The transformation of a decaying rail line into one of the region’s most treasured public spaces will be the topic of a presentation at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Koten Chapel, 329 E. School St., on the campus of North Central College.
Established by a handful of Naperville volunteers in the early 1960s, the Illinois Prairie Path began with a letter written by resident May Theilgaard Watts to her local newspaper. Watts had spotted an abandoned rail line becoming overgrown with weeds, and proposed that it be transformed into “a footpath, a long one.”
The 60-mile greenway is now a significant draw for bicyclists, hikers and equestrians that stretches from Maywood to a fork near Wheaton, where it splits into branches that lead to Elgin and Aurora.
Tuesday’s presentation will feature North Central archivist Kim Butler, who will give a 45-minute talk on the Prairie Path’s history. Butler will accompany her comments with the screening of a restored 1964 film that was shown more than 400 times by those gathering regional and statewide support for Watts’ idea. Visitors also will have a chance to view some of the path’s half-century of archives, to be on display across the street at Oesterle Library.
Free and open to the public, the event is being hosted by Tim Cummings and Dawn Fiorentino and members of the Trail Riders of DuPage County (TROD), North Central College Archives and the Illinois Prairie Path. Free on-site parking will be available.
“I keep thinking that the path founders from Naperville – May Watts, Helen Turner, Jane and August Sindt, and Dr. Warren Keck – would be pleased that the path’s 50 years of archives are based in their Naperville neighborhood,” said Mary Jo Malach, who is helping publicize the presentation, in an email.
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