Abbott (Robert) Park

The Chicago Park District acquired the site of Abbott Park as part of a ten-year plan to increase recreational opportunities in under-served neighborhoods in post-World War II Chicago. In 1947, the Citizens Advisory Committee on Park Sites recommended the creation of a park to serve the rapidly growing African-American community near 95th Street and Michigan Avenue. The park district purchased the property southeast of that intersection in 1949-50, and built a swimming pool and recreational facility the following year. In 1956, the park district sold a portion of the parkland to the Board of Education for use as Harlan High School. Robert Sengstacke Abbott (1868-1940), for whom the park is named, founded the influential Chicago Defender in 1905. Born in Georgia, Abbott received his education in southern schools, and graduated from Chicago's Kent College of Law. He was the only African-American in the class of 1899. Abbott's lofty goal was to eliminate racial prejudice through his newspaper. To promote racial equality, Abbott and his Defender urged southern blacks to migrate to Chicago and other northern cities for greater economic opportunity. By 1918, the influential newspaper had a national circulation of 125,000, making it the largest-selling black newspaper in the country. President of his Abbott Publishing Company, Abbott also was active in civic affairs. He served on Governor Frank O. Lowden's Race Relations Committee in 1919; on the Board of Commissioners of the Chicago World's Fair in 1934; and on the boards of the Art Institute, the Field Museum, and the Chicago Historical Society.