Oak Park’s plan to honor the legacy of trailblazing scientist Percy Julian with an installation on Chicago Avenue is beginning to come together.
Oak Parkers were asked to give feedback on design concepts for the Percy Julian streetscape project, a corridor along Chicago Avenue from East Avenue to Austin Boulevard. The project will include artwork and installations paying tribute to Julian, a groundbreaking chemist whose accomplishments include first-of-its-kind soybean research that pioneered bioplastics, hormone-based medications and cortisone treatments. One of the most successful African American scientists of all time, Julian obtained over 130 chemical patents over the course of his career.
Residents provided feedback on the concepts at a village hall open house on April 22, voting on what elements of the proposals most appealed to them.
The corridor will stretch along Chicago Avenue from Austin Boulevard to the Julian home on East Avenue, with different sections of the street dedicated to different aspects of Julian’s life. The project will also involve elements of Oak Park’s “Vision Zero” traffic safety plan, including by widening pedestrian crossings on the street.
Architectural design firm Planning Resources Incorporated, real estate firm Prescott Group and engineering group TERRA Engineering are all serving as village consultants on the project. Work by the consultants on the project started shortly after Jan. 1.
“Despite his boundary-breaking accomplishments, Dr. Percy L. Julian is largely unrecognized,” PRI said of the project in materials shared with residents. “The Dr. Percy Julian Streetscape project seeks to honor his legacy, provide a brand and identity for the district, and facilitate economic development to build meaningful capacity around organizations of the district.”
The corridor will likely include a variety of different artistic elements including sculpture, street murals, digital artwork, archways and storytelling installations outlining Julian’s life and accomplishments. Possible themes for sections of the corridor include Julian’s family history, his activism, his scientific accomplishments and his perseverance, according to PRI’s design concepts.
The corridor will also be represented by a branded identity, which will feature a logo that includes both an image of Julian and artwork inspired by his scientific discoveries.
PRI consulted with Faith Julian and with Oak Park River Forest Museum Executive Director Frank Lipo on what aspects of Julian’s time in Oak Park would be best to highlight.
“These exhibits, ranging from signage to public art, will integrate into Oak Park’s thriving business district along Chicago Avenue to create a cohesive identity for the area,” PRI said of the project in materials shared with residents.
Following last week’s open house, the project is now moving into the final phase of the design process, according to PRI.
Oak Park Village President Vicki Scaman said the village hopes to establish the corridor as a tribute to Julian’s scientific contributions to the world, a boost to businesses in the area and an honest reckoning with the hardship the family experienced after they moved to the village.
“The streetscape is infrastructure, it’s supporting small business and at the same time telling it’s the story,” Scaman said. “We’re creating the infrastructure for that sort of opportunity.”
Oak Park’s village board has also allocated funds to preserve the Julian home itself, putting $1 million towards that goal as part of the 2025 fiscal year budget. Plans for what those preservation efforts will look like are still undefined, Scaman said. But figuring out how Oak Park can best maintain the structure in line with Faith Julian’s wishes will be a goal for the new board of trustees that will be seated next week.
“It’s an investment that’s going to bring significant tourism value as well as historical value to the village of Oak Park,” Scaman said. “It would be tragic and irresponsible to let anything else happen to that home.”
Last year, an anonymous benefactor covered more than $30,000 in unpaid property taxes for the home to prevent the home from going to a tax sale.
The village’s efforts to preserve the home run alongside a proposal by U.S. Rep. Danny Davis who introduced legislation that would make the home a federally recognized historic site.
“I’m very optimistic that we’re going to be able to restore the building and grounds,” Davis said in December. “We’re also going to be able to protect and keep articulating the value of what the good doctor and his wife did.”
Julian moved his family from Maywood to Oak Park, settling into a home near the corner of Chicago Avenue and East Avenue when Oak Park only had a few Black residents. The family’s home, where Julian’s daughter Faith Julian still lives today, was twice targeted in racial terror attacks trying to intimidate the Julian’s to leave Oak Park.
In addition to his scientific accomplishments, he was an influential advocate for a variety of human rights causes, including helping lead a push to pass Oak Park’s fair housing ordinance in 1968.
Julian will join Ernest Hemingway and Frank Lloyd Wright as figures honored with historic districts in Oak Park. The corridor will also share Chicago Avenue with several developing cultural districts on Chicago’s West Side, including Austin’s Soul City Corridor and Humboldt Park’s Invest South/West Humboldt Park Chicago Avenue Streetscape Project.