[3] Designed by landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh, the park had its ceremonial ribbon cutting on December 13, 2014, and is named for Maggie Daley, the former first lady of the city who died of cancer in 2011.

[4][5] The park was almost entirely remade with multiple new features including a new field house designed by Valerio Dewalt Train, an ice skating ribbon, climbing walls, landscaping and children's playground.

[8] Preparations for construction began with closures of elements like the Daley Bicentennial field house and areas fenced off in September 2012.

[9] By November, the removal of 877 aged crab apple, magnolia, white ash, elm and other varieties of trees began.

[10] The park features a one-quarter-mile-long (0.40 km) ice skating ribbon, rock-climbing walls,[3] and courts for tennis and pickleball.

The park was designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, the landscape architects for the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

[15] It contains 6 different play areas, including: The Wave Lawn, The Harbor, The Watering Hole, The Slide Crater, The Enchanted Forest, and The Sea.

Overhead along the Enchanted Forest pathways are archways defined by upside-down trees, where major branches touch the ground at multiple points and a single trunk rises skyward.

[16] The 12,000 square foot Slide Crater zone is entered on high from the Wave Lawn by means of the Tower Bridge, which is a suspension bridge elevated by two towers, one of which has two slides, the other a wealth of play features including knobs, flags, a viewing scope, and talk tubes.