CHICAGO – Alderman Bob Fioretti (2nd), local judges and neighborhood leaders will dedicate a new historic marker celebrating the accomplishments of Judge Mary Bartelme in the new Bartelme Park at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011, at Monroe and Sangamon streets in Chicago’s West Loop.

The program will begin in the Merit School of Music auditorium, 38 S. Peoria at 5:30 p.m. with presentations by Ald. Fioretti; Illinois judges and the sponsors of the historic marker. Sponsors include Illinois Justice Mary Jane Theis; Patricia M. Martin, Presiding Judge of the Child Protection Division in Cook County Juvenile Court; Lisa Yun Lee, Director of the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum at the University of Illinois at Chicago; Deane B. Brown, President of the Woman’s Bar Association of Illinois; Jeff Taylor, President of the West Loop Community Organization; and Scott Maesel, President of the Bartelme Park Advisory Council.

“Mary Bartelme was the first woman judge in Illinois,” Fioretti explained. “She served as a judge in juvenile court after helping to establish the juvenile court system in Illinois so that children would no longer be incarcerated with adults. She also established the Bartelme homes for girls, so that girls who were alone had a place to live in safety. Mary Bartelme was a fighter for women and children in Illinois, and she blazed a trail for all women judges. Her outstanding accomplishments and civic dedication deserve to be remembered.”

Bartelme Park is an outstanding example of a brilliant design for a new park in an urban setting. It is the result of an intensive community process, lead by the Chicago Park District, neighbors and Ald. Fioretti. Bartelme Park has been acknowledged as one of the best new park designs in Chicago.

The sponsors of this marker, which was prepared by the Illinois Historical Society, are Ald. Bob Fioretti; the Chicago Park District; Leslie Recht, 2nd Ward Park Liaison; Northwestern University Law School; University of Illinois at Chicago and Hull House Museum; West Loop Community Organization; Women’s Bar Association of Illinois, and Scott Maesel, president of the Bartelme Park Advisory Council.

Office of Ald. Bob Fioretti
Chicago’s 2nd Ward
1319 S. State Street
Chicago, IL 60605
(312) 263-9273