Elizabeth Wood Playlot Park

Welcome to Elizabeth Wood Playlot Park.

Park History: This piece of land started off a a swimming pool that was built by the Chicago Park District for the Julia Lathrop Homes Housing Project in the 1960's. For many years the park district operated the pool and leased it from the Chicago Housing Authority. In 1995, the pool was filled in and a playground was put in it's place. In 2004 the park district decided to rename the park after a great Chicago Woman, Elizabeth Wood.

Wood grew up in Bloomington Illinois and received her master's degree from the University of Michigan. For many years she was a professor of English at Vassar College before she moved to Chicago to work for United Charies of Chicago. It was while she was working for this organization that she first noticed the sad conditions of Chicago's housing projects and this prompted her to become a successful advocate of housing reform for the Metropolitan Housing Council of Chicago. In the 1930's she served on the State Housing Board and got hired by the Chicago's Housing Authority after it's founding in 1937. Over a span of nearly 2 decades Wood helped over 60,000 people leave the projects to live in better homes and helped bring a sense of community to Chicago's lower class.

Today this park boasts a playground for the kids and the memory of a warm hearted woman. Come on out and have fun.

To contact the office please call 312-742-7785.