Kells Playground Park
History
In 1924, the City of Chicago acquired an acre-and-3/4's of property using Water Bond Funds to construct the Chicago Avenue Water Tunnel. After the completion of the tunnel, the city determined that the land above the tunnel was suitable for use as a park. In 1942, the city's Bureau of Parks and Recreation installed playground equipment, a wading pool, a sand box, and a playing field that was flooded in the winter for ice skating. The city named the park for George D. Kells(c.1894-1959), alderman of the surrounding 28th ward from 1931 to 1951. (At the time, the city regularly named parks for standing aldermen of the wards in which the sites were located.) During World War I, Kells served as an attaché at the U.S. Embassy in France. A strong proponent of civil rights, he served as the Democratic state attachechairman from 1944 to 1950.
The Chicago Park District began leasing Kells Park in 1959. Over the years, the park district made a number of improvements to the site. New basketball courts were installed in 1979. In the early 1990s, the park district built a new soft surface playground and thoroughly replanted Kells Park's landscape.
