Camp Douglas - Near Myrick's Chicago Race Track

            Camp Douglas site today.

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This one has made me pull my hair out. Let's start with the knowns: Camp Douglas was located between 31st and 33rd Streets to the north and south, and between MLK Drive and Cottage Grove Ave to the west and east. It was used to house Confederate prisoners during the Civil War. Conditions there were not as bad as at Andersonville, but they were close. Literally thousands of soldiers died here, and are now buried at the Oak Woods Cemetery Confederate Mound. The Camp Douglas site today shows no evidence of its past, though there is apparently a historical marker along S MLK Drive that I overlooked.

Now for the confusing part: The Prisoners Square section was on the western side of the Camp, which would now be along S MLK Drive. There was apparently a horse track approximately 4 blocks to the west of the Camp, and on at least one occasion, prisoners were punished for climbing onto the roof and watching the races. There is also documentation that soldiers at the Camp were not happy about people getting all dressed up in their finest to enjoy a day at the races when a war was going on.

So where exactly was the track, and what was it called? That's where things start to get messy. The first documented race track in Chicago was a one-mile harness track built by W. F. Myrick in 1844 (though there is mention of the Chicago Sporting Club operating races somewhere in the area earlier, in 1840). Myrick's track was bounded by 26th and 31st Streets, near Indiana Avenue, which is the location of the present-day Dunbar Park. This would place his track 4 blocks west of the Camp, and just north of the horizontal line indicating the Camp's northern boundary. So the location of his track fits the Camp narratives (assuming that this track was in fact still around in the 1860s - we do know that the track was leased to Dr. William Tichnor from 1845 to 1855). 

But what was its name? Writings about the Camp refer to the track as the "Chicago Driving Park." But we already know that there was a Chicago Driving Park built just west of Garfield Park (and later known as the West Side Driving Park and also as Garfield Park) right around the end of the Civil War. So did the "Chicago Driving Park" get relocated, or did the builders of the new CDP simply appropriate its name? Other references refer to Myrick's track as simply the "Chicago Race Track," so maybe the "Chicago Race Track" and the "Chicago Driving Park" mentioned in writings about the Camp are one and the same. Who knows. (To add to the confusion, Myrick was one of the directors for the "real" CDP which opened in 1863...)

At any rate, the more I dig, the more I believe that this was in fact a harness-only track. But I am including it here in case facts ever turn up evidence of Thoroughbred racing in the area.

Taken on: July 13, 2013

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Sets appears in: • Myrick's Track Near Camp Douglas

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