History
Washington Park was platted in 1831 and created by the Illinois-Michigan Canal Commission when the "states addition" of Ottawa was laid out. This was part of the original plat for the city. The park is probably most famous as the site of the first Lincoln-Douglas debate in 1858, but has served other civic functions through the years. In 1973 the park and surrounding area was designated a historic district by the U.S. National Register of Historic Places and several of the properties have local landmark designations as well. In 2002 a project to install Lincoln-Douglas debate statues was undertaken and completed.
Read more about this topic: Washington Park Historic District (Ottawa, Illinois)
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“The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)