Taylor (Robert Rochon) Park

Taylor Park in Bronzeville sits on West 47th Street, at the heart of the former Robert Taylor Homes, once the nation's largest public housing project. The Chicago Housing Authority developed the Taylor Homes in the early 1960s, cutting a wide swath along the western edge of Bronzeville, Chicago's historic "Black Metropolis."

The housing complex, designed by Shaw, Metz, and Associates, included a substantial community building with various meeting rooms and a combination gymnasium and assembly hall. In 1962, the CHA began to lease this community building, along with 7.5 acres surrounding it, to the Chicago Park District. The following year, the park district installed tennis courts, a playground, and extensive plantings on the property. In 1967, CHA sold a small portion of the land to the park district, which in turn constructed a new swimming pool there.

The park and the surrounding housing complex honor Robert Rochon Taylor (1890--1959), the first African-American to head the CHA. Born in Tuskegee, Alabama, Taylor obtained a graduate degree in architecture from Howard University. Relocating to Chicago, he began building small, affordable homes for blacks. His work soon drew the attention of Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears and Roebuck and one of Chicago's foremost philanthropists.

In 1929, Taylor helped Rosenwald and Rosenwald's nephew, fellow architect Ernest A. Grunsfeld, Jr., plan the Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments, the city's first low-income housing complex for African-Americans. Taylor managed the Michigan Boulevard development until his death in 1959.

Taylor's work on the Michigan Boulevard development led to his appointment to the CHA board of directors, on which he served from 1938 to 1950. He became CHA chairman in 1943.