Volunteer at Ping Tom Park in Chinatown.
Where: S. Wentworth Ave. and 19th Street. Contact greatlakesactiondays@sheddaquarium.org for details or to confirm workdays. Map
When: April 13, May 11, June 8, July 13, August 10, September 14, October 12, 2019 2nd Saturday of every month from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Join the Ping Tom Park Advisory Council and the Shedd Aquarium for community stewardship days through the Great Lake Action Days (GLADs) program at Ping Tom Park. Enter the park on 19th street, just West of S. Wentworth Ave, make a right at the pagoda, then walk North along the river and meet at the Urban Kayaks boathouse.
History of Ping Tom Park (redacted from Chicago Park District website)
The Chicago Park District acquired the site for Ping Tom Memorial Park in 1991. For years, Chinatown lacked of open space and recreational facilities. The only nearby parks, Hardin Square and Stanford Park, had been demolished 30 years earlier to make way for the Dan Ryan Expressway.
Ping Tom Memorial Park’s 12-acre site was originally a Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad yard. In 1998, the Chicago Park District began transforming the old rail-yard into a beautiful park with river views, a children’s playground, community gathering areas, and Chinese landscape design elements.
The park was named in honor of the leading force behind its creation, Chinatown’s most noted civic leader, Ping Tom (1935-1995). A lifelong resident of Chinatown, Ping Tom formed the Chinese American Development Corporation in 1984. The private real estate firm transformed a 32-acre rail yard site into Chinatown Square a residential and commercial expansion of Chinatown.
In 2002, the Chicago Park District acquired 5 additional acres on the northeast side of the park. Landscape improvements to the expanded area of Ping Tom Memorial Park will soon follow.
