Washington Square Park (Bughouse Square)
901 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60610
Parks
Bughouse Square, across from the Newberry Library, was Chicago’s famed free-speech park. From the 1910s–1960s, poets, preachers, and radicals drew crowds with passionate, unscripted soapbox debates.
Bughouse Square—slang for a mental health facility—was the nickname for Washington Square Park, Chicago’s most famous outdoor free-speech venue from the 1910s to the mid-1960s. Located across from the Newberry Library, it drew crowds and tourists alike for its lively, unscripted debates.
At its peak in the 1920s and ’30s, speakers ranged from poets to preachers, though the revolutionary left dominated the soapboxes with fiery, impassioned discourse.
Illinois 250
How to find us?
What's happening nearby...
Chicago International Film Festival
Oct 15 – Oct 26
Welcome to North America’s longest-running competitive film festival. With more than 120 feature films and 70 shorts films from around the world, this year’s festival is…
Read more about Chicago International Film Festival
Chicago Architecture Biennial - SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change
Sep 19 – Feb 28
The Chicago Architecture Biennial will be the largest international survey of contemporary architecture in North America.
Read more about Chicago Architecture Biennial - SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change
Christkindlmarket Chicago
Under the Picasso • Nov 21 – Dec 24
The smell of roasted nuts, fresh pretzels, bratwurst, and hot spiced wine, the sound of music, and the glimmer of sparkling Christmas ornaments, all in a…
Read more about Christkindlmarket ChicagoYou might also be interested...
Garfield Park Conservatory and Gardens
Chicago
Colorful tropical flowers, palm trees, and more await visitors of this indoor oasis that feels like a world away from Chicago's bustling sidewalks.
Read more about Garfield Park Conservatory and Gardens