Effort underway to change name of Chicago's Paschen Park
CHICAGO - An effort is now underway in Rogers Park to change the name of a park that's right now named after a corrupt former public official.
Paschen Park on the 1900 Block of West Lunt is named after Christian Paschen, a former Chicago Building Commissioner who did prison time for tax evasion back in the 1930's. But a group is now working to change the name to "Pollard Family Park," in honor of one of the most remarkable families in Chicago history.
"When you dig into the history of the other family members, they all are classic overachievers," said Kevin McGurn, who owns the Pollard home along with April Mink, steps away from the park. "They strove high and they did it through adversity."
The Pollards were the first African American family to move to the neighborhood in the 1880s. The patriarch of the Pollard family, John, opened a barber shop, while his wife, Amanda, was an accomplished dressmaker. Their children went on to become trailblazers in a wide range of fields.
"They had a daughter who was the first registered African American nurse in Illinois, another daughter who was the first to graduate from Northwestern, they were in the arts," said Mink. "There was Luther, the one who was in this house for the longest, he had a film company, there was another who was a famous jazz musician who traveled in Europe."
And perhaps best known was their son Fritz Pollard: the first Black quarterback and head coach in pro football. Mink and McGurn, along with the Rogers Park / West Ridge Historical Society, are spear-heading the name-change, which can be a long and arduous process.
"Right now we're collecting signatures from people in an online petition that they can access through the Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society website," said Dona Vitale with the Rogers Park-West Ridge Historical Society.
If all goes as planned, the Park District Board would vote early next year to consider the name change. Even if it's approved, there has to be a public comment period before a "final" vote. So it will likely be spring or summer at the earliest before the name change could take effect.