Dating from 1842, Washington Square Park--across the street from Walton on the Park-- is Chicago's oldest park. Through the early 1900s, the park area exemplified the city's Gilded Age. After a colorful era during the middle of the last century, when the park became the nation's center for "free speech" and one of the city's main tourist attractions, the park has been restored to its original gracious presence, and along with adjoining Newberry Library and Scottish Rite Cathedral has been named an Historic Landmark.