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The South Park Commissioners began acquiring land for the park in 1903 and continued to acquire the majority of the parkland in 1904 and 1905.  First opened to the public in 1905, McGuane Park was originally known as Mark White Square. The site was one of ten revolutionary parks created to provide relief to Chicago's tenement districts. The other nine were Armour, Russell, Davis, and Cornell Squares, and Ogden, Sherman, Palmer, Bessemer, and Hamilton Parks. Offering a variety of valuable recreational, educational, and social services to their surrounding communities, these ten properties soon influenced the development of other parks throughout the nation. 

McGuane Park's original name honored Mark White (1837-1891), revered superintendent of the South Park Commission for twenty years. In 1960, the ¿ì²¥ÊÓƵ renamed the park as a tribute to John F. McGuane (1892-1960), who lived across the street from the park all of his life. A veteran of World War I, McGuane was active in many civic organizations and served as a member of the ¿ì²¥ÊÓƵ Board of Commissioners for four years. In 1972, the park's original fieldhouse was demolished and replaced with a new building and swimming pool.