Long-awaited DuSable Park takes a big step forward

At just 3.4 acres, the long-awaited $15 million Jean-Baptiste Point DuSable Park won't be the city's largest public green space, but it has the potential to be one of the best.

As it should be. The park is planned for an absolutely prime spot east of DuSable Lake Shore Drive that is bounded by the Chicago River, the Ogden Slip and the lake.

Chicagoans have waited 38 years for this park honoring DuSable, watching previous plans come and go.

But the wait now appears to be ending.

The DuSable's very talented lead designers, Ross Barney Architects and Brook Architecture, submitted the project's design and construction documents to the Chicago Park District this month.

That means the park is now likely on track to be completed summer 2027, officials said.

"Everyone just wants to see this park built," Chicago Park District Director of Planning and Development Heather Gleason said.

"It's been a long wait and we know it," she said. "And so we're really dedicated to getting a park there in and making it usable and beautiful for the city."

"This park needs to be a jewel," said Carol Ross Barney, design principal and founder of Ross Barney Architects.

Park features to honor DuSable

In addition to its location, the park's most compelling element might be the way its features will honor and interpret the life of DuSable.

The Haitian-born trader and businessman set-up shop in the 1780s just west of the park at the original mouth of the river, making him among the first non-Indigenous people to take advantage of the economic potential of what would later become Chicago.

The park will memorialize DuSable with an entry plaza that leads to a promenade that runs elliptically around the site.

Brook Architecture will design a pavilion in which parkgoers can learn more about DuSable, his Potawatomi wife, Kitihawa, and their real estate holdings on their riverfront site.

"It'll be a special place as set aside for reflecting, that faces the lake," Brook Architecture President RaMona Westbrook said. "It's really to show the expansiveness of DuSable's estate and, personally, to cone against the narrative that he was [just] a fur trader in a cabin."

A boardwalk is planned for the park, as are wetlands, prairies, a trio of hills, a connection to the Navy Pier Flyover and a statue of DuSable.

Another unusual feature about the park is its funding. Related Midwest — developers of the 400 N. Lake Shore Drive residential project under construction across Lake Shore Drive from the park site — is covering $10 million of the project's $15 million cost.

"I think this is a really great example of a kind of public-private partnership," said Ann Thompson, executive vice president of architecture and design at Related Midwest. "That's so powerful for the city and allows these kind of transformational projects to happen"

Indeed, it is a nice gesture — having a big lakeside park (that's also connected to the Chicago Riverwalk) right at your project's front door doesn't hurt a developer's bottom line.

"It's not a bad thing," Thompson said with a laugh. "It's certainly additive."

Can a small budget create a great park?

The park awaits more approvals after the park district gives its nod. The plan must also go before the Chicago Plan Commission to make sure its in line with the Lakefront Protection Ordinance. And later, the City Council must sign off on it as well.

But once done, the park has the potential to be a boon to Chicago, its lakefront, and the ongoing scholarship about DuSable.

"It's something that should've happened years ago," said DuSable Park Advisory Committee member Peggy Montes, 88, who has been pushing to get the park built since she, then-Mayor Harold Washington, the late DuSable Museum founder Margaret Burroughs, and the museum's chief curator Ramon Price — who was Washington's brother — hatched the idea back in 1987.

"It was the four of us ... and I'm the only one still here, trying to make that legacy come true," Montes said.

But DuSable Park has to carry the weight of being a place that tells the history of DuSable and Chicago, while also being an attractive place for relaxation and recreation.

And that's a big lift. Especially for a $15 million construction budget — which is relative peanuts when it comes to designing and building what should be an important public space.

For instance, last year's restoration of the Cloudgate plaza at Millenium Park somewhere between $7 million and $10 million.

Architects Barney and Westbrook have the design talent to deliver a great space, no doubt. But one can't help but wonder how much more they could deliver — Barney is lead architect of the award-winning Riverwalk — with a bit more cash on the table.

After all, decades of community input and advocacy have helped shape what will be DuSable Park. The public deserves a space that's worth the effort — and the wait.