Garden of the Phoenix

Garden of the Phoenix. . , The Garden of the Phoenix symbolizes the mutual respect and friendship that Japan and the United States initiated more than 120 years ago. In 1893, here on Jackson Park's Wooded Island, the Japanese Government built the Ho-oh-den (Phoenix Temple) and its pavilion for the World's Columbian Exposition. The Ho-oh-den introduced Japan's artistic heritage to Americans and remained as a gift to Chicago after the Fair. The original pavilion had only a small garde; however, in the mid-1930s, the newly-formed Chicago Park District restored the pavilion and added a more extensive Japanese Garden. Funded by the Works Progress Administration, the project incorporated Japanese elements including a small tea house from Chicago's 1933-34 World's Fair, A Century of Progress, in Burhnam Park. After this site was repeatedly vandalized during world war two, fire destroyed the Phoenix Temple in 1946, less than a year after the war ended in the Pacific. Although Japan and America entered into a peace treaty in 1952, the garden deteriorated and received only minor improvements until the early 1980s, when the Chicago Park District received a federal grant for its restoration. Since then, the Garden of the Phoenix has been revitalized several times, including a 1992 project that celebrated Chicago's Sister City relationship with Osaka, Japan. Today, Chicago Park District works with non-profit organizations Project 120 Chicago and The Garden of the Phoenix Foundation to enhance, maintain, interpret and prmote the legacy of this historic garden and Jackson Park.