Armour Square

Armour Square is a small public park on Chicago's South Side, opened on the first days of spring 1905 as Park No. 3. It was the first of a group of new neighborhood parks created by the South Park Commission for crowded tenement districts. Olmsted Brothers laid out the grounds, with a playfield, paths, open-air gymnasiums and a wading pool, while D.H. Burnham & Co. designed the field house and gymnasium complex in a Beaux Arts style, with clubrooms, an auditorium and a swimming pool. These buildings offered year-round exercise, classes and public bathing. Later changes include a 1936 bathhouse addition, an enlarged playfield in 1939, and a 1963 remodeling that brought a new L-shaped pool. A 1996 fire damaged the gymnasium, which was later repaired. The park is recognized for its role in shaping small neighborhood park design across the country between 1905 and 1953, and for its largely intact layout and field house interiors.