Maggie Daley Park
On Thursday March 31, 2016 we took our grandchildren, Lauren and Jack, for a visit to Maggie Daley Park. The park is in a section of Grant Park bounded by Randolph Street, Monroe, Columbus and Lake Shore Drives. The park is named for the former first lady of the city who died in 2011.
In 2008 the Chicago City Council approved a $100 million dollar plan to build a Chicago Children’s Museum on the site. After much legal wrangling, and opposition to a privately owned building on park property, the city announced a $60 million dollar plan for the present park. The park officially opened on December 13, 2014 with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
The 25 acre park was designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates and has very modern upscale features with
injury protecting rubber ground padding. The park has a very low rate of injuries considering the estimated 400,000 people that have visited the park. It appears they thought of everything with an ice skating ribbon, slides, towers, climbing walls, interactive structures, talk tubes etc. Parking at the Monroe street lot is right near one of the park entrances and a 10,000-square-foot restaurant is in the planning stages. To see a slideshow of our day at the park click here.