Chicago Women's Park and Gardens

Chicago Women's Park and Gardens celebrates the accomplishments of Chicago women throughout the city's history. Established by the City of Chicago in 1997, the park was designed by landscape architect Mimi McKay and architect Tannys Langdon. Their plan features elements of early 19th century period gardens appropriate to the Widow Clarke House such as geometric beds of cutting flowers, herbs, and vegetables. , , The park also incorporates small gathering spaces including an outdoor performance area and a fountain with low seating walls. Robinson Iron produced this shallow copper-coated cast iron fountain entitled Botanic Gardens Fountain. The geometric layout of paths represents society, while an outer curving path is a metaphor for women's lives sometimes lived within the boundaries of convention, and sometimes outside of them. , , Original iron fencing and commemorative signage located along the east side of the park provide a connection with the grand historic Prairie Avenue mansions that once occupied this space. In 2009, the City of Chicago transferred the ownership and operations of Chicago Women's Park and Gardens to the Chicago Park District. Since that time, over four million dollars of improvements have been made to the park which now includes a field house with an indoor children's playground, meeting rooms, club rooms, fitness studios, and a hands-on learning center for students. , , In keeping with the park's name and theme, in 2011 the Chicago Park District installed a relatively small, but extremely significant monument. The artwork pays tribute to Jane Addams (1860-1935), Chicago's famous social reformer and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Internationally renowned artist Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) created the monument, which was first dedicated on the city's lakefront in 1996. , , The sculpture was commissioned by the B.F. Ferguson Fund of the Art Institute of Chicago. Representatives of the Art Institute had selected Bourgeois because they knew that the surrealist artist would portray Jane Addams through a symbolically powerful artwork rather than a figurative sculpture. , , Bourgeois produced a series of carved granite hands mounted on rough-hewn granite bases. The monument, which is also known as Helping Hands, recognizes the humanity of Jane Addams' efforts, as well as the important way in which she impacted the individual lives of people in Chicago and throughout the nation.