West Side Park, Downtown Champaign The Champaign Park District is the municipal association in charge of the award winning parks in the city of Champaign, Illinois. With over 500 acres of parks within the city limits Champaign has one of the highest ratios of park land per acre of developed land of any city in the US.
West Side Park
West Side Park, located in downtown Champaign blocks away from the busy streets and within full view of City Hall, sports 12.5 acres of land. Originally zoned for the city square and future county courthouse (which was later sited in Urbana, Illinois) it became the first park in the system in 1859. Originally known as the commons it was designated as a public cow pasture in 1861 where any citizen might graze their cow for a municipal fee of $0.35 per month.
Benjamin F. Johnson (1818-1894), an executive of the Illinois Central Railroad, donated $10,000 to the city for the building of a statue and band stand in the commons. Sadly this was not completed until 1899, five years after his death. The statue "A Prayer for Rain" was sculpted by Edward Kemeys (1843-1907) and placed atop Johnson Fountain, named after its benefactor.
Other noteable monuments in what is now known as West Side park include the Lincoln Monolith, and several statues and plaques commemorating the Indian War.
Dodds Park
Dodds Park is located in Northwestern Champaign near Parkland College. It sports an impressive 110 acres (or roughly one fifth of the total Park District holdings) and is famous for the Tribute to Olympic Athletes Monument on its grounds. The park was purchased in 1969 for the sum of $298,495.
The Tribute to Olympic Athletes was created to honor those residents of Champaign County who have competed in the Olympics. To date there are nearly 30 athletes commemorated on the monument and the competitors from the 2000 and 2004 games have yet to be added. The monument consists of several rising plateaus forming a walkway leading to a large granite gateway, beyond the gateway a pedistal overlooks the playing fields in Dodds Park and is inscribed with the names of those who have represented Champaign County in the Olympics. A full list of athletes can be found at the official website[1] (http://www.champaignparkdistrict.com/olympictribute.htm).
Also located in Dodds park is the Prarie Grid Sculpture, a piece of modern artwork by Barry Henemann in 1978 somewhat resembling a horse. Originally contracted for display for only a year, it has sense become a bit of an odd landmark in the park.
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