For 25 years Felix Shuman has been cultivating his garden near 48th and Cornell, protecting it from drought and flood. But now his garden, like the ones around it, confronts a challenge greater than all of nature’s attacks.
“This isn’t someone’s pepper plant,” says Meryl Dann, a leader of the fight to save the gardens. “There are 200 mature trees here and hundreds of different species of birds, flowers, bugs, and plants. For years we’ve lost the fight against development that chews into our dwindling supply of open space, and now this is all we have left.”
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The Oasis, which runs along the Illinois Central Railroad track for about two blocks, is all that remains of what was once a glorious garden that went as far east as the Outer Drive. These days it’s a rather inconspicuous patch, unannounced by any sign and hidden by trees. But behind those trees are 12 separate gardens, tended by an eclectic bunch that includes professors, students, folks whose past remains a mystery, and Shuman, a veteran actor whose gravelly voice is immediately recognizable to anyone who’s ever heard the old commercial jingle “A sandwich just isn’t a sandwich without the tangy zip of Miracle Whip.”
Like other Oasis visitors, Kaufman didn’t know the garden was endangered until last winter, when word surfaced that McLean had purchased the land from the Illinois Central Railroad with the intent of building 26 town houses, 24 stacked town houses, and 26 single-family homes. In December Fourth Ward Alderman Toni Preckwinkle held a hearing, which about 50 residents attended.
The reassurances city officials offered only strained credibility. An official from the transportation department told residents, Don’t worry about traffic congestion; it’s already so congested that 60 more units couldn’t make it worse. “You call that planning?” says Dann. “This is what we pay them to come up with?”
McLean says he’ll landscape the complex to compensate for any trees that are destroyed. “A lot of the trees on the site are pieces of scrub,” he says. “To some people a tree’s a tree, but to others it’s just wild. Most people in Hyde Park don’t even know about these gardens, and now these gardeners want to make a big fuss about it? From the studies I’ve seen, Hyde Park is already overserved by parks.”
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Steven D. Arazmus.
