History
of the Lena Community Park District
It was the year 1854 and John Garner's original Alida
and then Terra Haute were transformed into what is now
known as Lena. The Lena Community Park District was
still 101 years away. Please note that it is the Lena
Community Park District. Often the word Community is
omitted from the title. The area served by our park
district covers 68 square miles. The Lena Community
Park District is truly a community park district.
The Forefathers
The year was 1953 and Mr. Vernon Boeke had an 18 acre
parcel of ground that he agreed to sell to the Lena
Lions Club for $4,000.00. This is the area currently
known as Lions Park. The Lions Park boundaries have
changed in the past several years with the addition
of the Hager property and DeVoe property to the original
tract. In 1955 the Lena Community Park District was
voted in by referendum. The original five commissioners
were: John Esmond, President from 1955-1963; Milo Schudt,
Vice President from 1955-1961; Francis Holmes, Secretary
and Treasurer from 1955-1963; and Louis Heyer and Louis
Schermerhorn, Advisors from 1955-1959.
These forefathers provided the insight for developing
the Boeke property into a beautiful park. Early pictures
show volunteers from Russell Cox of R.E. Cox Construction
providing manpower and equipment for making the ball
diamond. With very few, if any staff, the early improvements
were provided by volunteers.
The Swimming Pool
Lena looked to the many recreational opportunities being
offered by the neighboring Freeport Park District and
in 1965 decided to build a new swimming pool. Commissioners
at that time were: Dr. W.H Cable, Dr. Neal Chapin, Eugene
Becker, Denzil Mead, and Daylon Price. The cost for
building this new facility was $300,000.00. We have
a photograph of Mr. Wieland "Willie" Kayser doing a
hand stand on the diving board. When Splash Land opened
in 1995 Willie came back and repeated his hand stand
performance. It was nearly 30 years and the same Willie
doing another hand stand.
The 1970s
During this time, the Lena Community Park District was
preparing for more growth. The Board of Commissioners
decided to obtain a Master Plan for the park district.
This document would help establish guidelines for future
programming and facility expansion. The Village of Lena
was growing and there was a growing need for more park
open space and more ball diamonds. The new master plan
suggested that the park district purchase the field
northeast of Lions Park now known as Parkside subdivision.
This expansion of homes ?land locked? Lions Park.
In 1972, the West Point Township Board offered Schudt
Park to the park district. This property was transferred
for $1.00 to the Lena Community Park District. This
park is located west of the former Waddams Grove School
on property that was once owned by John Schudt, of whom
the park is named. In 1973, the Master Plan was once
again used as the basis for receiving a $4,000,000 grant
from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for
the purchase of Dodds Park. This eight acre park was
purchased from Mr. Gishwiller. Many volunteers helped
build this park with donated equipment and materials.
Dodds Park helped ease the need for more ball diamonds
and recreational open space.
The 1980s
In 1985, the Stephenson - Black Hawk Trail was dedicated.
The trail was made possible through the efforts of Dr.
Vickery and Melvin "Butch" Polhill. The Stephenson -
Black Hawk Trail is a Nationally Registered trail. Each
year this 14 mile trail is hiked by Boy Scout troops
from throughout the United States. The Lena Community
Park District maintains the trail and provides trail
patches and information surrounding its historical significance
to our area.
In 1989, a petition was circulated requesting that a
park be developed for the residents in Fairway Hills
subdivision. At this same time, St. John's Lutheran
Church was also looking to build a playground for their
members. The Lena-Winslow Jaycees were looking for a
community service project. The Lena Community Park District
purchased a lot from St. John's Lutheran Church for
$1.00 and an additional lot from Stuart Duth, and Jaycees
Park was developed through volunteer labor and donations.
The 1990s to the present
The 1990s represented a lot of change for the park district.
The relatively new summer recreational programs would
continue to expand and grow, which gave park patrons
of all ages something to do over the summer, and for
others, summer employment. In 1992, The Americans with
Disabilities Act entered into the picture as a new federal
building code, which required the Lena Community Park
District to upgrade its facilities. The 1966 circa swimming
pool was placed under the microscope. This facility
had numerous state and federal code non-compliance issues.
The pool vessel was crumbling and the mechanical/filtration
system was failing. After two exhaustive studies
the board decided to build what is now Splash Land Family
Water Park, which opened Memorial Day 1995. A year later,
Splash Land Food Court was opened, and in 2001, Splash
Land Mini Golf was opened.
In 2001, the
Village of Lena was able to purchase the area formally
known as the Lena-Winslow Elementary School's playground.
This parcel was purchased from the Bill Dietz family
with TIF funds and given to the park district. The Lena
Lions Club purchased and installed a new playground
unit. This park was dedicated on May 19, 2005 as Polhill
Park, in honor of Melvin "Butch" Polhill for his twenty-five
years of service to the district as Commissioner.
This event also celebrated the 50th
year of the Lena Community Park District.
The park district continues to improve and maintain
facilities and programming. The Lions Park restroom
was replaced in 2004. The Lions Park baseball
diamond lights were replaced in 2005 along with the
parks main electrical distribution system. Both
Lions and Dodds Parks received baseball diamond fence
upgrades. Dodds Park received baseball diamond
light upgrades in 2008.
The park district was approached during January of 2004
by the Jane Addams Parkland Foundation with their offer
of buying and developing a small parcel of land on the
Pecatonica River. This land was to be donated
to the park district. The notion of owning and operating
a boat landing was a big step for our park district,
but recreation and leisure activities come in many different
forms. The park district purchased what
is now known as McNeil's Damascus Landing in February
2006. This park was developed through many donations
of labor, material and equipment. It has been
very successful in use. The park district applied
for an IDNR-BAAD grant and was notified in the spring
of 2007 that we were successful in obtaining $133,000.00
for the development of a concrete ramp and commercial
docking. Due to unusually high river levels, the
ramp has not been installed as of August 2008.
The park district was working on a new Master Plan and
also looking into the expansion of Dodds Park for soccer
fields and ball diamonds. The park district applied
for an IDNR-OSLAD grant in July of 2006. In October
of 2006, we were notified of our award of $54,000.00
for help in the purchase of additional acreage to expand
Dodds Park. The park district added indoor
leisure activities with the Activity Center located
at 220 W. Main Street. Specialized exercise, card
playing and summer programs are held here.
The park district was interested in the continued development
of recreational, leisure and wildlife opportunities
on the Pecatonica River. Stephenson County hosts
58 miles of the rivers nearly 150 miles. The park
district learned that the dormant property 7.4 miles
up river from McNeil's Landing was owned by Stephenson
County. This property would be a perfect entrance
point for canoers and kayakers. Negotiations began
in May of 2007 and in March of 2008 the park district
purchased 20+ acres from Stephenson County for $10.00.
This property is in the early stages of development
with donations of material and labor exceeding expectations.
The park district embraces the going green concepts.
The Master Plan dictated our strengths and weaknesses.
The public has asked for a recreational trail to connect
Lena with Lake Le-Aqua-Na and eventually to the Jane
Addams Trail, which is being explored by the Lena Economic
Development Committee. There is also interest in a bark
park. The Lena Community Park District will continue
to grow in programs and facilities to meet the ever
changing needs of our patrons.
Compiled by Roger Schamberger
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