June 2, 2009
Maroons Contribute to the Community

CHICAGO -- The University of Chicago football team completed a community service project this past Saturday at Washington Park, as the squad spent the day trimming trees, cutting limbs, mulching, raking, hauling branches, and removing invasive plants on several acres of the more than 100-acre park.

The team's 2009 captains, seniors Chris Leamy (Glen Ellyn, Ill./ Glenbard South) and Cory Swaim (Tinley Park, Ill./ Lincoln-Way East), organized the event.

Located just a block west of Stagg Field on the University of Chicago campus, Washington Park has a rich history.  The city commissioners hired Frederick Law Olmsted, one of the innovators of American landscape architecture, to create the original plan for the park in the late 19th century. Washington Park and the nearby Midway Plaisance served as part of the 1890 Columbian Exposition, today's World’s Fair. 

The site was a treeless marsh with one redeeming aspect: a lagoon. After dredging the marsh and deepening the lagoon, Olmsted created beautiful terraces and grand pedestrian walkways throughout the complex that all led to the central area around the lagoon, which was surrounded by neo-classical styled buildings. This was one of the finest examples of Olmsted's blend of the naturalistic landscaping with large public buildings.