Some Chicago residents are expressing outrage about the number of mature trees being cut down in Jackson Park due to construction of the Obama Presidential Center (and possibly more for coming down for a planned golf course). More people than you think, perhaps, will be sorry that it has been destroyed.

Many years ago, some Chicagoan were distressed by all the trees being chopped down in Jackson Park in order to construct the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition fairgrounds. This passage from the April 23, 1891, issue of Figaro magazine offers a sentimental reflection on the oak trees lost:

“A great many Chicago young people will heave a sigh when they pay their first visit to the World’s Fair site and see that to fit it for the glories that are to rise there, the grove of oaks that lined the ridge south of Jackson Park has been cut down. Many a tender secret perished when the oaks were heaped up and burned. There was a delightful winding road through the grove a typical country road, soft and noiseless; the trees were thick about it, and what was more natural than to turn the horses off the hard, clattering parkway and into the cool fastnesses, and then what was more natural than that—Well, many a match has seen its beginning in that winding drive south of the park, and more people than you think, perhaps, will be sorry that it has been destroyed.”

Unimproved Portion of Jackson Park before Construction [Image from The Graphic History of the Fair. Graphic Co., 1894.]

For more on the recent tree loss in Jackson Park: