History and Change in Jackson Park

The 2018-2019 class of Obama Foundation Scholars recently convened in Chicago. On one beautiful summer day, the scholars — coming from places as far flung as Cameroon, India and Vietnam — were provided with a history tour of Chicago’s South Side that included a visit to the former fairgrounds of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park. The Obama Presidential Center hopes to move into the western side of the Lagoon.

Not everyone is pleased with that sort of change to Jackson Park. Writing for the Chicago Reader, Kate Schmidt asserts that “Now’s the time to visit Jackson Park while you still can” After forty trees were cut down in the park, she recommends “a trip to Jackson Park sooner rather than later, preferably once the leaves are turning and the wooded island is aflame with color.”