A vibrant community garden and gathering space celebrates the rich history of the original families who lived along Winthrop Avenue.

This past October 2022, MKSK joined Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Planning & Development Commissioner Cox, and Alderman James Cappleman in celebrating the grand re-opening of the beloved Winthrop Family Historical Garden in Uptown, Chicago with a community-oriented ribbon cutting event. As a recent City of Chicago Public Outdoor Plaza (POP!) Grant recipient, the garden hosts raised beds for the community to grow produce, an event space for community gathering, two modified shipping containers for special event food and beverage service, a colorful façade mural by artist Mauricio Ramirez, and interpretive signage telling the story of the families who once lived along Winthrop Avenue.

The Winthrop Family Historical Garden was established by NeighborSpace in 2009 to celebrate the families who helped found Uptown’s rich cultural diversity, while also providing a greatly needed, open green space in one of Chicago’s most densely populated neighborhoods.

Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood is known for its rich, dynamic history and its mingling of cultures and customs. However, pre-World War II land covenants and legal segregation listed the 4600 block of North Winthrop Avenue as Uptown’s only block where African Americans could live. Partly as a result of this racism and outright segregation, the families who lived on Winthrop Avenue developed a tight-knit bond, coming together as one strengthened community.

They referred to each other as the “Winthrop Avenue Family,” and grew up surrounded by love and care by the members of their family on “the Avenue.” Oral history narratives with contemporary members of the family, almost none of whom live on the Avenue anymore, reveal only the fondest memories of life on the block, their home. Although only one resident from those decades remain, the result was a large extended family that still gathers and refers to themselves as the Winthrop Avenue Family. Learn more about the history of Winthrop Avenue here.

In the mid-2000s, through community engagement efforts, the idea of transforming several vacant parcels of land into a community greenspace on the narrow 4600 block of Winthrop took shape, and a new garden was dedicated in the fall of 2009 thanks to the leadership of Uptown United and several other local leaders and volunteers. In 2022, 20 years after the first garden dedication, Uptown United received a City of Chicago Public Outdoor Plaza (POP!) Grant to fund a complete renovation of the garden.

Partnering with Uptown United, MKSK and Human Scale collaborated to reimagine and renew the Winthrop Garden as a beloved neighborhood green space for community gardening and gathering. The design re-establishes the garden as a vibrant outdoor open space for gardening demonstrations, markets, neighborhood events and more, all while telling the story of the rich history of the Winthrop Avenue families within the Uptown neighborhood. With the recent re-opening of the garden this fall, Uptown United looks forward to extending the programming for the space over the next three years through a diverse range of community events made possible by the POP grant.