Olson Park & Waterfalls – Chicago’s Past

As a child growing up in the Avondale neighborhood in Chicago I loved to go to the Olson Park & Waterfalls with my mother. My mother simply called it Olson Rug. I think we visited there at least once a week during the Summers. It was such a place of natural beauty right in the heart of the city. It was within walking distance of our house.

It was located at the corner of Pulaski and Diversey next to the Olson Rug Company (which owned and operated the park). It had 35 foot waterfalls, rock gardens with 3500 rare plants, shrubs, trees (such as junipers,spruce and pine), ponds with ducks, ravines and caves. It was also home to hundreds of wild birds. The park was a stark contrast to the surrounding industrial area. The Chicago Tribune called it one of Chicago’s Seven Lost Wonders. Admission to the 22 acre park was free and over 200,000 people visited annually.

The park opened in 1935. Walter Olson had the park built because he wanted to bring some natural beauty to the gray industrial background of the area. He wanted it to resemble his vacation home setting in Wisconsin. The building of the park was a huge project that took 200 workers approximately 6 months and was made of 800 tons of stone and 800 yards of soil. The Native American theme of the park included tee-pees and totem poles and events with Native American chiefs performing war dances. 1935 was the 100th anniversary of the forced movement of Illinois Native American tribes from Illinois across the Mississippi River. The park included a symbolic gesture deeding back the area of the park to the Native American tribes. The Olson Rug factory, mill and grounds were sold to Marshall Fields in 1965 and the park was closed in 1978.