Haas (Joseph) Park

Haas Park honors Joseph F. Haas (1857-1928), a widely-respected public servant. Over his 42-year career in public office, Haas was a school trustee in the Town of Jefferson, a Chicago alderman, Secretary of the Sanitary District, a state senator, Cook County Clerk, Cook County Recorder, and Secretary of the West Park Commission.

The City purchased the land for this park just two months after Haas' death in 1928, and completed park plans before year's end. At the time, the surrounding Logan Square neighborhood was in the midst of a residential building boom. Large courtyard apartment buildings were springing up beside existing graystones, and open space was quickly disappearing. The new park included a small recreational building with an open-air shelter house, which the City's Department of Parks and Recreation enclosed around 1947. The City transferred the park site, along with more than 250 others, to the Chicago Park District in 1957 pursuant to the Chicago Park and City Exchange of Functions Act.  In 2005, the Chicago Park District acquired land to expand the park.  In 2006, Fairfield Avenue was closed for park expansion and the Chicago Park District entered into an agreement for the State of Illinois Department of Natural Resources to use park land.