HUMBOLDT PARK — Work is underway at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture’s campus to build a garden and educational space.
The sculpture garden broke ground this month on land previously intended to be the museum’s archives center, which was a controversial project shut down by the city in 2022 and demolished early last year.
The garden and community area was presented to the community late last year and received approval from city officials, the Park District, Preservation Chicago and city and state agencies.
“I created Paseo Boricua, I created the flags, so this is an extension of who we are,” Billy Ocasio, museum president, founder and former Humboldt Park alderman, said of the garden. “There’s never enough space for everything you want, even on Paseo Boricua. … I see it as an enhancement to the whole area.”
The space will be able to host everything from poetry and dance workshops to shows, high school field trips and community meetings, Ocasio said.
A city permit pinned to the fence of the outdoor space at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture’s future garden for the outdoor space and foundation is seen July 9, 2025. Credit: Ariel Parrella-Aureli/Block Club Chicago
The space will have movable seating areas for flexible programs, curved lights and a rain garden that acts as a buffer between the parking lot and the program area. Lawn areas with shade trees and mounded planting are also coming.
The project will have a concrete mosaic mural wall depicting the history of Puerto Rican migration to Chicago, sculpture pedestals and an outdoor classroom inspired by the Taíno Indigenous people of the island, Ocasio said.
“The mural is going to tell the history of Puerto Ricans coming from the island, and the three parts of the Puerto Rican — the African, the Spaniard and the Taíno Indian — it’s going to start off with that and go through a progression of history until the migration to Chicago,” Ocasio said. “It ends with showing the flags, the museum, so that in itself is a big history lesson.”
Native plants reflective of the prairie-style landscape will be put in place in tribute to famed architect Jens Jensen, who designed Humboldt Park’s prairie garden. Jensen served as the park’s superintendent; in the 1890s, he worked out of the stables building that became the museum.
A July 2 city permit shows the group has gotten conditional approval for underground plumbing and electrical work on the land to prep for the garden.
The garden and community area will be accessible to the public when the museum is open through its entrance at 3015 W. Division St. It is planned to be complete and unveiled Sept. 8 as part of the museum’s 25th anniversary.
A 3D model of the proposed glass atrium for the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture courtyard. Credit: Leen Yassine/Block Club Chicago
The museum is also set to build a glass atrium, which was approved at last year’s community meeting, to enclose its courtyard so it can be used year-round, adding 6,000 square feet of program space, Ocasio said. The permit should be approved by October, he said.
A new archives center, the National Boricua Archives and Collections Research Center, is in the works for 2533 W. Division St. and 2537 W. Division St. after being approved by City Council last summer. The museum aims to break ground on that in 2026 and open in 2027. Fundraising for the project is ongoing, Ocasio said.
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