Saturday, December 29, 2007

The History of Garfield Park

I'm reading this beautiful book about the Garfield Park Conservatory and Chicago's West Side entitled, Inspired By Nature. There are photos of the horse track that used to be in the south part of the park. It was designed as a park in the 1870's and has gone through numerous alterations. The conservatory itself was designed by Jens Jensen in 1904. The introduction was beautifully written by Alex Kotlowitz. He captures the soul of the community. The book quotes some prominent west siders such as Mary Nelson, the founder of Bethel New Life and Mrs. Nettie Bailey, my next door neighbor.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have read the book too. It is pretty captivating. I really enjoyed it.

Bill