Jackson Park Loop Hike

Jackson Park totals 551.52 acres and features Wooded Island – which includes the Japanese Garden – Bobolink Meadows, cherry blossom trees around the Columbian Basin, and a vegetable and flower garden.

After the state legislature created the South Park Commission in 1869, the renowned designers of New York’s Central Park, Frederick Law Olmsted, and Calvert Vaux, were hired to layout the 1055-acre park. Known originally as South Park, the landscape had eastern and western divisions connected by a grand boulevard named the Midway Plaisance. The eastern division became known as Lake Park; however, in 1880 the commission asked the public to suggest official names for both the eastern and western Divisions. Jackson and Washington were proposed, and the following year, Lake Park was renamed Jackson Park to honor Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), the seventh president of the United States.

In 1890, Chicago won the honor of hosting the World’s Columbian Exposition, and Jackson Park was selected as its site. Olmsted and Chicago’s famous architect and planner Daniel H. Burnham laid out the fairgrounds. A team of the nation’s most significant architects and sculptors created the “White City” of plaster buildings and artworks. The monumental World’s Fair opened to visitors on May 1, 1893. After it closed six months later, the site was transformed back into parkland. Jackson Park featured the first public golf course west of the Alleghenies, which opened in 1899. Today, two structures remain as impressive symbols of the World’s Columbian Exposition. The “Golden Lady” sculpture is a smaller version of Daniel Chester French’s Statue of the Republic which originally stood at the foot of the Court of Honor. The original Fine Arts Palace now houses Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry.

This is the first hike without covid mandates in Chicago. We have only a few hikes left in the “60 Hikes within 60 Miles of Chicago,” and today we start the day at Jackson Park. The hike smells fresh with life and my dad tells a story about his friend, Jay.

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The Clarence Darrow Bridge is closed and we took the unadvised route anyway. The bridge provides a great view of the Museum of Science and Industry. On the West side of the bridge is the proposed location for the President Obama Library.

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This garden has been referred to as the Garden of the Phoenix or the Osaka Garden. In 1893, on Jackson Park’s Wooded Island, the Japanese Government built the Ho-o-den [Phoenix Temple] as its pavilion for the World’s Columbian Exposition. The Ho-o-den introduces Japan’s artistic heritage to Americans and remained as a gift to Chicago after the fair ended. The original pavilion had only a small garden, however, in the 1930s the newly formed Chicago Park District restored the pavilion and added a more extensive Japanese Garden. The garden has been revitalized several times throughout the 1900s, including a 1992 project that celebrated Chicago’s Sister City relationship with Osaka, Japan.

One of the garden’s most beautiful features is the springtime blossoming of its cherry trees. These trees have been extended beyond the garden as well and can typically be seen in late April to early May blooming around Jackson Park’s Columbia Basin. The Japanese tradition of enjoying the beauty of flowers is known as hanami. Each spring, the blossoming trees in Jackson Park enter a peak bloom period for about 6 to 10 days, an ideal time to visit the park and enjoy your own hanami experience.

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You’ll need to watch the video because I read the history and purpose of Yoko’s Skylanding sculpture.

We are on the south side of the lagoon and having trouble figuring out where to go next. Luckily, the Good Humor Man is near. As you see in the video, this is a lost 360° moment. Eventually, we figure ourselves out.

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