Wheaton Parks and Recreation
Offering Everything Under the Sun
By Kristin Roberts
The Wheaton Park District was incorporated in 1921 and has received the National Gold Medal for Excellence by the National Park & Recreation Association three times in the past fifteen years. With a mission “to enrich the quality of community life through a diversity of healthy leisure pursuits and heightened appreciation for our natural world,” the Wheaton Park District now encompasses 52 parks covering more than 800 acres.
Whether you are looking for some quiet time to reflect or a fun interactive outdoor adventure for the entire group, you will find what you’re looking for in Wheaton. Lincoln Marsh covers 135 acres and highlights over 300 species of plants and animals. It also features a regionally acclaimed ropes course for those with an adventurous streak.
If you are looking to enjoy a cool dip on a hot day, there are also two public swimming pools, including Rice Pool and Water Park complete with three water slides. For animal lovers, there is Cosley Zoo. The zoo was founded in 1974 as a free-admission facility and is situated on 5 acres. Built on the site of a historic train station, the zoo’s exhibits consist of domestic animals and wildlife that are native to Illinois.
If golf is your passion, the City of Wheaton is just the place to be. The 27-hole Arrowhead Golf Club was built in 1927 and throughout the 1990s underwent complete renovations. With the new clubhouse constructed in 2004-2005, it is a course you will enjoy from tee off to the final green.
The former estate of Chicago Tribune owner Robert R. McCormick, situated in southwestern Wheaton, is home to Cantigny Park and Golf Course. In addition to the beautifully maintained 18-hole golf course are two museums, featuring displays relating to the Chicago Tribune and one in particular devoted to the First Division of the United States Army, as Robert McCormick was a colonel in the First Division during World War I.
While the Chicago Golf Club, on the south side of Wheaton, is a private club, true golf enthusiasts will still appreciate the fact that the 18-hole golf course is the oldest in North America, and is one of the five original clubs that founded the United States Golf Association in 1894. The club has played host to numerous U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur golf championships in its history as well as the Walker Cup.
And if you’re in the area during the fall season, don’t forget to catch the Wheaton Warrenville South Tigers’ football team, hailing as the 2006 Illinois Class 8A State Champions, a recognition received after the team beat out Mt. Carmel 44-21 in the state championship game.
Daniel L. and Ada Rice’s former estate, after whom Danada is cleverly named, now boasts the Danada Forest Preserve and Equestrian Center. The Rice’s added a barn to the estate to house horses in the 1940s, and in 1965, their horse Lucky Debonair won the Kentucky Derby. The county was lucky enough to acquire the Danada estate in 1980 and 1981.
For bicyclists, the Illinois Prairie Path is something you won’t want to pass up. Running throughout Wheaton, the 61 mile section of trail flows in and out of shady groves of trees dappled with sunlight, and includes the intersection of the Aurora Branch and Elgin Branch, just west of downtown near the railroad tracks. The Prairie Path is part of a larger regional network of trails in the Chicagoland area. The Elgin Branch and Main Stem are part of the 535 mile (861 km) Grand Illinois Trail in north-central Illinois. At the local level, the Prairie Path intersects with Kane County’s Fox River Trail four times, and the Great Western Trail, which is a parallel connector between the Main Stem at Lombard and the Elgin Branch.
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