The Last Walk: A Tour Through Washington Park, Chicago

October 20, 2022 · Archives, Art Design Chicago

The right walk through a park can be beautiful and historical. This photographic walk shows us harmony in between.

Image: The Washington Park field house, built in 1891, at the western entrance to the park. It is a multi-story brick building with columns and a covered walkway around it. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.
Image: The Washington Park field house, built in 1891, at the western entrance to the park. It is a multi-story brick building with columns and a covered walkway around it. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.

This article is presented in conjunction with Art Design Chicago Now, an initiative funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art that amplifies the voices of Chicago’s diverse creatives, past and present, and explores the essential role they play in shaping the now.


The Last Walk was inspired by “Olmsted in Chicago: Washington Park Walking Tour,” a summer program that was presented by the Washington Park Camera Club and the Hyde Park Historical Society in conjunction with Art Design Chicago Now.

As the guide speaks on our stroll through the past in Washington Park, one can’t help seeing faint ghostly figures of grazing sheep in the meadows and fish ponds and boats lofting through the waters, petticoats and sun parasols, high-wheel bicycles and high hats. The smell of time wafts through the air from abandoned buildings that once bustled with life and now pay homage to an era of excess and grandeur, no longer accessible to the current residents of this South Side palatial fixture. Small crowds, barbeques and lovers still dot the grounds on summer afternoons with the goings-on of everyday life surrounding the landmark. Traffic and noise seem to abandon further into the grounds, giving way to faint conversations, mosquito buzzes and bird chirps. Ducks, drakes, and ducklings frolic in secluded ponds as they did for generations without solicitude of the history and struggle that surround their dwellings. The eerie stillness of most of the park creates picturesque scenes of loneliness and solitude. Lanes of trees bending on paths leading to and from exquisite and alluring lushes of meadows and exotic flowers, butterfly sanctuaries, algae-covered ponds, and comfort stations offer continuous pleasures for sight and hustling feet.

Image: The tour starts as tourists walk along a path with a sign that reads "Keep Parks Clean". The path is partly shaded and surrounded by lush green grass and trees. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.
Image: The tour starts as participants walk along a path with a sign that reads “Keep Parks Clean”. The path is partly shaded and surrounded by lush green grass and trees. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.

The Last Walk, a collaboration with the Washington Park Camera Club and Art Design Chicago, is an exploration of time and what has transpired in that time, rather than the photography of monuments and contributions made by the white dwellers who dominated the era and area in the early 20th century, because that history is well-documented. The Last Walk revealed a significant change in the country and the white participants no longer felt safe navigating a place that felt inferior or dangerous. This tour was an interaction between the tourist, park-goers who live in the area, and me. A story of now. A story of a current condition and what Washington Park means today.

As this striking reserve of nature knows no bounds and is complete and oblivious to mankind, meticulous care is taken to keep the grounds and greenery in recital form so that even abandoned structures look like monuments.

Image: An abandoned structure that once served as a recreational building sits off a path. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.
Image: An abandoned structure that once served as a recreational building sits off a path. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.
Image: A structure called The Chalet sits on a manicured lot with trees and modern structures in the background. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.
Image: A structure called The Chalet sits on a manicured lot with trees and modern structures in the background. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.

“I would imagine the Chalet was where they hosted important people back in the day that would probably drink tea or coffee or have drinks. They probably rented it out to wealthy people. I could just imagine how exquisite it might have been.”

Tourist
Image: An open meadow where sheep once grazed to keep the grass manicured. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.
Image: An open meadow where sheep once grazed to keep the grass manicured. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.

“Can you imagine the smell back then?”

Ann, a park-goer
Image: A path flanked by trees. Dappled sunlight shines through the branches and makes patterns on the ground below. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.
Image: A path flanked by trees. Dappled sunlight shines through the branches and makes patterns on the ground below. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.

“I have seen people born and die in this park, seen folks making love and fighting in this park. One thing that ain’t changed is this park, this bench I always sit on, and them trees.”

J, a park-goer
Image: A park-goer relaxes beside the man-made waterfall built by the sons of Frederick Law Olmsted. The waterfall is surrounded by large rocks and various types of lush green foliage. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.
Image: A park-goer relaxes beside the man-made waterfall built by the sons of Frederick Law Olmsted. The waterfall is surrounded by large rocks and various types of lush green foliage. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.

“I have been coming here with my grandfather since I was a child. This water relaxes me. It drowns out the noise of the city that’s always in my head, you know?”

Emmanuel, a park-goer
Image: A father and son play a game of stickball with a tree branch and rocks in the park. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.
Image: A father and son play a game of stickball with a tree branch and rocks in the park. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.

“Parks are for everyone to enjoy; I feel that they provide an escape from all the concrete that surrounds us every day in the city. Washington Park has the space I need to sit and relax or bring my family to just unwind and take a breather.”

Patricia, a park-goer
Image: A young boy sits on the grass while people stand around him listening to the tour guide. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.
Image: A young boy sits on the grass while people stand around him listening to the tour guide. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.

“Parks are important for kids’ development. They play baseball, soccer, football, and run. Without parks they can’t develop mentally either, so, parks are needed for their growth.”

Yolanda, a park-goer
Image: Two lovers sit and talk at Bynum Island in the park. They are on a bench overlooking water and lush green foliage. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.
Image: Two lovers sit and talk at Bynum Island in the park. They are on a bench overlooking water and lush green foliage. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.

“We have come here for over 20 years. We met at this park, so it is a part of our history, and even if we moved out of Chicago, we would come back here just because it’s a part of us now.”

Pat and Henry, park-goers
Image: Canadian geese swimming in the park's pond. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.
Image: Canadian geese swimming in the park’s pond. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.
Image: The entry into the bird and butterfly sanctuary in the park. A small sign marks the entrance, and the narrow path turns to the right beyond it. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.
Image: The entry into the bird and butterfly sanctuary in the park. A small sign marks the entrance, and the narrow path turns to the right beyond it. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.
Image: A once-abandoned structure purchased by the DuSable Museum is surrounded by a green fence and trees, with a modern structure in the background. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.
Image: A once-abandoned structure purchased by the DuSable Museum is surrounded by a green fence and trees, with a modern structure in the background. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.
Image: An algae-covered pond is surrounded by trees and natural bushes. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.
Image: An algae-covered pond is surrounded by trees and natural bushes. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.
Image: The tour guide talks with tourists as they stop on a path in the park. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.
Image: The tour guide, park historian Julia Bachrach, talks with participants as they stop on a path in the park. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.

The connection between the city parks and the human condition is that the longing for nature is no doubt a common human trait. Within the metropolises of every city are cut outs dedicated to nature and designed to ease and calm the chaos of living in concrete jungles. Washington Park, from its inception to now, continues to be a place where the community goes to seek refuge out in the open, to reflect and meditate, fall in love, or to just have fun — a prescription with no side effects.

Image: Four women talk on the top of a hill after the tour. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.
Image: Four women talk on the top of a hill after the tour. Photo by EdVetté Wilson Jones.

About the photographer: EdVetté Wilson Jones is a Chicago-born artist, photographer, poet, performer, and storyteller. During their childhood years living at the Cabrini Green housing projects, EdVetté was introduced to acting through the work of Chicago theater legends and veterans Jackie Taylor, actress and founder of Black Ensemble Theater, and the late Patrick Henry, founder of Free Street Theater. From there, EdVetté’s practice grew to include not only acting, but screenwriting, storytelling, poetry, journalism, fashion, and more. To learn more about their work, visit their website at edvette.com.