Friends of the Parks collection, Bulk, 1974-1979

The files in this collection came from "Accession 83-035," of the Metropolitan Housing and Planning Council records [MHPC records].

The files in this collection cover the early years of the Friends of the Park, with particular emphasis on the years from 1975 to 1980. They include correspondence, newsletters, position statements, newspaper clippings, legal documents, and reports on park activities and on issues of concern to the Friends of the Parks. This collection has a small number of files that predate the organization's creation.

The provenance of this collection is uncertain, but it appears to have been compiled by members of the Metropolitan Housing and Planning Council or the Business and Professional People for the Public Interest. It is also possible that some of the files in this collection may have come from records created by Lois Weisberg, one of the founders of Friends of the Parks, or by Sara Segal Wise, its first president.

None.

FRIENDS OF THE PARKS

Administrative History

In 1974, journalist Jory Graham wrote an article for The Chicagoan entitled "A Slow Death for the Parks." Graham chronicled what she believed was the Chicago Park District's pattern of mismanagement and neglect of the city's parks, and she called for a new organization to address these issues. Two Chicago-area activists, Lois Weisberg and Vicky Ranney, heeded Graham's call and created the Friends of the Parks in 1975 with the help of other public-interest groups, including the Business and Professional People for the Public Interest, the Chicago League of Women Voters, the Metropolitan Housing and Planning Council, and the Open Lands Project. Claiming that "[t]oday, many of our parks are deserted, unsafe or inaccessible," they promised "to return the parks to the people" and to "press for better maintenance and safety, more land, and more programs with community participation."

The new organization monitored the Chicago Park District's stewardship of the parks. It submitted potential candidates for the district's board of commissioners. It advocated the removal of an absentee commissioner. It recommended reforms that it hoped would make the district's budget more transparent. And finally, it advocated for more land for parks and promoted "co-operative planning" between park district officials and community groups to save existing parks.

Friends of the Park also advanced new ideas to attract more people to the parks. Some of these included the Chicago Shakespeare Festival; the "Big Sweep," an effort to marshal volunteers to clean parks; a "cross country ski clinic" to introduce Chicagoans to winter sports; long-distance running events, one of which eventually became the Chicago Marathon; and a "monumental sculpture" plan "to involve art lovers in a major sculpture in Lincoln Park." It also conducted surveys of park users' preferences, including an extensive study of concession stands.

From the 1980s through the 2010s, the Friends of the Parks has published reports on the state of the parks, issued newsletters, participated in numerous advisory committees, and allied itself with likeminded neighborhood park organizations. It has thereby continued its stated mission of preserving, protecting, improving and promoting "the use of parks, forest preserves and recreational areas for the benefit of all neighborhoods and citizens" in Chicago.

None.

Friends of the Parks collection, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Names
  • Chicago Park District.
  • Friends of the Parks (Chicago, Ill.). -- Archives
  • Ranney, Victoria Post
  • Weisberg, Lois
• Subject
  • City planning.
  • Parks.
  • Waterfronts.
• Geographic CoverageIllinois--Chicago.