On the north side of Chicago, there is a park named for the territorial boundary established by the Treaty of 1816 between the Potawatomi Nation and the U.S. government. The U.S. Military recognized this boundary line until 1833, when they forcibly removed remaining Indigenous people from the area. The park’s main building is a picturesque Tudor Revival field house designed by Clarence Hatzfeld and completed in 1929. The building suffered extensive damage from an electrical fire in 2012 but has since been fully restored. Today, Indian Boundary Park Cultural Center offers theater arts, painting and dance lessons.
Please note that the field house includes relief sculptures depicting Native American figures, created by white artists to romanticize a story of displacement and genocide. Open House Chicago strives to call out practices of cultural appropriation both in an historical context and in our communities today.
