Description
Located in the Ashburn Community Area, Bogan Park totals 13.99Â acres and features two gymnasiums and a multi-purpose club room. Outside, the parks offers a baseball diamond, three softball diamonds, playground, basketball and tennis courts. Many of these spaces are available for rental including our gymnasiums,multi-purpose clubroom and fields.
Park-goers can participate in Park Kids, seasonal sports including track & field and flag football. After school programs are offered throughout the school year, and in the summer youth attend the Park District’s popular six-week day camp.
In addition to programs, Bogan Park hosts fun special events throughout the year for the entire family.
History
Bogan Park and neighboring Bogan High School honor William J. Bogan (1870-1936), Superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools from 1928 until his death in 1936. Born on Mackinac Island, Michigan, in 1870, Bogan began his career in the Chicago school system in 1893, teaching at Washington Elementary School until he was named principal there in 1900. Between 1905 and 1924, he served as principal at Lane Technical High School, and then was promoted to Assistant Superintendent of Schools, overseeing high schools and night schools. Bogan became Head Superintendent in 1928. A leading authority on vocational education, Bogan placed special emphasis on educating non-college-bound students - those he termed "the forgotten 90 percent."
The Chicago Park District began planning and acquiring land for Bogan Park in 1954, in the face of a dramatic southwest-side building boom, the land acquisition was finalized in 1957 with the vacation of the rights-of-way within the park boundary. Actual improvements did not begin until 1959 because several property owners were reluctant to sell, and some buildings needed to be removed from the site before work could begin. A small fieldhouse with three club rooms, an artcraft shop, and a music room was constructed in 1961.