May Watts' Prairie Path
/One of our town’s treasures is a simple wooded trail that links our border with Villa Park on the east and our border with Glen Ellyn on the west. The story behind the creation of the Illinois Prairie Path, as it was named in 1965, is one that is largely overlooked in the history of Lombard.
This simple, straight-as-an-arrow gravel trail, which stretches for twenty-seven miles through DuPage County, is used daily by many kinds of users including bicyclists, marathon runners, dog walkers, and employees of businesses in downtown Lombard. It also attracts nature lovers who simply want a quiet walk with an ever-changing landscape of native flowers and venerable old trees arching their branches overhead.
Possibly May Thielgard Watts, founded Prairie Path
May Thielgard Watts, teacher, author, and lecturer, as well as a local naturalist, saw the abandoned Chicago Aurora and Elgin rail line as a habitat for small native plants and animals. It extended from Chicago and Cook County, through DuPage County, and all the way to Kane County, slicing through many communities.
As Lillian Budd expressed it, May Watts, who originated the idea for a “prairie path” in 1963, could see in her mind’s eye
“…a forest of sugar maple trees dipping into a hollow with ferns, then skirting a thicket of wild plum to straighten out for a long stretch of prairie. “
She spearheaded a fight to save the old interurban right of way, even going to Washington D.C. to plead for its recognition. This is her story, the story of Lombard’s Prairie Path.
Walk the Prairie Path today and look up at the tunnel of venerable old trees, arching overhead. It’s hard to believe that they have not grown here forever, but the truth is, this land was all prairie grassland, rich with wildflowers.
May Theilgaard Watts, a local naturalist who lived in Naperville always believed that the old abandoned Chicago, Aurora, and Elgin right of way was just waiting to be discovered. In her work at Morton’s Arboretum, she grew to appreciate the ever-shrinking pool of natural wonders within the borders of DuPage County. In searching out these forgotten corners, she looked for cemeteries, railroad right-of-ways, and riverbanks to find botanical survivors. Farmers’ fields, although they had largely wiped out the native plant population, could still offer a sampling of native wildflowers, like violets, our state flower, coneflowers, and shooting stars, if you searched for them.
In a letter to the Chicago Tribune, Sept. 30, 1963, May Watts outlined her idea:
“We are human beings. We are able to walk upright on two feet. We need a footpath. Right now there is a chance for Chicago and its suburbs to have a footpath, a long one. The right of way of the Aurora electric road lies waiting. If we have the courage and foresight, such as made possible the Long Trail in Vermont, and the Appalachian trail from Maine to Georgia, and the network of public footpaths in Britain, then we can create from this strip a proud resource.”
In writing to the Tribune, Watts essentially began the rails-to-trails movement. The response from Tribune readers was positive and showed her that others saw her proposal as not only possible but necessary. The 1960s was a time when Americans everywhere were becoming more environmentally sensitive. Gathering a group of similarly minded women, she began an effort to organize support for her plan.
But what was this “Aurora electric road” she wrote and talked about?
Chicago, Aurora and Elgin Station on Park. c. 1900s.
In the early 1900s, the small towns that had developed along the St. Charles trail were beginning to investigate trolley lines, also called inter-urbans, similar to those in Chicago. The old trolley rails can still be seen in some towns. This new form of local transportation would change the character of the towns they linked, by developing new commercial areas. In Lombard, the land south of Maple St. was largely farmland.
The Lombard Cemetary on Main St. was considered “out of town” by the local residents. A right-of-way for an interurban would need land with the least impact on existing structures. As it was, some houses would have to be moved from a strip of land, roughly midway between Ash and Hickory. Work on the Chicago Aurora and Elgin began in 1902, a time when automobiles were considered expensive toys that few could afford. It joined the North Shore, and the South Shore, as the three interurbans that serviced Chicago.
“The Roarin’ Elgin” was powered by a plant in Batavia, where coal was converted to electric power, which was then transferred to either overhead lines or a “third rail” placed along the ground. Fast and efficient electric trains were a sign of a community’s prosperity. The development of the south Main St. business area owes much of its success to the Aurora and Elgin stop at Main, which allowed residents of other towns to visit and shop in Lombard. In 1957, however, the Aurora and Elgin faced financial difficulties and a drop in riders during the construction of the new Eisenhower Expressway.
Chicago, Aurora and Elgin Station on Park, n.d.
On July 3, 1957, the old Roarin’ Elgin died, and the railway was abandoned. The 40 to 100 foot wide abandoned Chicago, Aurora, and Elgin trackbed was purchased by the DuPage County Highway Committee, for part of the Illinois Prairie Path, giving Lombard a 2.75-mile nature trail within its boundaries, which is overseen by The Illinois Prairie Path, a not for profit corporation.
In 1963, May Watts began to push the idea of a prairie hiking trail. Her dream led her to Washington, D.C. to plead for its recognition, and in 1971 (read the newspaper article here), the Illinois Prairie Path was designated the first National Trail and listed in the National Registry. Thank you, May Watts!
Written by: Margot Fruehe, Historian,
June 5, 2004
