Between Soldier Field and Burnham Harbor is a five-acre site that landscape architects are transforming into one of the most impressive memorials to fallen police officers in the country. With no such tribute currently in existence in Chicago, the city is spending three million dollars on what promises to be a gorgeous park. A candlelight vigil held on May 2, 2005 marked the groundbreaking ceremony for the site. The details: there will be a grove of 420 trees to honor the 420 officers killed in the line of duty since 1854 and a serpentine path of said trees leading to an inner portion where a wall lists each officer's name.

Within its 73,000-acre park district, Chicago boasts a long list of sculptures and statues to memorialize fallen war heroes, though the most historically intriguing of these is somewhat further south in Oak Woods Cemetery (1035 E. 67th), where "Confederate Mound Monument" can be found. A Confederate Infantry soldier stands above 6,000 graves of Confederate prisoners who died at Chicago's Camp Douglas during the Civil War.

Centerstage Reviewer: Joanne Hinkel