Located in the Near West Community Area of Chicago, Touhy-Herbert Park totals 3.01 acres and features a field house with a game room. Outside, the park offers baseball fields, basketball courts, a playground and interactive water spray feature.
Mission Statement
The Touhy-Herbert Park Advisory Council is a non-profit all volunteer group dedicated to enhancing the community use of Touhy-Herbert Park. Working with the Chicago Park District and the City of Chicago, the advisory council represents the community interest in the following main areas:
- Improving and maintaining all areas of Touhy-Herbert Park
- Creating new areas within Touhy-Herbert Park that meet the community’s needs
- Improving and creating new Chicago Park District programs for children and adults
- Creating and producing free special events at Touhy-Herbert Park to benefit the community
Our goal is to make Touhy-Herbert Park a beautiful urban space that benefits and supports the community. Balancing aesthetic landscaping with athletic fields to provide a safe beautiful place for leisure and recreation.
As an independent organization representing the community, we do not receive funding support from the Chicago Park District or the City of Chicago. Touhy-Herbert Park Advisory Council is comprised of neighbors, fellow park users, and supporters. We serve in three main and equally important functions for Touhy-Herbert Park: Advisory and Advocacy, Philanthropic, Volunteerism.
Advisory and Advocacy
The Touhy-Herbert Park Advisory Council is the official advisory partner to the Chicago Park District for Touhy-Herbert Park. We solicit input from the community and park users through a wide base of forums from community meetings, opinion surveys, and advisory council meetings. Broad-based community input based on research and analysis is the foundation of our advisory positions. We serve as the independent voice of the community and our primary goal is to advocate for the community.
Executive Board
The Executive committee is an elected governing board and is comprised of local residents who volunteer their time. Their diverse background and experience range from senior management positions in consulting, research and analysis, to marketing design, corporate organization, social service and entrepreneurship. The current executive board comprises of :
Torie Branch, President
Mike Quinlan, Vice-President
Katerina Klopas, Treasurer
Delashone White, Secretary
History
In 1917, the Chicago City Council authorized the purchase of land at the corner of West Adams and South Hoyne Streets. By 1928, the city had acquired enough additional property to create Touhy-Herbert Park, constructing a playing field, a skating pond, and an office building/shelter house. Twenty years later, the Bureau of Parks and Recreation built a fieldhouse there. In 1959, the city transferred the park to the Chicago Park District, which purchased additional land to expand the park to its current 8 acres. Since 1961, the park district and the Board of Education have jointly operated the park and the adjacent Herbert Elementary School.
As early as 1930, the Bureau of Parks and Recreation referred to this site as Touhy Park, a name that recognized the public service of local resident John J. Touhy (1888-1974). Touhy served as a city alderman from 1917 until 1926, when he was elected a trustee of the Sanitary District of Chicago. In 1950, he left the Sanitary District to become a Cook County Commissioner. Touhy retired from office in 1970. In 1999, the Chicago Park District officially designated the site Touhy-Herbert Park, a name commonly used by neighbors. The new name, of course, mirrors that of the nearby school, which honors American musician, composer, and conductor Victor Herbert (1859-1924). The New York Times eulogized Herbert as “America’s Leading Composer of Light Opera.”