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The South Park Commission began creating Trumbull Park in 1907, two years after its revolutionary system of neighborhood parks opened to the public. Initially including Russell, Mark White, Davis, Armour, and Cornell Squares, and Bessemer, Ogden, Sherman, Palmer, and Hamilton Parks, the system was an immediate success. By 1907, the commissioners were attempting to complete eight new parks: four that had been delayed when the first ten opened and four additional parks. One of the areas targeted for a new neighborhood park was South Deering, then known as Irondale for its proximity to a large steel mill complex. From 1908-1909, the South Park Commission acquired 18.5 acres there adjacent to densely- populated tenements. (These were replaced in 1936 by a Chicago Housing Authority project known as Trumbull Park Homes.) The South Park Commission hired the Olmsted Brothers, landscape designers of the previous neighborhood parks, to lay out the four new parks in 1910. They chose not to implement these plans, however. Rather, they had in-house designers create a single plan for both Trumbull and Grand Crossing Parks. The plans differed only in that their orientation was reversed. Today, the two landscapes look somewhat different because only Trumbull Park retains a magnificent stand of gingko trees in its central plaza. The two parks do have identical classically-designed fieldhouses that were constructed in 1914.

Although residents of Irondale petitioned to have Trumbull Park named South Deering Park, the request was denied. In 1917, the commissioners named the park for Lyman Trumbull (1813-1896), a lawyer, Illinois Supreme Court chief justice, U.S. senator, and active supporter of the emancipation of slaves.