The Way We Were: All vestiges of the recreational destination that was Naperville’s Burlington Park in the late-1800s just a memory

Three men and a young boy pose for a photo at a dammed section of the DuPage River in Naperville’s Burlington Park, where one of the men was fishing sometime in the late 19th century. Burlington Park was once a weekend destination for people in the Chicago area, who would take the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy train line out to the “country” to picnic, swim, boat and participate in other outdoor recreational activities. It closed in 1899, and was purchased by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County in 1922 for $852.