GOLD COAST — It's where a public forum rivaling London's Speakers' Corner once drew scribes such as Carl Sandburg and Studs Terkel.
It's where serial killer John Wayne Gacy used to pick up his victims.
And now, Washington Square Park in the Gold Coast is where a group of volunteers is taking over.
A park advisory council formed by a former park board commissioner has been working over the past year to restore the national landmark's historic charm. The 30-something-strong group has worked with the Chicago Park District to repaint the park's benches, maintain its bump-out boxes around the perimeter, and cut down 11 trees infected by emerald ash borers at 901 N. Clark St.
"Once you get people to take ownership, anything can happen," said Cindy Mitchell, the group's organizer and former park board commissioner.
A repainted bench at the park, 901 N. Clark St. [DNAinfo/David Matthews]
It's the latest renewal effort for the park, which was established in 1842 after the American Land Company donated three acres to the city. The park, which lies next to the Newberry Library, has since gone through cycles of booms and busts. It survived the Great Chicago Fire, and in the early 1900s Col. Robert R. McCormick and Jens Jensen added a new fountain and landscaping.
By the 1910s the park evolved into a popular public forum known as "Bughouse Square" that lasted through the 1960s. The ashes of the aforementioned Terkel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and broadcaster who frequented the forum, were scattered throughout the site.
But by the time Mitchell, also a co-founder of Friends of the Parks, moved to a nearby home on Delaware Place in the 1980s, the park had grown and remained "seedy." It particularly became known as a hangout for prostitutes, some of whom fell victim to Gacy.
"There was no fence, no gardens ... just ugly plastic chess tables," she said.
Mitchell led a charge then to restore the park, including reconstructing McCormick's fountain, and the park was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
With the council, neighbors now have an official fundraising mechanism to maintain the park and build programming.
Cindy Mitchell by the park's fountain. [DNAinfo/David Matthews]
An annual remnant of the forum, the Bughouse Square Debates, will return to the park at noon, July 25. A "Painting in the Park" event with the Plein Air Painters will be held Aug. 29. And the park is one of just six in Chicago to host a literal "piano in the park" for people to play through July 19.
The council will form a garden club next year and is raising money to plant new perennials.
Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd), whose ward oversees the park, said the group represents "the best of community intentions."
"When you think park programming you think balls and frisbees, and that's fine, too, but this area has higher expectations," he said. "This whole parcel of land has such a history."
The council meets monthly at the Newberry, 60 W. Walton St. Check out the group's new website or Facebook page for more information.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
