The corner of 61st Street & Dorchester Avenue has long been a site for urban agriculture. Since the 1970s, organic gardeners have nurtured the soil in this formerly abandoned corner of the city to produce fruit and vegetables for home and market.
From the mid-90s until 2009, the organic garden that developed here (variously known as the Urban Farm Project and as the 61st Street Community Garden) moved from the southeast corner of 61st Street and Dorchester to the north side of 61st Street and expanded from 20-plots to 110-plots. While the garden served a diverse population primarily from the Woodlawn and Hyde Park neighborhoods, it attracted gardeners from outside of the local community as well. The community garden was also an educational resource for kindergarten classes from the Andrew Carnegie Elementary School, located across the street.
Under the direction of Jack Spicer, a local landscaper, the community garden not only offered soil, mulch, and wood chips, but became a welcome haven from the city for those looking for a quiet spot to picnic, sunbathe, read a book, or meet their neighbors.
In the summer of 2010, the University of Chicago, which owned the land on which the gardens were then located, closed the gardens and began using the land as a construction staging area for the Chicago Theological Seminary building being constructed at 60th Street & Dorchester. You can read and watch more at The Garden Conversations by the Invisible Institute.