In 1880, the DOUGLAS STREET AVE SCHOOL opened at Lincoln Street and Douglas Street in what is today, 1901 W. 35th Street in the McKinley Park Neighborhood. President Abraham Lincoln’s grandchild may have attended the school. The school named changed to BRIGHTON and in 1904 changed again to LONGFELLOW. Adjacent to the school was a playground called the “school-yard.” Loads of kids would hangout there daily until the street-lights came on. LONGFELLOW school closed in 1981, the buildings demolished and replaced with the MCKINLEY PARK LIBRARY. The “school-yard” was turned into a nature walkway.
Today, kids are playing in the exact same spot kids did 140 years earlier, thanks to the MCKINLEY PARK PLAY GARDEN GROUP. In 2016 the MCKINLEY PARK PLAY GARDEN GROUP (volunteers from the community) had vision, determination and put together a plan to bring the space to life again and it’s original purpose. They used community input, held fundraisers and through their hard work transformed the area into a beautiful play garden. They may have built the best play-garden in Chicago. Change is occurring in the McKinley Park Neighborhood. Volunteers and organizations are emerging within the community; initialing and implementing various community projects. Special thanks to all the volunteers and organizations in helping make McKinley Park a nice and cool neighborhood.
Communities come together in times of crisis, just like the McKinley Park Neighborhood did during WWII by having a paper drive to support the United States in the War effort at Longfellow School. See the picture below.
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