Chicago has officially broken ground on DuSable Park, a 3.44-acre green space at 451 N. Lake Shore Drive that will transform the end of the Chicago Riverwalk, right where the Chicago River meets Lake Michigan, into a welcoming place to walk, gather and enjoy the lakefront.
The park honors Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable, the city’s first permanent non-Indigenous settler, whose trading post with his wife, Kitihawa, helped lay the foundation for the Chicago we know today. It also honors the Potawatomi, Ottawa and Chippewa tribes, whose trade routes helped shape this region. The site was dedicated as DuSable Park in 1987, and after decades of community advocacy and an environmental cleanup completed in 2021, construction is finally under way.
The design turns this historic peninsula into a park for everyone, with an open lawn, a pavilion, a woodland area, a wet prairie, plazas, a boardwalk and an overlook, along with walking trails and gathering spaces. A centerpiece will be the first full-body sculpture of DuSable, joined by public art celebrating Indigenous voices, interpretive signs and a history timeline. Visitors will reach it through Founders Way, a planned extension of the Riverwalk.
Slated for completion in summer 2028, DuSable Park will create a new pedestrian connection between downtown and the lakefront — a long-awaited gift for families, neighbors and visitors alike.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons / LlamasTasteFunny (public domain)
