic. When HIV hit this community, we did not scatter and run. We stood together. We suffered and mourned. We consoled and comforted. And we fought. Aided by allies, family, and friends, we raised money. We built an institutional infrastructure to provide care. We united to legislate, to protest, to

If you close your eyes and listen to the wind or the waves, you can almost hear the LGBTQ+ pioneers who played, loved, and laughed here and in the process, also quietly fostered a community.

air art gallery. The art displayed upon the Rocks included everything from elaborate murals and vibrant geometric designs to painted love poems, personal symbols, and initials carved inside a heart. If you close your eyes and listen to the wind or the waves, you can almost hear the LGBTQ+

volunteer, to give assistance, and to be caregivers. We made each other stronger. During that time, the Belmont Rocks remained a place for LGBTQ+ Chicagoans to come together. With the advent of the HIV, people needed one another more than ever. Folks still gathered for

cookouts and for parties, only now they gathered for memorials as well. Suffering and loss had become a part of life, but amidst the pain and the fear was the beauty of countless acts of love and compassion. We endured because we knew we were not alone in the struggle. We endured because of one another. Activity at the Belmont Rocks had dwindled by the early 2000s when the Army Corp of Engineers announced that the area was slated for demolition as part of the shoreline erosion prevention program. The news was met with mostly indifference. By then the community had mostly relocated to Hollywood Beach. After the Belmont Rocks were bulldozed in 2003, this place of Chicago LGBTQ+ cultural significance was at risk of being forgotten. Then events took a fortuitous turn. In 2020, the Chicago Park District announced that the area once known as the Belmont Rocks had been designated as the new site for AIDS Garden Chicago. The garden was to serve as a memorial to those lost to HIV as well as a place of reflection, learning, and inspiration to those who continue to fight the disease. A thirty-foot Keith Haring sculpture—his celebrated “Self-Portrait”—now marks the site. The piece was Chicago’s first pub-

lic monument honoring the fight against HIV. After two years of excavation, leveling, landscaping and planting, a crowd gathered to watch Mayor Lori Lightfoot cut the ribbon on the opening of AIDS Garden Chicago in June 2022. Although the area known as the Belmont Rocks was gone, AIDS Garden Chicago is a fitting continuation in this ongoing story of what we can accomplish when we come together. This garden honors the dedication, perseverance, and determination of every individual whose life has been touched by AIDS on this long trek to zero HIV infections. AIDS Garden Chicago—a place to reflect on our past and create new memories—is also about the future. This park and this green stands to assure future generations of LGBTQ+ folks—and those who love them—that we are more than a demographic, more than a voting bloc, and more than a marketing niche. We are a family. We have played together, stood together, and when the need arose, we fought together. AIDS Garden Chicago is proof that this community— forged in the fires of so much loss and suffering—will face whatever comes and together we will endure.

CHICAGO PARKS FOUNDATION The Chicago Parks Foundation was honored to lead this legacy park project to completion, managed together in partnership with the community. We invite you to visit aidsgardenchicago.org to explore the AIDS Garden Chicago Story Archive and to get involved in helping shape the future of AIDS Garden Chicago. Owen Keehnen is a grassroots historian, writer, and cofounder of the award-winning nonprofit Legacy Project. See Owen’s collection of Belmont Rocks memories on his Facebook page, “A Place for Us: LGBTQ Life at the Belmont Rocks”

Clockwise: A series of photos by Doug Ischar captured life at the original Belmont Rocks, as seen here in ‘Marginal Waters #19’, 1985; Poet and activist Osiris Khepera speaks at the AIDS Garden Chicago Ribbon Cutting, June 2022; Spring 2021 (Ralph Walin); Fall 2022; The Garden’s first phase was completed in November 2019 with the installation of its 30-foot anchor piece, Keith Haring’s ‘Self-Portrait’ (also seen on page 3)

PA R K P R O F E S S I O N A L S

I NSI DE

OUTSI DE :

SheShe Taylor

BET WE E N T HE LEAVES

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When asked about her decade at the Chicago Park District, SheShe Taylor got down to business. Because, really, that was Taylor’s job, minding everyone else’s business to elevate and promote merchants and venues on the city’s South Side. “I think you could say I was an accidental government worker,” Taylor said. “And I would like to think, I hope, that I played a role in refreshing things at the Park District.” And while she started in hospitality, Taylor went into business and community development at the Park District. She had to because she wouldn’t succeed without bringing others along with her. When she took the job at the South Shore Cultural Center in 2012, she realized how many untapped opportunities there were for local Black-owned businesses. “That was a pivotal moment for me because it opened my eyes to how government can improve people’s lives and what role we could play and leveling the playing field for others.” Taylor started as the special events manager at the South Shore Cultural Center in 2012, which she said she found overwhelmingly beautiful. “It has so much history, style, and potential.” And as a Chicago woman, she loved the history. “I grew up in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago. I went to high school at Hyde Park [Academy], then Kenwood Academy. I did undergraduate work at Howard University but finished my degree on Michigan Avenue at Roosevelt University. So, I’m Chicago through and through.” Taylor explained: “I was tasked with doing community outreach

Susy Schultz

to make sure that local businesses knew about the opportunities within our concession and catering programs,” Taylor said, adding,” I saw what it meant for restaurants in the neighborhood to be able to go into that space.” She helped expand that access across the city to other venues and develop additional programs to open up opportunities for the community by working with the Chicago Parks Foundation. “I was proud of being able to award the Al Fresco grants,” a Chicago Parks Foundation initiative. More than two dozen neighborhood entrepreneurs on the south and west sides were awarded grants to open concession stands to extend outdoor dining around the parks. It was one of her last tasks when she left in 2022 as Deputy Director of Revenue. Today, she is the Director of Earned Income at the Barack Obama Presidential Center. “I would not be in this role at the Obama Foundation without everything I learned in my jobs at the Park District regarding community engagement, equity and recreation,” Taylor said. “And everything I learned about myself from the Park District.” O N T H E R UN : Her Park District work also connected her with the Chicago Parks Foundation and helped her find another passion. “The [Chicago Parks] Foundation enhances the park experience by raising funds through creative events. And they use the money to do such things as restorations and community outreach.” For years, she volunteered at one of its fundraisers, its Chicago

The Chicago parks system is made up of over 600 parks, and it takes thousands of incredible park professionals to manage it all! The CPF is excited to highlight the people behind the scenes, both inside and outside, whose work impacts - or has been impacted by - our parks.

Marathon team, as they are a partner charity in the race. “It became my favorite recreational event,” Taylor said. So much so, after volunteering for the event, she ran in it in 2019, even though she had never run more than a 5K race prior. “I went from the Shamrock Shuffle to the Chicago Marathon,” Taylor laughed. She trained for 2020 as well, even though the race was canceled due to COVID, and reran it in 2021. And she was back at the starting line again this fall. She became a long-distance runner and now runs with her family, husband Mario, and their daughter Kennedy, 24, and son Damany, 27. But what was she most proud of about her time at the Park District? The expansion of contracts and opportunities for new businesses? Yes, she said, that was very important. But to her, people came first. “It was the mentoring, training, coaching and developing of my team,” she said. “Being able to see them grow in their career, that’s very important to me. “And I am lucky to continue that work,” Taylor said. “When you are involved in hospitality, you build teams. But you also build communities for people to gather and learn. It’s what we are doing.”

CHICAGO PARKS FOUNDATION

SheShe is a perfect example of how the parks are a career, not just a job, and that they extend beyond work - we’ve loved having SheShe run with us on Team ChiParks! Susy Schultz is a freelance editor and writer who also chairs the Investigative Project on Race and Equity advisory council, a new nonprofit journalism and training outlet.

PA R K P RO F E S S I O N A L S

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I SSU E

John Raffetto W R I T T E N BY

John Raffetto did not hesitate when asked what place he missed most since retiring as a horticulturist at the Chicago Park District. “The Fern Room at the Garfield Park Conservatory,” he said. “It is a special place, and in the winter, I would get out of the office, bring my lunch with me and sit on the bench. It was a nice retreat. But it also was special because of its plant material and history.” Stepping into the Fern Room is like stepping back in time. It is lush and swampy, with a lagoon and a waterfall. If you parted the large fronds, you would surely see dragonflies with two-foot wingspans swooping across the water or a Tullimonstrum gregarious looking up at you from the lagoon. (The Tully Monster, a marine invertebrate, is Illinois’ official state fossil.) “The Cycads that are in there are the oldest plants in the conservatory,” Raffetto said. Individual

Susy Schultz

like composer Felix Mendelssohn’s masterpiece “Spring Song.” “The Fern Room should be in the Art Institute of Chicago. It really is a masterpiece,” Raffetto said. Still, there is more than one marvel in the Chicago Park District spaces. And he should know. He worked all over. Raffetto started working in 1976 at the Lincoln Park Conservatory but transferred to Garfield Park in 1992. Yet, in his 35 years, he designed shows, readied crops, planted trees, and redid Savannah and prairies in the city’s natural areas and more than 610 parks. “There is so much green space in Chicago — small, medium and large parks,” Raffetto said, and that green “is a place of refugee for so many people.” “The parks have meant so much to me,” Raffetto said. So, when he retired in 2011, he wanted to give back. But it was when he discov-

“There is so much green in Chicagoand it is a refuge for so many of us.” plants can live up to 500 years; some in the Garfield Park Conservatory are over 300 years old. Jens Jensen designed it when he designed the conservatory in 1906. A prolific and brilliant landscape architect, Jensen had a hand in Chicago’s park development and evolution, Raffetto said. Jensen redesigned spaces and gardens such as Humboldt Park and the American Garden in Union Park, Columbus Park and the Garfield Park Conservatory. But the Fern Room is a bow to Jensen’s creativity and meticulous manner. He had the mason rebuild the room’s waterfall several times until the falling pitch and intensity of the water sounded to Jensen

ered the Chicago Parks Foundation’s program to dedicate park benches to loved ones that he found how. Raffetto bought five benches. “I knew I wanted to do one for my mother, and that was in Chase Park — she took me there when I was a kid,” he said. “Then, I wanted one for my dad, aunts, and uncles. You could pick the park, and I knew some places where they were needed. After all, I had been working there for so long.” JOHN, THE POET: Although he retired from the Park District, he never retired from his other passion — poetry. “It’s all free verse, and I don’t

use rhyming, meters and all that,” Raffetto said. “I’m inspired by other poets, and I write about people. … But I have focused a lot on nature and plants.” His first book, Human Botany, came out in 2020. At the time, the retired reporter, author and poet Patrick Reardon wrote: “John Raffetto’s rich collection of words takes us on a journey that weaves together a sense of place, people, and bountiful history. …A poem about Chicago opens with the ‘flat prairie lake/ wild onion breeze / slow canoe by / DuSable Indians and Anglo fools.’” Concluding with: “With straightforward and layered language, John conjures whimsy and deep emotion without sentimentality. That’s a gift.” Raffetto keeps honing that gift. He works alongside his wife, Kathy Bergen, who took up short story writing after she retired from the Chicago Tribune. He also keeps his hand in gardening. On the second floor of their Georgian home near Legion Park, Raffetto and his wife converted a second-story porch into a greenhouse where he can garden or sit and enjoy the plants around him. Said Raffetto: “It’s pretty small, but it still does the trick. It scratches my horticultural itch.”

CHICAGO PARKS FOUNDATION

We first met John to help him dedicate park benches to remember his family members, and we were inspired to learn about his long and creative history with our parks.

BETWE E N T HE LEAVES

INSIDE

PARK PEOPLE:

Tracy Raoul W R I T T E N BY

Sharon Barrett

Tracy Raoul lays out her golf shirts –one blue, one purple, one red, one gray, puts the red one back. There’s no way Philip will wear red. Her husband never wears red. She chooses the blue, and calls to her sons, home from college, “Blue today?” The selection of the color they’ll wear to the golf course is always the first thing the Raoul family does on golf day. It might not matter to anyone else on the Jackson Park Golf Course, but for this foursome, it’s a ritual. Team colors, Raoul colors. This is a family with a deep love for the game. Golf is their ‘thing.’ Ahmad yells, “Ok,” and Abdel seconds it. As soon as Philip weighs in, Tracy will call their daughter, Akila, who lives nearby, to get her vote. They’ll figure out how to divide up to play with five once they get to the practice putting green. The shirts go on, the clubs come out, and the family piles into the car for the seven-minute drive to Jackson Park. It’s usually Jackson Park or South Shore Golf Course on these Sundays. The Raoul children grew up playing golf there, learning the rules of the game, perfecting their swings. They’re good golfers now, better than most. At 22, Abdel’s handicap is 2. Ahmad, 19, is at 1.8. (they shoot in the 70s, close to par). The

two are already making their mark on the game, on their college golf teams, and the junior circuit. They’ve played the notable courses, Pebble Beach, Pinehurst. Earlier this year, Ahmad played the Wells Fargo Pro-Am at Quail Hollow. “We’ve been all over the country with them,” Tracy says. But the course they’re heading to today will always be home to them. It’s where they fell in love with the game, and golf has been good to them. They’re both riding on scholarships in golf and academics, Abdel at Prairie View A&M, where he’s studying Mechanical Engineering, Ahmad at Winston Salem, where he’s working toward a degree in Computer Science. Together, they’ve won enough awards, including the prestigious Ted Rhodes Scholarship and First Tee College Scholarship, to decorate their rooms back home. “My husband and I instilled values in our children. We set the foundation,” Tracy says. “But golf gave them drive, perseverance. Through golf, they began to socialize more, to express themselves, and build self-confidence. They learned how to network. Golf is a character builder. It gives you skills you carry through life. They lead fulfilling lives around golf.” Jackson Park is buzzing this Sunday, as Chicago parks always are on weekends. There’s a baseball game underway, children on the playground, walkers on their way to the Japanese Garden. A few out-of-towners circle the Statue of the Republic, the 24’ gilded bronze ‘Golden Lady,’ often mistaken for the 65’ original that towered over the 1893 World Colum-

bian Exposition. The Museum of Science and Industry, the only remaining building from the Exposition, is to the north. The Tom Bendelow-designed Jackson Park Golf Course, where the Raouls are playing today, is to the south. As golf courses go, Jackson Park, the only 18-hole course in the Chicago Park District portfolio, is a pretty one. Those into reviewing courses online say the greens are well-groomed, the view of Lake Michigan is lovely, and though it has some holes that can be challenging, the course needs updating. The family hits the putting green, scorecards come out. Today the stakes will either be the fewest putts or the most fairways. The winner will choose dinner. The two brothers may have a side bet. They can’t help but compete, but Akila won’t join them. She’s here for family time. She played golf in high school, the only girl on the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools’ Golf Boys team. She still plays for fun when she can get to the course. She’s been busy. This spring, she was awarded a Ph.D. in Applied Social Psychology from Loyola University. Abdel tees off. Ahmad follows. While Tracy waits her turn at the tee, her mind wanders. She looks out on the golf course and sees the vision she’s been holding on to for six years. It was in 2017 when she became as much a golf advocate as golf mom. NBC Sports golf analyst Mark Rolfing, a former Chicagoan, was working on a plan to revitalize the Jackson Park Golf Course. “When I looked at the park, I saw a golf course that should have been packed with golfers. School was out. Where were all the children?” Rolfing remembers the day the idea came to him. Why not give the course new life, merge the Jackson Park and South Shore courses into one 7,341-yard, 18-hole championship-caliber course?

He started the Chicago Parks Golf Alliance (CPGA), met with the mayor and Chicago Park District superintendent, and partnered with the Western Golf Association. Tiger Wood’s TGR Design firm signed on to design the new course. “When I got involved, the project was taking root,” Tracy explains. She’s now on the board of CPGA. “It was a perfect time to revitalize the communities of Woodlawn and South Shore through golf. “We had to look at what a championship course could do for the community and the children. There would be a caddie program to introduce them to the sport, and jobs for people in the community. It’s not just the game of golf. It’s the golf industry with an $84 billion price tag.” The Chicago Park District did its due diligence, holding town meetings under the South Lakefront Framework Plan to ask the community what it wanted the park to be. There were several suggestions, pickle-ball courts, a new soccer field, a picnic grove, a dog park... The revitalized golf course was on the agenda. It was clear the two courses, both over 100 years old, needed modernization. They laid out the TGR plan. Some in the community had concerns. There were more meetings. The proposed golf course went through a redesign, became a topic for newspaper editorials, and gave everyone for and against it a few new gray hairs. The project stalled. Tracy Raoul did not. She kept moving forward with other projects. As President and Chair of the Jackson

Park Golf Association (JPGA), she started a scholarship program for high school seniors who either golfed or caddied. To date, eight scholarships have been awarded. And through her tenure as president, board member, or member of several other associations, leagues, and clubs, she kept the interest in golf alive. “This is really personal for me,” she says, “I want to see more African Americans excel in this game.” The Raoul Sunday game goes on until the sun begins to hint at setting, and the winner claims the dinner spot. There’s much to talk about over jerk chicken, rice, and macaroni, Abdel’s favorite meal. He had an internship with Callaway Golf this summer. He wants to work in the industry. Ahmad will be playing more amateur golf tournaments. His dream is to earn a spot on the PGA tour. Akila was handed her Ph.D. in a ceremony on May 9th. Tracy and Philip had a caddie clinic with Illinois PGA professional Juan Espejo to finish up this spring. Tracy has a documentary on the history of African-American golf to complete. And on July 10th, she celebrated the JPGA/Illinois Junior Golf Association tournament. “What makes this tournament so extraordinary is that this is the first time it will be held in Jackson Park and South Shore,” Tracy explains. Jackson Park will host other tournaments as it does every year. The Raoul family will, no doubt, find a way to get together for at least one family golf day this season, and Tracy will look out on the course with the same patient dream. “My vision is this,” Tracy says, “the Obama Presidential Center will bring in visitors from all over the world. Those visitors could bring their clubs and play the new course. It would be such positive exposure for the community. People should see the greatness of the city.

CHICAGO PARKS FOUNDATION

We like to say it’s the people who make the parks. Our goal at the Chicago Parks Foundation is to bring community ideas to action. Chicago is full of “Park People” who are doing important work to advance park programming, inclusivity, and community connection. We are lucky to get to work with them.

“I go back to the children. I’ve seen what golf can do for them. Once they connect with a golf ball, they get that feeling that they can do this. It becomes an addiction. They want to hit more balls. Out of ten, they may only hit four shots that soar, but those four shots change them. I’ve seen the look on their faces when it hits them, “I can do this.”

Photos clockwise: Tracy Raoul on far right pictured with (L to R) Philip Raoul, Ahmad Raoul, and Mulbe Dillard IV, the nation’s #1-ranked 2021 minority collegiate golfer who learned at Jackson Park, together at the CPF’s 2021 Play for the Parks Golf Invitational; Jackson Park totals over 500 acres. In addition to its historic 18-hole Golf Course, the park’s other great treasure is the Japanese Garden on the Wooded Island, pictured here; Jackson Park Golf Association Caddies at Play for the Parks 2023

PA RK HISTORY:

Promontory Point From Landfill to Landmark E XC E R P T BY

CHICAGO PARKS FOUNDATION

In this edition of Park History, our friend, historian and author Julia Bachrach takes us through Promontory Point’s evolution from landfill to landmark. The CPF has been lucky to help dedicate many park benches at the Point.

BET WE E N TH E LEAVES

Read more of Julia Bachrach’s work at jbachrach.com

Julia Bachrach

Promontory Point is a much loved, visited, and photographed Chicago park, with its iconic limestone revetment, beautiful landscape, and historic fieldhouse. The Promontory Point Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that supports the preservation of the park, hired Julia Bachrach to prepare landmark nomination reports for the Point. Thanks to the Conservancy’s tireless work and Bachrach’s scholarship, the Point has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 2018, and, since the writing of this piece, it was also officially designated a Chicago landmark in Spring 2023. This local landmark designation affords Promontory Point even greater protections, ensuring its long term preservation thanks to decades of community advocacy. Excerpted from Julia Bachrach’s “Promontory Point: A Lovely Lakefront Landscape” (2020) Promontory Point is a 40-acre peninsula at the south end of Chicago’s Burnham Park, a lakefront park made entirely of landfill. In the late 1930s, when Burnham Park was being completed, Chicago already had a 50-year history of creating new parkland using lakefill. By then, coastal engineering techniques for extending parks along the lakefront had become quite sophisticated. The complicated method for creating lakefront parkland during the 1930s involved driving rows of enormous timber pilings into the bottom of Lake Michigan and then using steel rods to anchor and tie the pilings together. The resulting “cribs” were then filled with huge rocks. Tremendous quantities of fill such as construction debris were added between the cribs and the

Photos: Aerial View of Promontory Point looking southwest, ca. 1940. Chicago Park District Records: Photographs, Special Collections, Chicago Public Library; Burnham’s vision for a linear park along the lakefront between Grant and Jackson Parks included a peninsula at its south end. Plan of Chicago, 1909, Plate L.

shoreline. Sand harvested from the bottom of Lake Michigan (including locations in Indiana and Michigan) was also used in the filling process. At Promontory Point, the entire peninsula was topped with black soil. To create an attractive outer edge that would withstand erosion, large limestone blocks were placed in a step-stone fashion along much of the park’s eastern perimeter. This step-stone revetment became an iconic part of Promontory Point’s landscape. The initial idea for Promontory Point dates back to the early 20th century, when renowned architect and planner Daniel H. Burnham (1846–1912) was developing a visionary plan for Chicago’s lakefront. Having served as Director of Works for the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, Burnham proposed preserving part of Jackson Park’s fair site and creating a lakefront greenspace to stretch between the fairgrounds and downtown. He envisioned a long ribbon of greenspace with islands, a promontory, a harbor and lagoons, boathouses, bicycle paths, and a scenic roadway. This ambitious idea for

new lakefront parkland became an important aspect of the 1909 Plan of Chicago, authored by Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett. Although Burnham’s proposal had broad support, the project proved to be extremely challenging. Not only would it be quite expensive, but, to move forward on the ambitious scheme, park administrators needed to secure riparian rights. They also had to obtain approvals from every level of government, even the Secretary of War, because Lake Michigan was a navigable body of water. These efforts were underway when Burnham died in 1912. After all of the necessary approvals were finally in place by 1920, Chicagoans voted in favor of a $20 million bond issue to fund the first phase of what would become the 600acre park. Filling operations progressed slowly. In 1927, although the park was still largely unfinished, the South Park commission named the new park in honor of Burnham. The landfill project dragged on, and by the late 1920s, there was little progress south of East 31st Street. By this time, Burnham Park had been selected as the site for Chicago’s second World’s Fair, A con’t pg 12

Photos clockwise: Fall leaves 2023; One of four council rings created in 1989 when Caldwell consulted on landscape improvements, 2017. Photo by Julia Bachrach; Promontory Point today; Original hexagonal bench and path in Promontory Point. Chicago Park District Records: Photographs, Special Collections, Chicago Public Library.

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Century of Progress. With preparations for the fair underway, filling operations reaccelerated. Held at the height of the Great Depression, A Century of Progress gave fairgoers a sense of optimism about the future. At the time, the South Park Commission was one of 22 independent park districts operating contemporaneously in Chicago. All of these agencies were in financial crisis due to the Depression. To gain access to funding through FDR’s New Deal, the 22 agencies were consolidated into the Chicago Park District in 1934. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) soon provided substantial fundings, and completion of the 55th Street Promontory was an important priority for the fledgling Chicago Park District. In 1936, the Park District hired Alfred Caldwell (1903–1998), an extremely talented landscape architect who lacked academic credentials but was the protégé of the renowned Prairie style landscape designer Jens Jensen, known for Chicago’s Humboldt and Columbus Parks among others. Put in charge of the Promontory Point landscape, Caldwell designed a beautiful central meadow edged by shade trees and dense native

understory plantings such as hawthorns, crabapples, American plum, prairie roses, serviceberries, sumac, and viburnums. In his plans for Promontory Point, Caldwell called for four council rings - the kind of beautiful circular stone benches that Jensen had often incorporated into his landscapes. Much to Caldwell’s chagrin, however, his Park District superiors changed his specifications and built less expensive concrete hexagonal benches instead. Over the years, Promontory Point fell into decline, and, for decades, Caldwell avoided visiting because he said he felt it would be too upsetting for him to see it in such a poor state. That changed in 1989 when, in the midst of a reform effort, the Park District asked Caldwell to consult on restoration at the Point. Working closely with Park District landscape architects, Caldwell oversaw the construction of his originally intended stone council rings to replace the hexagonal benches that he had long despised. He also directed the selection and planting of 600 new native trees. This restoration secured the incredible Promontory Point landscape that we still enjoy today.

PA RK PART N E R :

Bank of America Chicago Marathon W R I T T E N BY

Carey Pinkowski has only run the Bank of America Chicago Marathon once, in 1983. Yet, for the most of the years that the 26.2mile race course has winded through the Windy City Pinkowski has been running all of it. “I’ve been the Executive Race and Event Director since 1990,” said Pinkowski. “This is my 33rd year.” Pinkowski, whose titles also include President at Chicago Event Management, Inc., the company that oversees the marathon, has expanded the Chicago Marathon to a world-class event in his tenure. This is not just any marathon. Of the more than 800 marathons organized globally, only six, including Chicago, have been given the title of World Marathon Major, making it a destination for elite as well as amateur athletes. But another of Pinkowski’s accomplishments with the race is, while not as flashy as world recognition, something that has changed the world for several of the city’s nonprofits, including the Chicago Parks Foundation. “In and out of the 1990s, we had always had people running to support different charities,” Pinkowski said. “But they were doing it on their own. “We saw that people had a real connection. They were doing this not just for themselves but to help others. It added value for them and kept them running.” There are now 160 charities officially affiliated with the Chicago Marathon. Those charities are given slots in the race, and the organization recruits runners who register for the race through its charity. Some nonprofits have extensive training programs, and some don’t. But all of them require those who run to raise money. Since 2002, the marathon’s charity program has raised more than $292 million. Last year, Pinkowski said, the fundraising set a record by raising $27.6 million. “We say about 10,000 of our participants — or about 20 to 25 percent support charities,” Pinkowski said. But it is more than just the money, he said. It is the motivation. “They start and they are scared to death, and they think, what did I get myself into,” Pinkowski said. But it is that promise to the

Susy Schultz

charities that pushes them on. “Soon, they find they run six miles, then 10 and then 18, and then, they find they are ready to go.” “This journey they go on to run the marathon, it changes them, which is amazing,” Pinkowski said. “When you hear their stories, it can be heartbreaking.” While Pinkowski is in charge, he also knows what it is like to be one man running for the benefit of one nonprofit. He is an accomplished and successful leader who heads a large organization. But he is also a runner, and for the last five years, he has

are fortunate to have such magnificent parks and the Parks Foundation.” Pinkowski has not ruled out running another marathon. Part of the allure for him these days is the idea of running it with his daughter, Sarah, 21, who is a runner. Or maybe, with his son, Matthew, 19, who is not but could be someday. Running with his children is another way the Chicago Marathon brings people together. But in general, Pinkowski is a booster, as you expect, and he sees the 26.2 miles and the money it raises for charities as an important celebration. CHICAGO PARKS FOUNDATION

The Chicago Parks Foundation was fortunate to become a Bank of America Chicago Marathon charity partner in the early days of our work. Since then, our Team ChiParks runners and their supporters have raised over $1.5 million in total, the largest annual fundraiser for our organization! Learn more at chicagoparksfoundation. org/marathon. been running in one of the other events he organizes, the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle. “Over the past four years, I have raised over $100,000 for various charities,” he said. And one of those is the Chicago Parks Foundation. He is a passionate supporter. “I think the parks are so important,” Pinkowski said. “They create a sanctuary and a respite for people. And for me personally, as a boy growing up in northwest Indiana, I grew up in the parks, and I trained in the parks. They are such an essential part of our community. “The Parks Foundation are great advocates that step in and fill in some of the holes and needs for the Park District. We

“If you drill down to the bottom of all this, it is a celebration of humanity and the human spirit,” Pinkowski said. “The partnership is what can happen when we celebrate, and it shows that there is good that comes out of that belief.” Photo: Carey welcomes world record holder Kelvin Kiptum with open arms at the 2023 Chicago Marathon finish line (Bank of America Chicago Marathon/Kevin Morris)

Where In The Parks Are We ? A) Humboldt Park B) Sherman Park C) Douglass Park D) Winnemac Park

Photo Credit: Chicago Park District

Visit chicagoparksfoundation.org/betweentheleaves to: • Share your feedback on our first edition. • Send in your favorite park photo memory. • Learn “Where In The Parks Are We” from this issue.

BE NC H STORIES:

A Fitting Tribute W R I T T E N BY

Ida Watanabe

Urban living is enhanced by incorporating the natural environment, such as trees, plants, green spaces, and water in ways that go beyond ‘pretty scenery’ to nourish, sooth and restore the human spirit. Parks can do much more to enhance our lives as I have recently discovered. Promontory Point is a picturesque outcropped area of landscaped, green space on the lakefront with walking and biking trails, room for picnicking and benches for rest and relaxation. We purchased a bench in memory of our beloved daughter Susan whom we lost in 2018. It is a fitting tribute. To have a bench in this lovely space has helped to deal with our loss more than words can explain. It will provide a place to rest, reflect and remember. And it is comforting to know that others will also be able to rest, relax, and enjoy the park on Susan’s Bench.

CHICAGO PARKS FOUNDATION The CPF is honored to bring so many memories to

our parks through our dedicated bench program. Each bench has a unique story. Learn more about the program at chicagoparksfoundation.org/benches.

BET W EEN TH E LEAVES ISSUE

a c h i cag o par k s fo u n d ati at i o n p u b li cat catii o n Support the parks! As we celebrate our 10th year serving as your park partner, the Chicago Parks Foundation invites you to help us continue doing what we do best - make parks better! Join us with a donation today. To make your gift online, visit

To mail a gift by check:

chicagoparksfoundation.org/give

Chicago Parks Foundation

or scan this QR Code today!

PO Box 14147 Chicago IL 60614 Call us at (773) 505-9593. We are always happy to talk with fellow park lovers!

Japanese Garden, Jackson Park

BETWE E N THE LEAVES

PO Box 14147 Chicago IL 60614

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