Washington Square Park

Nice little park. Historical site of first Lincoln -Douglas. Was used as one of sites for Christmas festival on December 5th.

Gives you that great home town feeling. Lots of seating areas right downtown. Beautiful!!

Music in the Park activities are fantastic! The music is fun for all ages, the area is spacious & being outdoors it is easy to social distance. There are a lot of benches so you dont necessarily have to bring your own chairs. Its a lovely peaceful environment. Great venue for music lovers!

If youre visiting then make sure to come to the park. Theres a statue of the Lincoln douglas debate. Theres also live music and just events that happen occasionally. We caught a live band. There are benches for food or games. Finally theres so much easy parking, shopping, and even a theater nearby.

Picturesque small town square with monuments and benches; typical midwestern USA. Nice.

Beautiful city park! A lot of shade, plenty of room for picnics and kids to play. The volunteers do an amazing job on the landscaping with beautiful flowers and the water fountain is great. A great place to sit back and relax.

Nice nature square block with mature shady trees, sidewalks, benches, and a beautiful center water fountain memorial.

So cool. Now if we could just tour Reddick Mansion that would be awesome

What a beautiful downtown park with great history. If you visit on a Saturday, you have to get the donuts from Ferguson Family Farm at the farmers market!

Great little park. We read enjoyed the fountain and exploring Ottawa.

I love a nice park...this one is it..historical stuff..beautiful fountain..really nice.

I really like Washington Square. A great place to sit, eat lunch or just enjoy being outside,. Especially now. Close to downtown and between two restaurants, Bash and Lone Buffalo.

Learned some new history regarding Lincoln and Douglas.

A nice spot to relax on the benches and see the small square and Abe Lincoln/Douglas monument, it would have been better if the fountain and pool had water to add to the relaxation. Right in the middle of downtown Ottawa.

Nice place to take a break and enjoy Ottawa downtown.

Beautiful park with several memorials, fountain, Illinois River road info and Lincoln Douglass debates

Nice historical place to sit and have a picnic.

My family and I came to Ottawa after our visit to Rock Falls. We ate lunch at BASH (separate review) and walked over to this park.We just missed the farmers market but the fountain was still a great attraction for my daughter. The statue of Abe was cool and full of character.Theres enough room in the park to fit many people but didnt feel cramped.

The city takes very good care of park.

I love Abraham Lincoln and history.

Nice clean little park, a short walk from a cool little downtown area. Couldnt imagine thousands packing in here for a Lincoln/Douglas debate.

Such amazing history about Douglas and Lincoln. First debate between the two of them took place here. Hard to imagine that 10k gathered around to hear their impassioned speeches. Theres also a fascinating visitors bureau held in a historic mansion across the street.

It is a beautifully maintained. picturesque park.

Very clean and nice atmosphere! Enjoyed a picnic in the park right across from the fountain. Was peaceful and relaxing, plus it was a beautiful day with perfect weather!

Nice park, fountain, & literary festival!

Very nice park that was very nicely decorated for Christmas.

Washington Square is a nice little memorial park. Some good signage explaining the monuments and some of the history of the park and town of Ottawa. I sat for a while just reading by the fountain today. The weather was pleasant and water was relaxing. There were a few nice families that walked through while i was there and offered a kind hello and smiles.

It is a peaceful place where you can sit and watch the birds or cars of you please, a place to walk leashed pets and enjoy a nice cup of Jeremiah Joes coffee

Love visiting historical spots especially when they have been commemorated as nicely as this one.

Pretty and nice, most of the time not a lot of people, Two pokemon gyms for people who play the game.

It was relaxing. Beautiful and feeding the baby squirrels.

Nice, peaceful place to enjoy your lunch hour

Its where swolesomejayposting is going to win the tri County welterweight bout.

This was the first place I remember going when my aunt moved to Ottawa 22 years ago and we went to visit her and meet her new puppy. This place is iconic. I love the fountain and the trees and the statues and spying on the wedding parties who come here for pictures. Im excited to shoot my own wedding pictures here in September.

Beautiful little park with a fountain, historical statues and monuments. If you want to see what Illinois is really like (not just Chicago) then start right here and explore Ottawa and its neighboring towns and glorious state parks. Ottawa and Washington Square are fantastic jumpstart into Illinois culture.

Great little city park to go and spend lunch or a quiet afternoon walk the dog and read a book.

I used to love going here until the city decided to destroy all the trees. What once was a nice shady oasis is now a horrible hot place.

Beautiful but Fredrick Douglas doesnt look like Fredrick Douglas... And thats all Ill say on that subject. The park stays clean, grass always cut for the most part, and you can tell the fountain is taken good care of.

Its a beautiful little park.

Beautiful outdoor public space that plays host to concerts and farmers markets in the summer and Christmas lights during the holidays. Perfect place for a picnic or sitting on a bench to read.

Historic park full of great information. President Lincoln has visited here.

Nice little downtown square

Nice place to relax and be entertained

Great place to visit.

Beautiful park with a lot of History

@FirstNameLastName - Its not a statue of Fredrick Douglas, its a statue of Stephen A. Douglas, the famous Illinoisan who participated in a series of debates with future president Abraham Lincoln in the late 1850s. The parks statue depicts the two men during their debate which took place on this site in 1858.

Beautiful little park with a great history.

Very relaxing place!

Nice and clean small park

Incredible flowers, peaceful fountain, classy statues commemorating our heritage. Very enjoyable stroll through the park with our family discussing history, veterans, and community gardens.

Lovely decorations and the vendors at kriskringle were amazing!

Really nice park

All the improvements look great. Art fair was very nice

A lot to see in a small park square but it could be a great park with a bit of attention to the lawn care.

Park is beautiful to walk through and even just relax on a fall day.

A hidden gem! Delicious food, beautifully plated, generous portions and reasonably priced!

Beautiful park...should be called Lincoln-Douglas park because its where the debate took place...but why make sense???

Enjoyed walking around this park, many benches and beautiful landscapes all around.

Rich green grass, pretty fountain, thoughtful memorials, plenty of tables ..and seating to find a secluded seat to enjoy lunch/book/people watching in the middle of historic downtown ottawa

Got to say Heather chicken wings and they are very very good

Beautiful day, beautiful park, love the memorial Park to commemorate the Douglas/Lincoln debate. Beautiful murals. Recommend the stop if youre traveling nearby

It looks cool when the leaves fall.

Lots of Beautiful trees, plenty of benches for relaxing. Historical statues.

Great park in the middle of town. Sometimes live music. Good statues, historic.

Cool historic town, need to take down their Christmas decorations in planters!

Great

Beautiful park and lots going on during spring and summer!

Beautiful and interesting

Very pretty scenery, lots of seating, and pleasant people here.

Beautiful place!

Visited Art in the Park, listened to some very talented young rockers, enjoyed a lemon shake-up, and grazed through the book sale. A very enjoyable very hot afternoon.

Very nice, great for picnics and Pokemon go.

Down town city park, site of the first of Lincoln and Douglas debate for Senate in 1858..

Average park. Benches and a water feature but not much else going on here.

Perfect evening concert place.

Beautiful. Water fountains.

Love to visit the park. Especially in the winter when the lights are up.

Its a nice park with rich history! The fountain is beautiful with Lincoln and Douglas statues as the focal point as this was the first site for their debates while campaigning for presidency. It is in a great location with lots of other historical places to learn about nearby. Great places to eat and shops within walking distance. Its a beautiful backdrop for family and formal event photos due to all the well-kept flower gardens and memorials. In the summer months, it is the place to be with parades and music in the park, a popcorn wagon (that never seems to be open for business, unless you are lucky). Summer weekend mornings, you will find the farmers market and flea markets on this block. There is ample parking, but no public rest rooms. No jungle gyms for kids, but they will like the fountain, the cannons and the butterflies! ;-) Its a nice place to hang out before or after a date to the Roxy Cinema that is just across the street. This is also quite the place to be for many of your phone app games like pokemon and geo-caching. You may encounter a man named Kevin who typically steers clear of people, but he has made this park his home, and who can blame him, its just that beautiful!

Nice

This is the site for the first Lincoln and Douglas debate when he was running for state Senate. He lost that election but ottawa does have a nice park dedicated to it. There is a large fountain in the middle of the park with memorials for civil war vets and other wars circling the fountain. There is plenty of parking on all sides of the park and you are in walking distance to the downtown.

Pretty cool piece of history.

Setting up for veterans memorial vigil Friday and Saturday.

I was blown away by this beautiful park nestled in the middle of downtown Ottawa, IL. Tons of flowers which made the park angel amazingly!

Nice small park, great place to play pokemon

A really nice park to go visit. No swing sets or playground equipment but still a really fun place to see.

Beautiful here! We had wedding here

Love Washington Park its beautiful! City does a nice job of maintaining it.

Nice park to sit in.Wish they had grills here to have a picnic.

Chris kringle market was so cool I had a nice area set aside with great parking the park looked so pretty lit up very neat ice sculpture contests great place

A very beautiful park

Great place to hang out

Very nice park in a very charming little town

History buffs delight

Great park right in the downtown area. No public bathrooms but still a great place to visit.

Great to be back in my home town! Lovely!!

It was nice, but theres not a place for small children to play. Lots of people sleeping on the benches at night.

Nice park.

Its so beautiful all year long, summer it just is beautiful, I always tell my friends from Chicago to stop and take a good look at it. They also think the same thing.

Nice little park downtown ottawa. Wonderful statutes of the Lincoln Douglas debates.

BEAUTIFUL PARK WITH ICE SCULPTURES AND CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!!