Home Yoyodyne Parks About

Clybourn (Archibald) Park

Address


1755 N. Clybourn Ave.
Chicago, IL 60614

Jurisdiction

Chicago Parks

Description

This 0.49 acre park is located in the Lincoln Park community (on Clybourn Avenue, one block east of Sheffield Avenue). It has a play-slab with two basketball standards and a new Chicago Plays! playground.

While there is no structured programming taking place at this location, we invite you to check out our great programs offered at Adams Playground Park.

History

From 1939-1940, the City of Chicago acquired land from various people.  In 1943, Chicago's new $34 million subway system opened to the public. Making use of a small parcel of City-owned land above the north-south line (now the red line), the Bureau of Parks and Recreation built a 1/2-acre playlot in the then declining Lincoln Park neighborhood. Following the Bureau's standard practice, the site was named for adjacent Clybourn Avenue. The street honors Archibald Clybourne (1802-1872), an early Chicago butcher who built a rambling 20-room mansion in 1836. Clybourne was a justice of the peace, a school trustee, and Chicago's first constable.

Initially installing a basketball court and playground equipment, the City added a sandbox and wading pool by 1950.  In 1957, the city transferred Clybourn Park to the Chicago Park District pursuant to the Chicago Park and City Exchange of Functions Act. Paving the entire playlot with asphalt in the early 1960s, the park district substantially rehabilitated the site in the late 1980s by replacing asphalt areas with turf and plantings.