Chicago Women’s Park & Gardens at Clarke House Museum

Clarke House, the oldest surviving building within Chicago’s original boundaries, is located in the Chicago Women’s Park and Gardens. This two-and-one-half-acre oasis at the center of the Prairie Avenue Historic District was designed by Chicago landscape architect Mimi McKay and opened to the public in 2000. Owned by the Chicago Park District, the park commemorates the achievements of significant Chicago women, including Mrs. Henry B. Clarke whose husband constructed the Greek Revival-style house in 1836. Chicago Women’s Park and Gardens features a central fountain and plant-life indigenous to the era when Clarke House was built. The gardens boast heirloom perennials, an apple orchard, and prairie grasses. A formal rose garden frames a memorial to social reformer Jane Addams sculpted by famed French artist Louise Bourgeois. Plots to the south of Clarke House are tended by volunteers, members of a local South Loop gardening club. Clarke House Museum is owned and operated by the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Nearby Glessner House Museum facilitates tours. The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in The State of Illinois owns and cares for the museum collection and supports educational programming.

Website: chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/clarke_house_museum.html