Indigenous Peoples' Day & Native American Heritage Month

Parks Named After Indigenous Tribes, People or Land 

Blackhawk Park: Named to honor Chief Black Hawk, a leader of the Sac and Fox Nation, who led Native Americans during the Black Hawk War of 1832 against white settlers in Illinois.

Chippewa Park: Situated in the Norwood Park neighborhood, Chippewa Park is named after the Chippewa, or Ojibwe, people.

Hiawatha Park: Hiawatha Park honors an Onandaga Indian chief, who formed the League of Five Nations, the famed Iroquois confederation. Over the centuries, Hiawatha (ca. 1570) became an almost mystical figure for Native Americans, and poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) further mythologized him in "The Song of Hiawatha." The park name was suggested by community residents, who wished to carry on the tradition of naming Chicago parks for Indian tribes, people, and places.

Indian Boundary Park: Indian Boundary Park is named for a 1816 treaty line that restricted Pottawatomi, Odawa, and Ojibwe Native Americans from settling near the Chicago River with the U.S. government claiming the land.

Miami Playground: The Miami Tribe were one of nine distinct tribal groups living in the Great Lakes region between 1600 and 1760.

Portage Park: Portage Park is named for an old portage route used by Native Americans to carry canoes between the Chicago and Des Plaines Rivers, a route that also connected the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River.

Pottawattomie Park: Honoring the Potawatomi (or Pottawatomi) tribe, one of the tribal groups that lived around the Great Lakes and moved into the Chicago region. This park in the Rogers Park neighborhood is named to honor the Potawatomi people, who were one of the tribes of the "Council of Three Fires" that occupied the Chicago area. The spelling with two "t"s is an older variation.

Sauganash Park: The Sauganash neighborhood and park are named after Potawatomi chief Billy Caldwell, also known as Sauganash, who played a significant role in early Chicago history. 

Shabbona Park:  This park takes its name from the Potawatomi chief Shabbona (ca. 1775-1859). Shabbona and his people continued to live in northeastern Illinois well after the establishment of Chicago's Fort Dearborn in 1803. In the early 1830s, Shabbona warned white settlers of the Sac chief Black Hawk's intentions to take back his ancestral lands in western Illinois. 

Winnemac Park:  This park is named for the adjacent street. The roadway in turn takes its name from Winamac, an important chief of the Potawatomie Indians. Winamac, whose name meant "catfish," was a signer of the 1795 Treaty of Grenville, in which Great Lakes tribes surrendered the site of Chicago to the U.S. government.