Armour (Philip) Square Park

The South Park Commissioners acquired the land for this park in 1904.  Development of the park included a fieldhouse, with four clubrooms, two gymnasiums, an assembly hall, and large lobby.  Outdoor amenities such as lawns, walks, and plantings were installed and recreational facilities included an outdoor swimming pool, baseball and football fields, handball and tennis courts, and a children’s playground.  The development was completed in 1905 and there was a dedication of the park that same year.  In 1906, the year after Armour Square opened to the public, President Theodore Roosevelt described the square and nine other related properties as "the most notable civic achievement in any American city."  The South Park Commission created the ten new innovative parks to improve the difficult living conditions in Chicago's congested tenement districts. Nationally renowned landscape architects the Olmsted Brothers and architects Daniel H. Burnham and Co. designed the entire system.  The South Park Commission was one of 22 independent park commissions consolidated into the Chicago Park District in 1934.

The first ten included five squares smaller than ten acres in size, and five parks larger than ten acres. In addition to Armour Square, these were Mark White, Russell, Davis and Cornell Squares, and Ogden, Sherman, Palmer, Bessemer and Hamilton Parks. These properties soon influenced the development of other parks throughout the nation.

An ordinance was passed on August 17, 1904 to name the park Armour Square to honor Philip D. Armour (1832-1901), Chicago's "captain of industry." Owner and operator of the largest meatpacking company in the world, Armour donated a large amount of his fortune to charitable and educational institutions. These included a settlement house, the Armour Mission, and a school known as the Armour Institute of Technology, later renamed the Illinois Institute of Technology.