The City in a Garden
A Photographic History of Chicago's Parks
Distributed for Center for American Places
192 pages
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140 illustrations
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9 x 8
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© 2001
Most people, specialists or not, typically think of New York City or Boston when considering the early development of parks and open spaces in American cities. Despite the size and importance of the Chicago park system, its history is less well known-even to many of those Chicagoans who regularly enjoy its facilities.
City in a Garden, developed in association with the Chicago Park District itself, changes that: its 184 large—format pages, packed with 140 images and a closely integrated text, provide the first official documentary chronicle of Chicago's parks. Thirty-one of the city's finest spaces are profiled, using photographs—both contemporary and historical-along with detailed vignettes and captions to trace their development. The visual treat of the book's fine-art duotones combines with its emphasis on narrative history to create a rich and magnificent exploration of a city's most beautiful sites.
City in a Garden, developed in association with the Chicago Park District itself, changes that: its 184 large—format pages, packed with 140 images and a closely integrated text, provide the first official documentary chronicle of Chicago's parks. Thirty-one of the city's finest spaces are profiled, using photographs—both contemporary and historical-along with detailed vignettes and captions to trace their development. The visual treat of the book's fine-art duotones combines with its emphasis on narrative history to create a rich and magnificent exploration of a city's most beautiful sites.
“An impressive new photographic history written by Julia Sniderman Bachrach. . . . The author opens with an inspiring historical essay, followed by profiles of 22 of Chicago’s 555 (!) parks. The profiles describe the social, political, and design history of each park, documenting the influence of politicians, patrons, landscape architects, and architects who were responsible for their initial creation or later improvements. . . . Well-written and beautifully illustrated.”--Scott Mehaffey, Landscape Architecture
“<I>City in a Garden<I> traces the story from the early 1800s when officials believed in keeping lakefront property open, to revolutionary parks emerging on the South Side, through the years when Grant Park served as a dumping ground for garbage and squatters’ shacks, to the late 1800s when A. Montgomery Ward fought to keep Chicago’s lakefront forever open, clear, and free. By 1934, Chicago had 22 independent park districts, all of them poor because of the Depression. In World War II, parks and recreation staff received Red Cross training. After the war, a period of park expansion set in. During the 1960s and ‘70s, recreation became the focus. In the early 1980s, the Park District was sued over inequitable distribution of resources and settled with a consent decree.”--<I>Friends of the Park
“A lovely chronicle.”--<I>Chicago Magazine
“<I>The City in a Gardern<I> is a beautifully produced book with historical and contemporary photography that can only be classified as fine art. The historical information is fascinating. . . . This is an appropriate gift book for anyone interested in Chicago history or landscape design.”--Ann Kepler, <I>Midwest Engineer
Contents
Foreword, by Bill Kurtis
A History of Chicago's Parks, by Julia Sniderman Bachrach
Notes to the Essay
Park Profiles
Auburn
Burnham
Calumet
Douglas
Fuller
Garfield
Gompers
Grant
Hamilton
Humboldt
Indian Boundary
Jackson
La Follette
Lincoln
Marquette
McKinley
Ogden
Oz
Ping Tom Memorial
Portage
Pulaski
Pullman and Arcade
Rainbow Beach
Riis
Sherman
South Shore Cultural Center
Trumbull
Union
Washington
Washington Square
Glossary of Key Figures, Terms, and Organizations
Suggested Readings
Acknowledgments
About the Author and Photographers
For more information, or to order this book, please visit http://www.press.uchicago.edu
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Art: Photography
History: American History
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