Carmen Playlot Park (c/o Broadway Armory Park)
History
Chicago's post-World War II housing shortages brought dramatic change to the Uptown community. Many of the area's large homes and mansions were divided into multiple units, while others were replaced with modern apartment buildings. To better serve the growing population, the City of Chicago's Bureau of Parks and Recreation created a small municipal playground in 1951. Named for the street on which it is located, Carmen Park makes reference to French composer Georges Bizet's famous opera, Carmen. The city turned Carmen Park over to the Chicago Park District in 1959, along with more than 250 other properties. Re-planting the landscape and adding new playground equipment in the 1960s, the park district made further improvements in the early 1990s.
