Today
Every July, the Bughouse Square Committee continues to oversee the annual Bughouse Square Debates free speech gathering in conjunction with the Newberry Library’s annual book sale. The debates are part of an annual festival to recreate the atmosphere of speeches and debates by soap box orators that once flourished in the park.
Although Alderman McCormick's fountain was removed in the 1970s, in the late 1990s, the park district, the city, and neighborhood organizations agreed on a restoration plan for Washington Square. Improvements include a reconstructed historic fountain, period lighting, fencing, and new plantings. In the west part of the park, there is a memorial tablet designating the park as "Chicago's Premier Free Speech Forum."
Read more about this topic: Washington Square Historic District (Chicago)
Famous quotes containing the word today:
““Revolution” today is taken for granted, and in consequence becomes rather dull.”
—Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957)
“If today there is a proper American “sphere of influence” it is this fragile sphere called earth upon which all men live and share a common fate—a sphere where our influence must be for peace and justice.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)
“Man is a question; woman is an answer. The mistake women make today is to offer themselves as answers before being questioned.”
—José Bergamín (1895–1983)