Crawford Playlot Park
History
The Chicago Park District acquired the property for this playlot in 1970 with the help of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The park was renamed Crawford in 1998. The playlot takes its name from a village which emerged in 1863 on undeveloped prairieland west of Chicago, along the newly-laid tracks of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. The Village of Crawford developed as a city suburb, and benefitted from the 1869 establishment of the West Park System, particularly Douglas Park, one of the system's first three parks. The village itself was named for Peter Crawford (1796-1876), an early settler who had purchased 160 acres and built a house along the Southwestern Plank Road, now Ogden Avenue.