“The Obama Presidential Center recently opened to great fanfare at a June celebration that included former presidents, celebrities and hundreds of Chicago residents. While tickets are required to enter the museum, the overall center is open to the public and serves a public purpose, according to the Obama Foundation and other supporters of the space.
“But the debate over whether the former president was entitled to use Jackson Park for his museum was a long and contentious one. Critics opposed the use of space in a historic public park when private alternatives existed.
“These types of legal disputes are far from new. In fact, a prominent Chicagoan from the 1800s likely would have been among the voices of dissent, according to his biographer.
“Aaron Montgomery Ward was responsible for one of the city’s most drawn-out fights over public parkland. The name may be familiar from the now-defunct chain of department stores that bore his name after his death, or as the catalog guy who revolutionized mail-order shopping over 150 years ago. His lesser-known legacy, perhaps, is his fight over Grant Park.
“Ward spent 22 years and many thousands of dollars fighting to keep Chicago’s premier downtown park ‘forever open, clear and free’ from buildings. But why did he do it? And why isn’t he celebrated more for his crusade?
“Ward’s legal theory for opposing developments in Grant Park hinged on maps that were used to first sell lots along what was called Lake Park in the 1830s. Some maps included a notation on the park land that read, ‘Public ground: A common to remain forever Open, Clear, & free of any buildings or other Obstructions Whatever.’
“‘Ward at one time or another was confronting the federal government, the Illinois legislature, the city council, the South Park Commissioners, the trustees or directors of the Crerar Library, of the Field Museum, the Olympic Committee, Illinois Central,’ [biographer Roberta Reb] Allen said, reeling off Ward’s opponents. ‘He had a lot of people who were not very happy with him.’
“The Chicago Tribune first called Ward ‘watch dog of the lake-front’ in 1896. Over 22 years, Ward’s cases reached the Illinois Supreme Court four times. The high court sided with Ward every time, ruling that buildings could only go up in Grant Park with the consent of adjacent property owners, [legal scholar Tom] Merrill said.
“‘Had I known in 1890 how long it would take me to preserve a park for the people against their will, I doubt if I would have undertaken it,’ Ward told the Tribune. ‘Here is a park frontage on the lake, comparing favorably with the Bay of Naples, which city officials would crowd with buildings, transforming the breathing spot for the poor with a showground of the educated rich. I do not think it is right, and the highest court in the state has thrice upheld me.’
“Julia Bachrach, a Chicago historian and preservation consultant who worked for the Chicago Park District for over two decades, came to a similar conclusion. ‘I feel that Montgomery Ward deeply, into the core of his soul, felt that Chicago’s lakefront needed to be preserved as the playground for the people,’ Bachrach said.
“‘If we have a saint, it’s probably Montgomery Ward,’ [Friends of the Parks board member Fred] Bates said. ‘“Forever open, clear and free” is more than a mantra, it’s an almost biblical way of saying this is so important to our city and its health that any intrusion on that concept is troubling.’
“Perhaps the main reason there are not more tributes to Ward is the fact that for 22 years, Ward fought the rich and powerful Chicago elite — the exact people who put up monuments and names on institutions. Ward, although rich and powerful himself to be sure, was not the type to do that for himself.” (Bull, WBEZ Curious City, 7/1/26)
- Why does Chicago have so little love for the ‘Watchdog’ of the lakefront?; Aaron Montgomery Ward is linked to stores and mail-order retail. There’s less fanfare around the tycoon’s work to preserve Grant Park, Justin Bull, WBEZ Curious City, 7/1/26
- Lakefront: Public Trust and Private Rights in Chicago; Joseph D. Kearney and Thomas W. Merrill, Cornell University Press, 2021
- Aaron Montgomery Ward Gardens, Grant Park; The Historical Marker Database