Spaulding Memorial Garden

Until a few years ago, the Spaulding Memorial Garden at 16th Street and Spaulding Avenue was just another large vacant lot. Now, it is one of Gardeneers’ North Lawndale school gardens, a sunny, buzzing green space designed to give students in food insecure communities equal access to healthy fruits and vegetables while providing education in urban growing principles and techniques. 16th Street’s commercial and retail spaces have mostly disappeared over 50+ years of neighborhood disinvestment. New green infrastructure and ecological landscapes are giving the street a new identity and helping it regain its pedestrian friendliness. As an example, Spaulding Memorial Garden served as the host site for the Lawndale Pop-Up Spot, a community museum in a repurposed shipping container, until its move to Love Blooms Here Plaza in early 2021.