Galewood Park

Located in the Austin community (two blocks north of North Avenue, mid-way between Central and Austin Avenues), Galewood Park’s small fieldhouse sits on 2.30 acres. Outdoors, the park offers a quarter-mile walking path, two softball fields, a combination football-soccer field, a repaved picnic or party area, two basketball courts, a volleyball court, plus a soft-surface playground with a spray feature.

Galewood Park provides a Game Room and various dance classes for all ages. Recreation also includes Teen Club, Senior Citizens Club, adult kickboxing and step aerobics classes. The majority of programs at Galewood Park are geared to youth (ages 6-12), such as tumbling, Sports Club, Kids’ Fitness, Homework Time, and Spring Drop-in Camp.

In the summer, youth and young teens can participate in Day Camp, Teen Leadership Camp, Dance Camp, as well as basketball instruction/league.

And, of course, Galewood Park opens its door to the community for its annual Halloween party.

We invite you to stop by Galewood Park and check out the offerings!

History

Galewood Park serves the neighborhood known for many years by that name. The community was named for Abram Gale (1795-1889), whose land was subdivided in 1870 to form the suburb of Galewood. Having arrived from New York City in 1835, Gale purchased 320 acres in the Town of Jefferson in 1837, and began to build a house there. "I brought all my household goods along," he said, "and among them was a Chickering piano, the second ever made. It was the first and only one in the village for a good many years, and it was a great card for me. The Indians would walk around the house mysteriously whenever my daughter played on it, staring in wonderment at the strange sounds." Gale also said that when he arrived he was installed at once as a member of the fire company. He went on to say "Every man was armed with two buckets, and we would all stand in a line with one end of the line at the lake and the other at the fire, and we would pass the buckets along." When one of his neighbors tried to take his land, Gale dug a ditch all around his claim. Gale's heavily-wooded property proved hard to plow. He eventually quit farming, and the hamlet of Galewood emerged there. The park's creation dates to the 1920s, when the North Austin Manor Neighborhood Club purchased the property and began developing a playground and ball fields there. In 1925, the neighborhood club petitioned the Northwest Park District, one of 22 park commissions later consolidated into the Chicago Park District, to take over the site. Two years later, the Northwest Park District purchased the parkland, along with adjoining property. After the Chicago Park District took over in 1934, it installed recreational facilities including an ice skating rink and a small fieldhouse.