Woodlawn Playlot Park
History
In 1950, the City of Chicago purchased land at 74th Street and South Woodlawn Avenue in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood for park development. The city's Bureau of Parks and Recreation began improvements the same year, and the site was soon outfitted with playground equipment and a sand box. Following its general practice, the bureau named the park for the adjacent street. Woodlawn Avenue takes its name from Chicago's Woodlawn community, developed by the South Side Realty Association and annexed to Chicago in 1889. Woodlawn experienced dramatic growth in anticipation of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in nearby Jackson Park.
In 1959, the city transferred Woodlawn Park to the Chicago Park District along with more than 250 other properties. Four years later, the park district repaved the park, installed new playground equipment, and planted new trees. Security lighting followed in 1975. The property is now vacant, and the park's future is uncertain.