Location:
3658 S. State St.
Chicago, IL 60609
Supervisor:
Drennon Jones (Wentworth Gardens Park)
Phone Numbers:
Main
(312) 747-6707
Hours
Park Hours
Description
Stateway Park is a 4.56 acre park located in the Douglas community area.
History
During and after World War I, many African-Americans arrived in the Douglas neighborhood from the rural south, and the community soon became the heart of Black Chicago. By the early 1940s, government urban renewal projects led to the demolition of much of the neighborhood's aging housing stock. New construction, primarily in the form of public housing, took its place. Among the new housing developments was the massive Stateway Gardens complex, designed by the architecture firm of Holabird & Root & Burgee, and built by the Chicago Housing Authority between 1955 and 1958.
As construction progressed, CHA began working with the Chicago Park District to create greenspaces for the new high-rises lining State Street. On January 1, 1959, the Park District began leasing the Stateway Gardens fieldhouse building, along with 7.5-acres of surrounding property. Stateway Park soon had baseball diamonds, a picnic area, basketball and horseshoe courts, and a swimming pool. A spray pool was added in 1966. The Park District rehabilitated both the swimming pool and the playground in the 1990s. In recent years, due to new development the park footprint has been reduced by approximately three acres and is now 4 acres plus in size of just greenspace.
Both Stateway Park and the surrounding housing development take their names from adjacent State Street. During the 19th century, State Street was a main north-south thoroughfare for the state of Illinois.