CALUMET REGION SITES
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  • Blues Brothers South Chicago Sites Tour Home
    • Blues Brothers South Chicago Sites Tour 2
    • Blues Brothers South Chicago Sites Tour 3
    • Blues Brothers Southeast Chicago Sites Tour 4
  • Calumet Region Green Sites Tour
    • South Chicago LEED Designation From Pollution to Solution: LEEDing the Way in Southeast Chicago
    • Green Buildings >
      • Advocate Trinity Hospital, 2320 East 93rd Street
      • A Metal Scrap, 9301 S. Baltimore Avenue
      • AOS, 2835 East 106th Street
      • Casa Kirk Apartment Complex, 3236 to 3260 East 92nd Street
      • Claretian Housing's "Buffalo Bunch"
      • Harry B. Deas 4th District Police Station, 2255 East 103rd Street
      • Heppner House, 8628 S. Marquette Avenue
      • 7th & 10th Ward Streets and Sanitation Building, 9160 S. Mackinaw Avenue
      • Solar Verde Estates, 96th Street and Marquette Avenue
      • South Chicago’s First LEED-Certified Building
      • Southeast Environmental Task Force (SETF) Office, 13300 S. Baltimore Avenue
      • Southeast Side Elementary School,
      • Victory Centre of South Chicago
      • Villa Guadalupe
      • James F. Vodak East Side Library, 3710 East 106th Street
      • Vaccaro Trucking, 10554 S. Muskegon Avenue
      • 8555 S. Green Bay Avenue
    • Green Gardens >
      • Artists Garden, 8951 S. Brandon Avenue
      • Bowen High School Campus Green Corps Gardens
      • Buffalo Seniors Inspirational Garden
      • Hoxie Prairie Garden, 10549 S. Hoxie Avenue
      • Laquan McDonald and Trayvon Martin Community Gardens
      • Marian R. Byrnes Nature Area, Van Vlissingen Prairie, East 103rd Street
      • South Chicago Senior Citizens Garden, 3130 E. 92nd Street
      • Victory Garden, 8915 S. Exchange Avenue
      • 88th and Exchange Block Club Garden, 8805 S. Exchange Avenue
    • Green Open Spaces and Parks >
      • Big Marsh Mountain Bike Park, 116th Street & Stony Island Avenue
      • Chicago VeloDrome Campus, 87th Street and Buffalo Avenue
      • Clara D. Schafer Park, 89th - 90th S. Mackinaw Avenue
      • Dead Stick Pond, 122nd Street and Stony Island Avenue
      • Eggers Grove Forest Preserve, 112th Street and Avenue E
      • Hegewisch Marsh, 130th Street and Torrence Avenue
      • Heron Pond, South 122nd Street
      • Indian Creek
      • Indian Ridge Marsh, 122nd Street, between Stony Island and Torrence Avenues
      • John Beniac “Beans” Greenway, 3925 E. 104th Street
      • Our Lady Gate of Heaven Parking Lot Bioswale, 2338 East 99th Street
      • Powderhorn Lake and Prairie, 138th Street and Brainerd Avenue:
      • South Chicago People’s Park, 9100 S. Buffalo Avenue
      • Steelworkers Memorial Park, East 87th Street and Lake Michigan
      • Wolf Lake’s William W. Powers Conservation Area & Wolf Lake’s Hammond, Indiana, Memorial Park
  • PUBLIC ART TOUR
    • SOUTH CHICAGO PEOPLE'S PARK, 91st Street and Buffalo Avenue
    • ARCHITECTURE >
      • James H. Bowen High School
      • Henry Bessemer Park Field House
      • BURLEY APARTMENTS -- COMMUNITY ROOM
      • Immaculate Conception Church 88th and Commercial Avenue
      • Macias Produce, 8933 S. Commercial Avenue
      • MB National Bank
      • Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 3200 E. 91st Street
      • St. Michael the Archangel Church
      • SkyArt
    • "Drive-By" Art >
      • Drive-By Art, 83rd Street and South Shore Drive
      • Germano-Millgate Apartment Complex, 87th and Burley
      • 1st Choice Market
      • 79th Street & Exchange Avenue "Drive-By Art" Wall
    • Murals >
      • Block-long Mural, 87th Street & Baltimore
      • BLUES BROTHERS MURAL AT CALUMET FISHERIES, 95TH STREET & THE CALUMET RIVER
      • Community Heroes Mural at 91st Street & Commercial Avenue
      • "FAMILIA" MURAL AT METROPOLITAN FAMILY SERVICES, 3062 E. 91st Street
      • From "Jersey Barriers" to "Infocades" -- Barricades as a Muralist's Canvases
      • Mural, "the Crucible," at US Bank, 92nd Street & Commercial Avenue, South Chicago
      • Eduardo Luna with X-Men -- Murals at Brandon Avenue, near 92nd Street
      • 100th Street "East Side Pride" Mural
      • "South Chicago Together As One" Mural, 90th Street & Commercial Avenue
      • Southeast Corner of 87th Street & Houston Avenue
      • Vietnam War Veterans Memorial and Mural, 91st Street & Brandon Ave.
    • Sculpture >
      • Columbus Statue and Drake Fountain, 92nd Street and Exchange Avenue
      • Ironworkers Sculpture and Veterans Memorial, 100th Street, Ewing Avenue and Indianapolis Boulevard
      • South Chicago Art Center Sculpted Planters 3217 E. 91st Street
      • Steel Garden, by Richard Hunt, 79th Street and US-41
      • Steelworkers Memorial Statue, 87th Street and Lake Michigan


Steelworkers Memorial Park, East 87th Street and Lake Michigan 


Steelworkers Memorial Park, East 87th Street and Lake Michigan 
​

In an experiment to landscape the 40 foot deep slag base of the former steel mill site, a layer of Illinois river silt was used successfully to nurture the trees in this space, which commemorates the United States Steel Corporation’s South Works steelworkers.

​After that environmental revitalization was begun, the owners, working with the City of Chicago, conveyed ownership of a 300 foot wide strip of the land, from the lake inward, to be dedicated to use by the Chicago Park District, providing lakefront access to the community.

Once the Chicago Park District became responsible for that space, interesting things began to happen, and continue to happen, as this page attempts to illustrate. 
Picture
Photo by Joann Podkul Murphy


2014 - 2015: Steelworkers Memorial Statue is Conceived, Commissioned, Created, and Dedicated 


One of the first significant actions was the commissioning of the creation of a statue to commemorate the generations of steelworkers whose labors fueled the mighty engine of steel manufacture in South Chicago.   Ultimately — and appropriately -- that task fell to community artist — and former USS South Works steel worker — Roman Villarreal.   But, as is true of most community projects, local, regional, national, there must be a beginning. 
2014: This video was taken at — or very near — that beginning:  https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=uk-QfzwgeIw
2014: A few short months after that meeting, artist Roman Villarreal began creating the mold for the commissioned steel workers memorial statue: https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=UyMPs2wXa_Q
2014: Then, community representatives and the 10th Ward Alderman met with the artist to plan the unveiling of the completed statue: https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=bwIBHaTnQsU
2015: Community representatives and the artist met in the 10th Ward Alderman’s office, to discuss preparations: https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=KoU_dzxf6kk
2015: Community representatives and the artist met again in the Alderman’s office to finalize preparations: https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=Urxm0aO7d-c​
2015: Next, the statue was mounted in the park: https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=7t05_XKX1w8
2015: And, finally, the statue was unveiled to the public: https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=yAAIP6elS9A​ 


2015 - 2016: Steelworkers Memorial Park Comes Alive 
​

In 2015, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater Company and Chicago Park District, collaborating in their “Shakespeare in the Parks” program, brought their first South Chicago presentation, “Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits,” to this park, to the community’s delight: http://youtu.be/RNjQFNn22k4
That production was soon followed by the Erica Mott Production, "Trials and Trails,” which was a dance theatre tribute to the steelworkers whose labors made the site a major engine of national growth for nearly a century and a half: https://youtu.be/asu9tsb3e3w
2016 saw the continued use of Steelworkers Park for community enjoyment of the arts, as the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre/Chicago Park District collaboration continued with the production of “Twelfth Night:” https://youtu.be/PA-q6pfN2Uc and, shortly thereafter, the  Erica Mott
Productions group returned:
https://youtu.be/F1ct6BnEJiM


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  • HOME PAGE
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  • Contact
  • Blues Brothers South Chicago Sites Tour Home
    • Blues Brothers South Chicago Sites Tour 2
    • Blues Brothers South Chicago Sites Tour 3
    • Blues Brothers Southeast Chicago Sites Tour 4
  • Calumet Region Green Sites Tour
    • South Chicago LEED Designation From Pollution to Solution: LEEDing the Way in Southeast Chicago
    • Green Buildings >
      • Advocate Trinity Hospital, 2320 East 93rd Street
      • A Metal Scrap, 9301 S. Baltimore Avenue
      • AOS, 2835 East 106th Street
      • Casa Kirk Apartment Complex, 3236 to 3260 East 92nd Street
      • Claretian Housing's "Buffalo Bunch"
      • Harry B. Deas 4th District Police Station, 2255 East 103rd Street
      • Heppner House, 8628 S. Marquette Avenue
      • 7th & 10th Ward Streets and Sanitation Building, 9160 S. Mackinaw Avenue
      • Solar Verde Estates, 96th Street and Marquette Avenue
      • South Chicago’s First LEED-Certified Building
      • Southeast Environmental Task Force (SETF) Office, 13300 S. Baltimore Avenue
      • Southeast Side Elementary School,
      • Victory Centre of South Chicago
      • Villa Guadalupe
      • James F. Vodak East Side Library, 3710 East 106th Street
      • Vaccaro Trucking, 10554 S. Muskegon Avenue
      • 8555 S. Green Bay Avenue
    • Green Gardens >
      • Artists Garden, 8951 S. Brandon Avenue
      • Bowen High School Campus Green Corps Gardens
      • Buffalo Seniors Inspirational Garden
      • Hoxie Prairie Garden, 10549 S. Hoxie Avenue
      • Laquan McDonald and Trayvon Martin Community Gardens
      • Marian R. Byrnes Nature Area, Van Vlissingen Prairie, East 103rd Street
      • South Chicago Senior Citizens Garden, 3130 E. 92nd Street
      • Victory Garden, 8915 S. Exchange Avenue
      • 88th and Exchange Block Club Garden, 8805 S. Exchange Avenue
    • Green Open Spaces and Parks >
      • Big Marsh Mountain Bike Park, 116th Street & Stony Island Avenue
      • Chicago VeloDrome Campus, 87th Street and Buffalo Avenue
      • Clara D. Schafer Park, 89th - 90th S. Mackinaw Avenue
      • Dead Stick Pond, 122nd Street and Stony Island Avenue
      • Eggers Grove Forest Preserve, 112th Street and Avenue E
      • Hegewisch Marsh, 130th Street and Torrence Avenue
      • Heron Pond, South 122nd Street
      • Indian Creek
      • Indian Ridge Marsh, 122nd Street, between Stony Island and Torrence Avenues
      • John Beniac “Beans” Greenway, 3925 E. 104th Street
      • Our Lady Gate of Heaven Parking Lot Bioswale, 2338 East 99th Street
      • Powderhorn Lake and Prairie, 138th Street and Brainerd Avenue:
      • South Chicago People’s Park, 9100 S. Buffalo Avenue
      • Steelworkers Memorial Park, East 87th Street and Lake Michigan
      • Wolf Lake’s William W. Powers Conservation Area & Wolf Lake’s Hammond, Indiana, Memorial Park
  • PUBLIC ART TOUR
    • SOUTH CHICAGO PEOPLE'S PARK, 91st Street and Buffalo Avenue
    • ARCHITECTURE >
      • James H. Bowen High School
      • Henry Bessemer Park Field House
      • BURLEY APARTMENTS -- COMMUNITY ROOM
      • Immaculate Conception Church 88th and Commercial Avenue
      • Macias Produce, 8933 S. Commercial Avenue
      • MB National Bank
      • Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 3200 E. 91st Street
      • St. Michael the Archangel Church
      • SkyArt
    • "Drive-By" Art >
      • Drive-By Art, 83rd Street and South Shore Drive
      • Germano-Millgate Apartment Complex, 87th and Burley
      • 1st Choice Market
      • 79th Street & Exchange Avenue "Drive-By Art" Wall
    • Murals >
      • Block-long Mural, 87th Street & Baltimore
      • BLUES BROTHERS MURAL AT CALUMET FISHERIES, 95TH STREET & THE CALUMET RIVER
      • Community Heroes Mural at 91st Street & Commercial Avenue
      • "FAMILIA" MURAL AT METROPOLITAN FAMILY SERVICES, 3062 E. 91st Street
      • From "Jersey Barriers" to "Infocades" -- Barricades as a Muralist's Canvases
      • Mural, "the Crucible," at US Bank, 92nd Street & Commercial Avenue, South Chicago
      • Eduardo Luna with X-Men -- Murals at Brandon Avenue, near 92nd Street
      • 100th Street "East Side Pride" Mural
      • "South Chicago Together As One" Mural, 90th Street & Commercial Avenue
      • Southeast Corner of 87th Street & Houston Avenue
      • Vietnam War Veterans Memorial and Mural, 91st Street & Brandon Ave.
    • Sculpture >
      • Columbus Statue and Drake Fountain, 92nd Street and Exchange Avenue
      • Ironworkers Sculpture and Veterans Memorial, 100th Street, Ewing Avenue and Indianapolis Boulevard
      • South Chicago Art Center Sculpted Planters 3217 E. 91st Street
      • Steel Garden, by Richard Hunt, 79th Street and US-41
      • Steelworkers Memorial Statue, 87th Street and Lake Michigan