13th Street Playlot Park
History In 1885, the City of Chicago acquired property on West Thirteenth Street on the teeming Near West Side for the use by its police and fire departments. The city eventually turned the site over to the Bureau of Parks and Recreation for development as a playlot. By 1950, the property had a spray pool, playground equipment, and a sand box. Following its general practice, the bureau named the park for the adjacent street. In 1959, the city transferred Thirteenth Street Park to the Chicago Park District, along with more than 250 other properties. Although the park district installed security lighting in 1975, by 1990 the park had deteriorated significantly. Several years later, noting the park's unfavorable location next to a manufacturing plant and across the street from a tavern, the park district removed all remaining playground equipment in anticipation of selling the property.
