Monument Park (Chicago, Illinois)

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Monument Park lies within the former Village of Edison Park, incorporated in 1881. Part of the old Town of Jefferson, the village was organized in an area once known as Canfield, probably for a Chicago & Northwestern Railway platform where local farmers left milk cans for delivery. By 1910, Edison Park's 300 residents, desiring city services, had annexed the village to Chicago. Several years later, the Edison Park Improvement Club led a successful effort to form an independent park board to develop neighborhood parks in the growing community. Monument Park was the first of four parks created by the new Edison Park District. Community residents, polled by mail, selected the one-acre park site just south of the Chicago & Northwestern right-of-way. After purchasing the property in mid-1913, the park district immediately began improving the site with plantings. Initially called Ridge Lawn Park, the site became known as Monument Park after 1918, when residents erected a large memorial "in Honor of Our Boys Who Served In The Army and Navy of the U.S.A. During the World War." The impressive black and white granite pillar still stands, surmounted by a limestone eagle from the old Cook County Courthouse, demolished before 1911. By the time the Edison Park District transferred Monument Park to the Chicago Park District in 1934, the site included symmetrical lawns, walks, trees, and shrubs in addition to the war memorial. The Chicago Park District soon added flowerbeds, a drinking fountain, and benches. Playground equipment installed in 1970 was upgraded 20 years later. www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks/Monument-Playlot-Park...
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