Fuller Park

Fuller Park is a 10.5-acre neighborhood park on Chicago's South Side, first planned in 1903 as Square No. 4 in a system of fourteen parks. Land purchases delayed construction until 1908, and the commissioners then called for a larger field house than any earlier park had. D.H. Burnham & Co. produced the Beaux Arts Classical buildings, including a field house, a U-shaped gymnasium complex, a bathhouse by Edward H. Bennett, and a pergola-lined courtyard. South Park Commission staff adapted the layout from an Olmsted Brothers prototype, placing playfields on one side and the buildings and pool on the other. The complex opened in 1911 and was then the largest of its kind in the commission's system. Inside, John Warner Norton painted nine murals for the auditorium in 1913-14. Changes include the removal of fountains and the concert grove in the 1940s and a courtyard restoration in the early 1990s. The park is significant as a well-preserved example of an early Chicago neighborhood park model that was copied in other cities.