Sea Splendor Aquarium

01/05/2022

12/14/2020

Happy back to school day! We hope your kids were more excited this morning than these 4th graders in 1946! Hope our students had a great first day!

Pictured: first row L to R: Lois Player, Barbara Ziemsen, Glenna Tadder, Mary Momper, Karen Darling, Gloria Huston, Alice Kuhs
Middle row: Mrs. Frazier, unknown, Donna DeVaney, Nancy Fink, Shirley Kroning, Tom Kibler
Back row: Riley Reese, Ron Lederman, Jim Fay, George Bobbins, Peter Hendrickson, Newton Fink, Art Daniels.

12/14/2020

Happy first day back to school Wheaton Warrenville! We hope you all have a wonderful day and wonderful school year, just like I'm sure these Holmes School 1st grade students did in 1925! Lucille Kroning is pictured in the middle row 5th from right-do you see any other familiar faces?

12/14/2020

12/14/2020

12/14/2020

Happy Earth Day! As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of honoring our planet, we wanted to share a little history about one our community's wonderful nature areas. This bit of history on how Blackwell Forest Preserve comes from Leone Schmidt’s In and Around Historic Warrenville. It tells of how the area settled as the Manning Hoy homestead was turned into this popular forest perverse destination.

Thousands have lined up on Butterfield Road to enter this sports wonderland of the western suburbs since its official opening in the United States Bicentennial year 1976. Besides the year-round recreational activities of the 1256-acre preserve, it is noted for its wildlife refuge, outdoor amphitheater, and camping facilities.

Blackwell’s creation stands as a supreme example of multiple-use land management. The core of the plan was the transformation of a 65-acre worked-out gravel pit. From this earthly scar blossomed three lakes and the highest hill in the county, to accommodate three needs— recreational area, scenic open land, and a major rainwater retention basin.
The story of Blackwell began many years before its opening.

The DuPage County Forest Preserve commissioners were concerned first in 1962 with christening their newest land acquisition. A vote on January 9, 1963 rejected the name of Gen. Douglas MacArthur which had been under consideration since October, and decreed that the honor go to someone closer to the community—the deceased forest preserve commissioner president (1956-61) and county civil defense director, Roy C. Blackwell.

Its development was undertaken in phases, on a pay-as-you-go basis. The first scoop of gravel came out of the pit early in 1964. Proceeds from the gravel’s sale to the area building contractors, eventually totaling half a million dollars, were applied to the cost of construction.

The clay found under the gravel was unmarketable. It was at this point that the ingenious plan for the ski hill was worked out. Beginning in August 1965, trash collection agencies in desperate need of disposal sites were permitted to dump next to the pit, for a fee. At the end of each day county workers spread the clay which they had excavated onto the growing pile of refuse.

In three years there was a lake open for fishermen. And by autumn of 1973, Mt. Hoy had reached its height of 150 feet, ready to welcome skiers and ‘tubers’ early in 1974. With work on the campgrounds completed in the summer of 1976, all the planned public areas were open.

The behind-the-scenes work which continued, however, the following year upstaged the recreational facilities. After a drag-line crane operator on June 21, 1977 unearthed bones said to be from an ancient mammal (Wooly Mammoth) from 10,000 years back, hundreds of spectators gathered to watch the developments in the dig.

Photograph: Forest Preserve Staff sketch a bone during excavation during the summer of 1977

Forest Preserve District of DuPage County

12/14/2020

Fresh Blooms, Sandy Whitmer

"Illinois Prairie Path, Warrenville Civic Center -- Springtime is my favorite time to take a break from work by taking a walk on the Prairie Path. I enjoy the beautiful blooms, bright skies and the opportunity to enjoy the fresh air before the heat and humidity of summer descends."

12/14/2020

Our takes us to the 1930s when the famous painter Ivan Albright used our building as an art studio and gallery with his father, Adam Emory Albright, and twin brother, Malvin "Zsissly" Albright, who were also well-known artists of the time. This photograph shows the three artists at work in the old Methodist Church on Second Street.

We will be presenting about Ivan's life and work here in Warrenville, where he used many locals as his models, on Wednesday, August 26th at 7pm with the Warrenville Public Library District. If you would like to join us for this program-please register here free!

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_heGc5-dVTdmySLdONWaBvw

12/14/2020

We've got some fun to beat the Sunday evening slump. You may have to go back to work tomorrow, but if you are starting another week in Zoom meetings, we hope these new Warrenville History Zoom backgrounds will at least bring you a change of scenery in your virtual life!

Image: Petit's Corner, Warrenville Road and Batavia Road looking east

12/14/2020

As our community celebrates Art on the Prairie this weekend, our September Artifact of the Month highlights Warrenville's long history of artists.

Adam Emory Albright lived and painted in Warrenville from 1924 until his death in 1957. Learn about the Albrights and his famous son, Ivan Albright's foundational time in our community in this recorded presentation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8HDIeAVXYQ.

12/14/2020

The Roundhouse and Spring Flowers, Linda Mack

"An iconic historical landmark showing how the city takes pride in it's rich history."