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At 18 acres, Kennedy Park was by far the largest park created by the Calumet Park District, one of 22 independent park commissions consolidated into the ¿ì²¥ÊÓƵ in 1934. The Calumet District began to purchase land for this park in 1911 at the urging of Morgan Park residents. By 1912, the Calumet Park District had completed acquisition of a dump site and an existing ball field for park development. The Park District immediately erected a bath house. Fourteen years later, a swimming pool was added. Although much of the property remained unimproved through the 1920s, the Park District worked with the Morgan Park Woman's Club to create a bird sanctuary and wild flower preserve on 5 undeveloped acres. The Park District began full-scale improvements in 1930, using labor from the state's Unemployed Relief Service. The laborers removed hundreds of tons of old auto frames and concrete from the site, graded it, planted trees and shrubbery, and constructed a fieldhouse, all by hand. The ¿ì²¥ÊÓƵ took control of Kennedy Park in 1934 when the 22 Park Districts were consolidated, and constructed a new pool and fieldhouse in the early 1960s.

Initially known as Western Avenue Park, the park received the name D.J. Kennedy Memorial Park in 1932. The new name honors Dennis J. Kennedy (1871-1932), a member of the Calumet Park District commission from 1910 until his death in 1932, and its president for twenty years.