{"nrhp_refnum":"02001351","name":"Scoville Place","other_names":["Scoville Park"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Jct. of Lake St. and Oak Park Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Oak Park","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.889712989500055,"lon":-87.79511094780429,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2002-11-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Entertainment/Recreation","Landscape Architecture","Art"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Scoville Park (originally Scoville Place) is a 4.6-acre public park at the northwest corner of Lake Street and Oak Park Avenue in Oak Park, Illinois. It was established as Oak Park's first public park in 1912 and designed by Jens Jensen in 1913.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the park as a Prairie School landscape designed by Jens Jensen, who organized it around the existing shade trees, curving paths, native shrubs and a meadow. It was Oak Park's first public park and is regarded as a historic community asset. It also reflects the Illinois movement for park districts in the early twentieth century.","narrative":"Scoville Park occupies a 4.6-acre block at the northwest corner of Lake Street and Oak Park Avenue in Oak Park, Illinois. The land was bought in 1857 by James Wilmarth Scoville from Joseph Kettlestrings, and Scoville built a large Stick style mansion on the hill. In 1912 the newly formed Park District acquired the property, demolished the buildings, and built a park from a 1913 design by Jens Jensen. It became Oak Park's first public park. Jensen kept most of the large existing trees, laid out curving paths that follow the topography, and planted dense edges of native shrubs around open spaces. Active recreation was placed on the flat north end, with a meadow to the south and a knoll at the center. Later additions include a 1925 World War I monument, a 1936 shelter and comfort station, and a reconstructed Horse Show Fountain. The park is listed as a district with six contributing and four noncontributing resources.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Jens Jensen (landscape design, 1913)","architectural_style":"Other: Prairie School of Landscape Architecture; Other: Arts & Crafts","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still used as a public park, continuing its original recreational role.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.451613-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/11/8926/28892611/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/02001351.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02001351/fc6887818a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02001351/fc6887818a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Teemu008 from Palatine, Illinois","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:World_War_I_Monument_(7420529274).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Teemu008 from Palatine, Illinois</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:World_War_I_Monument_(7420529274).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892611","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_Park","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7438669"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/scoville-place-02001351/"}