Grand Crossing Park

Grand Crossing Park and its surrounding community take their name from a historic train wreck which occurred less than a mile away from the site of the park. In the early 1850s, a number of railroad lines linking southern states to downtown Chicago began extending through the neighborhood. In 1853, a terrible collision between Illinois Central and Michigan Southern Railroad trains resulted in 18 deaths and 40 injuries. Public officials responded by forcing all trains to come to a complete stop at 75th Street and South Chicago Avenue, the site of the accident. Although signal lights were installed, the intersection remained dangerous until the tracks were finally elevated in 1912. Because of the extensive railroad service, the area developed early. By the 1880s, Greater Grand Crossing included numerous factories and workers' homes. The neighborhood was annexed to Chicago in 1889. The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in nearby Jackson Park spurred further growth. By 1907, the South Park Commission began efforts to create a park for the expanding population. Bolstered by the recent success of its ten revolutionary parks, the South Park Commissioners wanted to provide similar facilities for Grand Crossing, including a playground, a playing field, wading and swimming pools, and a fieldhouse. After acquiring 17 acres of land between 1908 and 1910, the South Park Commission hired the Olmsted Brothers, landscape designers of the previous neighborhood parks, to lay out Grand Crossing and three other new parks. In-house South Park Commission designers modified the Olmsteds' proposals to create a single plan for both Grand Crossing and Trumbull Parks. The plans differed only in that their orientation was reversed. The two parks also have identical classically designed fieldhouses, constructed in 1914. Since 1934, Grand Crossing Park has been part of the Chicago Park District.