Chicago has some wonderful
large parks, Lincoln Park, Washington Park, Garfield Park, Humboldt Park. Big
green places that you can get lost in. However, peppered throughout the
neighborhoods are these little postage stamp parks. Some very tiny, others a block
or two square. We are lucky to live just a half block from two of those. To
the west is Mather Park, always full of high school kids and soccer matches,
and to the north is Green Briar Park. For three years I have been driving past
Green Briar Park and have never set foot inside it, until today. That's because
it was across Peterson Avenue, a four lane very busy street. The only reason I
ever walk across Peterson is to get a hot dog at Wolfy's. All I knew about Green Briar
was that in the late afternoon and early evening hours you could hear the
screams and laughter of children wafting across the busy street. I also knew
that it is where I would vote if I didn't early vote or vote by mail.
This is the Green Briar Park
field house. Most of Chicago parks have these structures that were built for
many uses. My older brother got his health care at one of these field houses
when he was a baby. Back when many tenements didn't have showers or bathtubs, you could get a shower at the fieldhouse. Here is an excerpt from a WTTW article. "J. Frank Foster
took the job of superintendent of Chicago’s Park System in 1891. Foster had a
much more progressive idea for what a park could be. And he executed that
vision in a system of smaller neighborhood parks that impacted the lives of
Chicago’s working class for the better. These innovative parks were just the
beginning in bringing amenities such as swimming pools, branch
libraries, gymnasiums, ball fields, and fieldhouses offering a wide variety of
programs and services." (From
WTTW Channel 11)
