Buckeye Playlot Park
History
Buckeye Park's north side Albany Park neighborhood has long been known as a point of entry for immigrants to Chicago. In 1958, the city purchased property on North Troy Street to develop a playlot for the diverse community. The following year, the city transferred the site to the Chicago Park District, along with more than 250 other properties. By the early 1960s, the new park had playground equipment, a sand box, and a curving limestone wall for seating. Twenty years later, the park district rehabilitated the site, laying new asphalt and planting new shade trees. In 1992, the park district had the property appraised in anticipation of selling it. In subsequent years, the playground equipment was removed, and local residents planted a community garden on the vacant lot. Future plans for the park are uncertain.
Officially designated Buckeye Park in the mid-1970s, the property was one of many parks named for trees and plants at the time. A relative of the horse chestnut, the buckeye can be found throughout the forests of the midwestern United States. The tree's glossy, dark brown nut gave rise to its name; American pioneers thought the nut resembled the eye of a buck deer. The Buckeye is the state tree of Ohio, and Ohio's residents, as well as Ohio State University's sports teams, are known as Buckeyes.