Jackson Park

6401 S. Stony Island Avenue (Main Fieldhouse & Golf Course) 

Chicago, IL 60637 

(South Shore) 

Jackson Park, named after seventh President Andrew Jackson, was designed in 1871 and spans from 56th street to 67th street along Lake Michigan, straddling Hyde Park, Woodlawn and the South Shore neighborhoods. It was later remodeled to host the 1893 World’s Colombian Exposition, where around 27 million…  read more

Jackson Park, named after seventh President Andrew Jackson, was designed in 1871 and spans from 56th street to 67th street along Lake Michigan, straddling Hyde Park, Woodlawn and the South Shore neighborhoods. It was later remodeled to host the 1893 World’s Colombian Exposition, where around 27 million visitors from 46 countries celebrated the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World. Architects designed and constructed what was called the White City: Beaux-Arts style plaster buildings that decorated the fairgrounds and housed expositions such as Nikola Tesla’s demonstration of alternating current. After the fair, most buildings burned down in a fire, save for the Palace of the Fine Arts, which is now the Museum of Science and Industry.   

  

The Statue of The Republic overlooks the intersection of East Hayes Drive and South Richard Drive in the southern half of the park and stands as a replacement for the centerpiece of the Chicago World’s Fair. The original statue, three times the size of its replica, stood in the Great Basin in front of the Court of Honor and rose to one hundred feet atop its pedestal, at the time the second highest statue in the nation, behind the Statue of Liberty. Its creator, Daniel Chester French, later sculpted the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the capital’s Lincoln Memorial. After fires destroyed the original, French was commissioned in 1918 to recreate The Republic, which is best known today as the Golden Lady. She holds in her right hand a globe, on top of which perches an eagle. In her left, a pole supports a wreath-lined plaque which reads, “Liberty,” a deviation from the original, which held Phrygian cap on top of the staff.   

  

 Jackson Park also houses the Garden of the Phoenix, a Japanese Garden constructed in remembrance of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, located on the north end of Wooded Island. The recently constructed Obama center stands on the western edge of the park. 

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