In 1990, the Dearborn Park Corporation donated this park site in its ambitious residential development to the Chicago Park District. The park was officially named Indigo Bird in 1998 after the indigo bird, or indigo bunting, which was among the animals described as "common" in an 1850 catalogue of Chicago-area fauna. In 2005 as part of an effort by the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners to recognize the contributions of Chicago women, the park was renamedMary Jane Richardson Jones Park. Jones (1819–1910) was an abolitionist and philanthropist who played an important role in Chicago’s Underground Railroad. The daughter of a free African American blacksmith, she married John Jones, the son of a freed slave. The couple the settled in Chicago in 1845, a time when there were only 140 African Americans residing in a city of 12,000. The Joneses’ played an important role in the Underground Railroad Movement, which helped runaway slaves from the south relocate to the north and Canada. Their own Near South Side home provided one of only two Underground Railroad terminals in the area. This was a risky endeavor because the laws at that time made harboring fugitive slaves punishable by a large fine and possible imprisonment for free Blacks. It is believed that the Joneses help hundreds of African Americans find safety. Mary Jones was also a suffragette, and leaders in the suffrage movement such as Susan B. Anthony, stayed in the Jones home when visiting Chicago.

Contact: Edie Tikoff

Contact Title: President

Phone: (312) 294-9903

Email: egt312@hotmail.com

Meeting Date/Time: 3rd Monday of the month, quarterly at 7:00 p.m.

For directions using public transportation visit www.transitchicago.com.