Columbus Park has long been a staple in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, hosting everything from golfing and fishing to family and neighborhood gatherings.
At a recent virtual event put on by the Chicago Architecture Center, Tom Drebenstedt, a docent at the center for over 35 years, shared some of the history behind the over 140 acres of Columbus Park, 500 S. Central Ave.
Jens Jensen was the Danish-American architect behind Columbus Park. He was also West Park Commission General Superintendent and Chief Landscape Architect and had a hand in redesigning Humboldt Park, Garfield Park and Douglass Park, according to Drebenstedt.
But Columbus Park was a new project with a clean slate.
West Park commissioners bought the land for Columbus Park in 1912 from the Catholic Church, Drebenstedt said. In designing the park, Jensen was largely inspired by the prairie.
“Folks didn’t get to go out into the countryside. So, his objective was, ‘I’m going to bring the northern Illinois prairie into the city,’” Drebenstedt said of Jensen’s vision for Columbus Park.
Columbus Park is divided into four parts: prairie meadow, forest, prairie river and a play area for children.
Jensen included native plants in the prairie meadow. Hawthorn trees were planted around the park, thought to be Jensen’s favorite tree since they’re often wider than they are tall.
“He said they reflected the horizontality of the prairie that we all live on,” Drebenstedt said.
The center of the park boasts the prairie river area. The man-made river is no more than eight-feet deep, Drebenstedt said. Other water features include waterfalls with stratified stone surrounding two brooks.
In the children’s recreation area, Jensen added a council ring, his favorite feature in Columbus Park. The circular stone bench was inspired by Nordic history and First Nation people, who settled in what is now Canada. Both, Drebenstedt said, sat in circles to discuss the likes of politics and hunting strategies.
Next to the council ring is the sculpture “Flock,” made in 2014 by Margot McMahon. The contemporary art piece is a part of a program organized by the Chicago Park District, where artists beautify trees that are past their prime.
“If you read Jensen’s notes from the 1930s, when he was reflecting on his park, he wanted birdhouses installed around the children’s area so that kids would appreciate birds,” Drebenstedt said. “So it’s kind of fitting.”
Beside the sculpture is the prairie-style shelter, believed to be designed by John Van Bergen. The shelter is made from striated limestone, “as we would find if we went down the Illinois River,” Drebenstedt said.
Other elements of the park favor more of a Romantic Revival architecture style than a prairie one, Drebenstedt said. He added that this was partially because West Park commissioners hired other architects to design additional buildings, and because the prairie style was becoming less popular in the 1920s.
That’s why the Refectory Building, a popular wedding spot, has tall, rounded windows and a vaulted ceiling.
The boat house, built in 1922, is more in a Mediterranean style of architecture, according to Drebenstedt. Volunteers work with the Chicago Park District to maintain the prairie across the lagoon from the boat house.
And the fieldhouse is in the Tudor style, housing a fitness center, two gyms and several meeting rooms. Above the fieldhouse’s main doors, a “CP” is carved into the stone, standing for Columbus Park.
Columbus Park also offers a nine-hole golf course, fishing lagoon, outdoor swimming pool, fields for baseball, football and soccer, plus courts for basketball, pickleball and tennis.
For all its amenities, some see areas where Columbus Park could improve.
This summer, Columbus Park Advisory Council Bernard Clay was worried about security measures at the park.
Around the time of Douglass Park’s name change – to honor abolitionist Frederick Douglass instead of Stephen A. Douglas, who advocated for slavery – there was also a push to rename Columbus Park, called after Christopher Columbus, who killed many Indigenous people when he “discovered” America.
In 2020, Austin residents Temaka Williams, Vanessa Stokes and Crystal Gardner started a campaign to rename Columbus Park, but their efforts haven’t yet come to fruition.
But for all Columbus Park has to offer, Drebenstedt said people should visit to fully experience it.
“The best way to explore a park is to go take a walk, just wander through the park,” Drebenstedt said.
Columbus Park is located at 500 S. Central Ave. and open daily from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.