Located on the corner of Scott and Fullerton in Franklin Park, Illinois, Gouin Park has served the community as a gathering place for many years. Dedicated to the memory of Yves J. Gouin, a WWII veteran, a field house was erected in his honor in October 1947. Up until 1985 or so, Veterans Park District maintained several baseball fields and a wading pool on the property. At that time, an outdoor pool facility was constructed to better serve the surrounding area. In 1990, additional construction on a tube slide and mini-golf course was halted on behalf of the Village of Franklin Park. As a result, a huge pile of dirt sat behind the pool for almost ten years. Finally, a new Board of Commissioners was elected in 1997 and the "hill" was removed shortly thereafter. Also, in early spring of 1999 the entire chain link fencing surrounding the park was removed. Back in 1995 or 1996, the aging WWI cannons in front of the field house were removed and replaced with anti-aircraft armored vehicles from the Korean War. Lastly, a new playground was erected at Gouin Park the spring of 2002.

Robert V. Sewell, July 2002
edited Feb. 5, 2008

To see more images of Gouin Park go to our Flickr page.