Bessemer (Henry) Park

The South Park Commission acquired land in 1904 for the creation of Bessemer Park.  This park was part of what proved to be a nationally influential neighborhood park system. At the time, vast numbers of immigrants were arriving in Chicago with hopes of achieving the "American dream." Instead, many found intolerable living and working conditions. The City’s existing parks were too far away to offer any relief. Superintendent J. Frank Foster conceived a new type of park for these areas. The innovative parks not only provided beautifully landscaped "breathing spaces," but also public bathing, the City’s first branch libraries, classes and vocational training, inexpensive hot meals, health care, and a variety of recreational programs. Nationally renowned landscape architects the Olmsted Brothers and architects Daniel H. Burnham and Co. designed the whole system of new parks. In addition to Bessemer Park, the neighborhood park system included Ogden, Sherman, Palmer, and Hamilton Parks, and Mark White, Russell, Davis, Armour, Cornell Squares.  Bessemer Park development included a fieldhouse that housed an assembly hall, lockers and showers for both men and women which were located on opposite sides of the building, and six clubrooms. The outdoor amenities were walks, lawns, an outdoor swimming pool, a wading pool, tennis courts, and athletic fields. The official opening of the park to the public took place with a dedication on September, 10, 1905. The 22 park districts were consolidated in 1934 to create the Chicago Park District and Bessemer Park became part of the Park District’s portfolio.  Streets were vacated in 1957 to complete the 20.27-acre park.

In 1907, Bessemer Park was named for Sir Henry Bessemer (1813-1898), an Englishman who perfected the process of making steel, which revolutionized the steel industry worldwide. The name is especially appropriate because the park is located a mile away from South Chicago's once-thriving steel mills.