During the hustle and bustle of the day, it's easy to miss one of Chicago’s northwest side gems. The North Park Nature Center is a 46-acre nature preserve featuring a variety of landscapes. Meandering trails pass through prairie, savannah, and woodlands, visitors can forget that they're still within the city limits. A thick buffer of trees along Peterson buffers the sounds of the traffic. The nature center offers a variety of low cost or free classes for children, families, adults, and seniors. Want to learn about turtles, maple syrup, organic gardening, or be part of a nature writing group? Interactive exhibits highlight elements of our ecosystem, and the center can be a warming station of winter hikes. North Park offers many great ways to get away from concrete and come into contact with nature. The nature center has been rapidly growing in popularity and has experienced a ten-fold increase in visitors.
On your way to the nature center, visitors will pass a drop-off recycling center that accepts aluminum and steel cans, brown, clear, and green glass bottles, newspapers, white paper, magazines, and plastics. A trailer houses a wonderful book and magazine exchange, sure to be a collage lover’s paradise. You can exchange random items on a set of bookshelves outside of the book exchange; in the past I've seen anything from suitcases to glass jars to nail polish remover. One of the most impressive aspects of North Park is the citizen involvement that has made it what it is today.
The area was previous the site of a tuberculosis sanitarium from 1911-1974. At that time, the city nearly sold the land to developers to build a shopping center, but public opposition shifted the future of the property. The 160-acre parcel was used for senior citizen housing, a school for the mentally handicapped and the nature center.
The nature center is open 362 days a year from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. To request a copy of the Urban Naturalist newsletter, call 312-744-5472 or check out their website for a list of upcoming events and festivals.
