Garfield Park

In 1928, the West Park Commission contructed the "Gold Dome Building" in Garfield Park to provide a new administrative headquarters for the West Park Commission. a fieldhouse in Humboldt Park. The structure was designed by architects Michaelsen and Rognstad, who were also responsible for other notable buildings including the Humboldt, Douglas and LaFolette Park Fieldhouses, and the On Leong Chinese Merchant's Association Building in Chinatown. In 1934, Garfield Park became part of the Chicago Park District, when the city's 22 independent park commissions merged into a single citywide agency. At that time, the adminstrative offices were no longer needed and the "Gold Dome" building became Garfield Park's fieldhouse. In 1869, the Illinois state legislature established the West Park Commission, which was responsible for three large parks and interlinking boulevards. The centerpiece of the system, the 185-acre Central Park, was renamed to honor President James A. Garfield (1831- 1881) after his assassination in 1881. Plans for the entire ensemble of Humboldt, Garfield and Douglas Park had been completed ten years earlier, by William Le Baron Jenney, best known today as the father of the skyscraper. As ambitious plans could not be realized all at once, Garfield Park developed in stages, beginning with the east lagoon.