Davis Square Park

4430 S. Marshfield Ave. Chicago IL 60609

Hours: Park: 6am - 11pm; Fieldhouse: M-F 11am - 10pm

Su 9am - 5:30pm

Park Supervisor:
Leo Pulido

(312) 747-6107

Description

Located in the New City Community area, Davis Square Park totals 8.29 acres. Fondly referred to as the “Back of the Yards” area the park field house features include 2 gymnasiums, an auditorium and a kitchen, a fitness center and Boxing Center. Outside, the park offers, baseball fields, basketball courts, athletic field for football or soccer, an artificial turf athletic field, an outdoor swimming pool, horseshoe area and a playground and interactive water spray feature. Many of these spaces are available for rental for athletic tournaments.

Park-goers can play baseball, basketball and seasonal sports at the facility. Afterschool programs are offered throughout the school year, and in the summer youth attend the Park District’s popular six-week day camp.

In addition to programs, Davis Square Park hosts fun special events throughout the year for the whole family, such as holiday events and Movies in the Park.

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SPRING PROGRAMS:
Register online or in-person for spring programs now. Spring programs run the week of April 1 through the week of June 3.

SUMMER PROGRAMS:
Online registration for our park’s summer programs begins Tuesday, April 16 at 9 am, and in-person registration begins Saturday, April 20. The standard 6-week summer camp program runs July 1 through August 9. Most other summer programs run the week of June 17 through the week of August 19.

FACILITIES

FACILITY TYPE	ADDRESS	QTY	NOTES
Baseball Field	4430 S. Marshfield Ave.	2
Basketball Court - Outdoor	4430 S. Marshfield Ave.	3
Boxing Gym	4430 S. Marshfield Ave.	1
Fieldhouse	4430 S. Marshfield Ave.	1
Fitness Centers	4430 S. Marshfield Ave.	1	M-F 11am-5pm, Sa. & Su. 9am-5pm,ADA Accessible Equipment Sign up for a membership
Football / Soccer - Grass	4430 S. Marshfield Ave.	2
Football / Soccer - Grass	4430 S. Marshfield Ave.	1
Football / Soccer - Turf	4430 S. Marshfield Ave.	1
Gymnasiums	4430 S. Marshfield Ave.	1	1 Large, 1 Medium
Meeting/Event Space	4430 S. Marshfield Ave.	4
Playgrounds	4430 S. Marshfield Ave.	1
Swimming Pools - Outdoor	4430 S. Marshfield Ave.	1	Closed for the season. Accessibility feature: Lift
Water Spray Features	4430 S. Marshfield Ave.	1

History

Davis Square was one of ten innovative parks which opened in 1905 to provide social services as well as breathing spaces to Chicago's congested tenement districts. Conceived by South Park Commission superintendent J. Frank Foster, these innovative parks included a new type of building, the fieldhouse, inspired by Chicago's renowned settlement houses. The fieldhouses included classrooms, club and assembly rooms, the earliest branches of the Chicago Public Library, cafeterias, gymnasiums, and locker and public bathing facilities. Renowned architects D.H. Burnham and Co. designed the buildings and Olmsted Brothers landscape architects laid out the whole system of new parks. In addition to Davis Square, the first ten parks included Mark White, Russell, Armour, and Cornell Squares, and Ogden, Sherman, Palmer, Bessemer, and Hamilton Parks. Included in Davis Square's classically-designed fieldhouse is a notable mural entitled Constructive Recreation: the Vital Force in Character Building. Painted by William Edouard Scott, an African-American muralist whose work received critical acclaim, it was originally displayed in another south side park. Davis Square pays tribute to Dr. Nathan Smith Davis (1817- 1904), one of the most significant figures in Chicago's medical history. Dr. Davis served as the chairman of physiology and general pathology for Rush Medical College. He went on to Lind University, forerunner to the medical department of Northwestern University. He was a founder of Mercy Hospital, the Chicago Medical Society, and the American Medical Association. Dr. Davis was also a prolific writer of medical texts and for many years served as editor of the Northwestern Medical Journal.