Union Park is a

municipal park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to re ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, comprising . Located in the Near West Side, the park is just south of Ashland/Lake station on the

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

and

Pink Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, ...

lines of the Chicago 'L', bordered by North Ashland Avenue on the west, West Lake Street on the north, the diagonal North Ogden Avenue along most of the east border, and West Washington Boulevard on the south. The park has several large green fields used for demonstrations or various forms of football, playgrounds, a swimming pool, a fieldhouse, tennis courts, baseball fields, basketball courts. While the name was chosen in 1853 in reference to the United States'

federal union A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governi ...

, Union Park has a considerable labor history. The surrounding neighborhood is the home of most of the city's labor union offices, including the

United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), is an independent democratic rank-and-file labor union representing workers in both the private and public sectors across the United States. UE was one of the first unions to be c ...

, the

Teamsters The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), also known as the Teamsters Union, is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of The Team Drivers International Union and The Teamsters National Union, the ...

LIUNA The Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA, stylized as LiUNA!), often shortened to just the Laborers' Union, is an American and Canadian labor union formed in 1903. As of 2017, they had about 500,000 members, about 80,000 of who ...

, the

Workers United Workers United is an American and Canadian labor union which represents about 86,000 workers in the apparel, textile, commercial laundry, distribution, food service, hospitality, fitness and non-profit industries.Greenhouse, Steve"Union Rejoini ...

Hall, and over a dozen others. In the 1910s, the park was one of the only racially integrated parks in the city. In 2006, the park was the starting point for Chicago's wing of the

2006 immigration reform protests In 2006–2007, millions of people participated in protests over a proposed change to U.S. immigration policy. These large scale mobilizations are widely seen as a historic turn point in Latino politics, especially Latino immigrant civic partici ...

, including the Great American Boycott on

International Workers Day International Workers' Day, also known as Labour Day in some countries and often referred to as May Day, is a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement and occurs every year on 1 May, ...

, which were the largest demonstrations in the history of Chicago to date. It is also the site of the annual

Pitchfork Music Festival The Pitchfork Music Festival is an annual summer music festival organized by ''Pitchfork Media'' and held in Union Park in Chicago, Illinois. Starting in 2011, the festival announced a branch staged in Paris at Grande halle de la Villette. The fe ...

North Coast Music Festival The North Coast Music Festival is an annual festival held in Chicago on Labor Day weekend. Initially featuring a diverse mix of electronic, hip hop, folk, jam band, and rock acts, and a wide variety of performance and installation artists, in r ...

, and many other music festivals and political protests. In 2006, the city commissioned a statue of

James Connolly James Connolly ( ga, Séamas Ó Conghaile; 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. Born to Irish parents in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, Connolly left school for working life at the a ...

, an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

and Marxist who was executed in 1916, on the south west corner.

References

{{Chicago Parks Parks in Chicago West Side, Chicago Urban public parks 1853 establishments in Illinois