Some people think it’s time to put Gladstone Park on the map. The community’s got a lot more to brag about than Andy’s (Polish) Deli and the Superdawg [Hotdog Carhop] Drive-in Restaurant.

In fact, Gladstone Park has history, culture, and tradition that runs so deep and so rich that it’s worthy of a movie. But its story has sat untold during its entire existence. Little research has ever been done. No one even knows for sure why we’re named after a British prime minister. Indeed, this website has been the first attempt to put its attributes all together with a nod to its roots. Without a clear lack of identity, it’s hard to put together a strong, coherent response to questions about where Gladstone Park is headed. In advertising parlance, it’d be told to establish a brand. In plain words, the community needs a good PR campaign to broadcast its message to the city and the world.

How does a small enclave establish its bonafides to give it the credibility it needs to gain the respect it deserves from surrounding neighborhoods and beyond? How can it better attract new businesses and manage its growth? How does it get the city government’s support for infrastructure and beautification improvements? Perhaps the answer to how to formulate a vision for Gladstone Park’s future can be found most effectively by exploring the community’s unique historical and cultural past.

We can start by asking what the heck is the community’s name is all about. And we’d find after doing extensive research that Gladstone Park stands out amongst American communities as the only one in the nation named after the 19th Century British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone. When most pioneering communities in the United States were edifying themselves with the names of famous American intellectuals and politicians (Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, etc.), people here stubbornly chose to stick with an Old World moniker. And one that came from the nation America had to fight–twice!–to gain its independence.

Google Gladstone Park and you will be hard pressed to find any other areas in the country or the world with its exact name. There are the towns of Gladstone, Oregon and Gladstone, Missouri, but only their recreational lands have the full name “Gladstone Park.” And you’ll find Gladstone Park situated in the Dollis Hill area of northwest London, but it’s an 86-acre park, not a community. Which leaves Gladstone Park, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, as perhaps the only community in the world with the exact same name. Google Maps shows that town in 2016 with a population of 8,338 residents in light gray below. What fun…and what publicity it might create…to become sister towns!

Gladstone Park, Australia may be the only community in the world with the same exact name as the Chicago neighborhood of Gladstone Park…at least until it is proved otherwise. A suburb of Melbourne, it has a 2016 population of 8,338 people. What doors might open up if the two Gladstone Parks became sister towns? Courtesy of Google Maps.

And while Gladstone Park has its welcome signs, gardens and art in its pocket parks, perhaps it would be worthwhile to further mark our status by investigating deeper into our roots. Toward this aim, perhaps a local author of PhD student could be inspired to write a book about Gladstone Park for the company that has already printed and sold over 200 local history books focusing on Chicago’s many other neighborhoods, businesses and culture. Arcadia Publishing is dedicated to its hyperlocal mission to print missives that “reconnect people to their community, their neighbors, and their past by offering a curbside view of hometown history and often forgotten aspects of American life.”

Or how about commissioning a bust of William Gladstone himself to be displayed in a prominent place, like the bust of Thomas Jefferson donated by the Jefferson Park Chamber of Commerce that’s now displayed at the Jefferson Park Transit Center? To expand upon that idea, the community could complement its Throwback Festival in the fall with an Olde English Festival in the spring, perhaps while collaborating with the Chicago Shakespeare Theater on food, dress, and culture. A William Ewart Gladstone look-alike contest could be just one fun event.

Photo of William Ewart Gladstone, 19th Century British Prime Minister after whom the community of Gladstone Park, Chicago, was named. Can the community capitalize on its unusual name to promote itself with an Olde English Festival, a William Gladstone look-alike contest, or an event in collaboration with the city’s own Chicago Shakespeare Theater? The possibilities are limitless.

These are just a handful of thoughts. The possibilities are endless.

In documenting the community’s biggest strength, Gladstone Park would do well to promote its rich, sturdy and uniquely diverse housing stock, particularly its iconic Dutch Colonials, abundance of two/three flats, and English Tudors. Its many streets of 1900-1920 Dutch Colonials, concentrated in Old Gladstone before fanning out, represent a distinct class of peoples who chose only this Chicago community in which to settle: the German Volga. As such, they are particularly notable and most deserving of being historically preserved. Its preponderance of naturally affordable two/three flats that have disappeared from many other areas of Chicago should also be recognized and appreciated in order to save them from becoming teardowns. But it’s the community’s multitudes of English Tudors, fascinating with their steep roofs, rounded towers, and fairytale features that are the most compelling. Found in greater numbers here than perhaps anywhere else in the city, Gladstone Park’s English Tudors rival the hundreds of bungalows found in the nearby Chicago Bungalow Belt established some 15 years ago by the Chicago Bungalow Association. They are just as worthy of a new like organization to identify, preserve, and promote them through designations, maps, and walking tours.

It turns out that Historic Preservation is about much more than protecting old ivy-covered buildings with rules and regulations. In fact, it’s not that at all. Since the early days, Historical Preservation has evolved into surveys and studies to find vision for the future. It is a positive approach that tries to protect distinct architectural buildings by supplying owners with the funds to maintain and improve them rather than tear them down. Historical Preservation also lends a layer of protection when it came to working with the city for infrastructure improvements as well as consideration for zoning issues. Besides hundreds of local, state, and national preservation programs, there are other private foundations that can provide workarounds for unwanted development issues that would decimate older buildings. Preservation Chicago, whose slogan is “Love Your City Fiercely,” has experts who will come into any community in the city to outline all the possibilities.

In fact, there is local precedent for establishing a historic district in Gladstone Park. After a decade of work, neighboring Norwood Park Historical Society has recently been given National Register designation by the National Park Service for its Old Norwood Park section of homes west of N. Nagle. In hopes of preventing teardowns of historic residential properties, the status conferred by the award conveys financial incentives for preserving homes from all eras…from 1880s Victorians to 1950s ranches…with matching grants and low-interest loans for homeowners. Such preservation furthers lends a cache to the community.

It is of value to note that the official Chicago Zoning Map outlines Norwood Park’s National Register in red, as identified in its key in the map below. One can only conclude city planners and zoning officials pay some degree of attention to smaller “unofficial” preserved areas like these when making development decisions.

By paying respect to the community’s history by honoring what people built and lived in the past, Gladstone Park can only benefit in the future.