Hillcrest (Amusement) Park in Woodridge (formerly Lemont), Illinois. (1952-2003)

Hillcrest Amusement Park was located at 11335 South Joliet Road in Lemont, Illinois. A dark wooden sign marked the entrance to the park, easily missed if you`re not specifically looking for it. It sat on 60 secluded acres, so far back from the view that most passersby didn't even know it existed.

About 60 acres of the old Stuyvesant Peabody estate in Lemont was purchased in the early 1950s by 42-year-old Richard Barrie.(who owned Storybook Park, pre-Adventureland, in Bloomingdale/Addison 1958-1961) Peabody had made his fortune in coal. The acreage Barrie purchased included a small lake.

Starting in 1952, Hillcrest Park had been a full-service outdoor catering facility specializing in private picnics, primarily for corporations, promising a good time and non-stop food for all ages. Rain rarely cancels picnics because the park has an elaborate underground drainage system that helps eliminate standing water. There were plenty of shelters to avoid canceling a picnic.

Owners Richard Barrie and Wayne Kurchina, also 42, then later his son, Rick, keep the entrance intentionally understated to avoid uninvited guests. A winding, single-lane, paved road leads picnickers back to the grove, where parking lot attendants check invitations before indicating a parking spot. They immediately booked it full for their first season with either private or corporate parties.

CLICK THE MAP FOR A FULL-SIZE VIEW.

Rides included a Kiddie Whip and a Merry-Go-Round with 4 horses across instead of three (Note: near each of the Merry-Go-Round benches were two stationary horses about 1/4 scale of the regular horses for toddlers and little children), a Helicopter ride, and a Bumper Car ride with 16 cars. The park also had a miniature golf course, a shooting gallery, basketball and volleyball courts, softball diamonds, a swimming pool, a bingo pavilion, a dance pavilion and horseshoe courts.

The authentic steam locomotive that beckoned eager picnic passengers was another ride from a bygone era. The steam engine required 300 to 400 pounds of coal for a full day of use. It took an hour to build up enough steam pressure in the boiler before it could pull the train. The train travels through the woods and around a lake. Two trains were operated to keep the train ride lines short for large picnics. The other train was a gasoline-powered locomotive.

In 1967 the main attraction arrived at the park, the Little Dipper wooden roller coaster holding 16 riders. This jewel of a junior coaster was purchased when Kiddy Town at Harlem & Irving Park Road in Norridge, Illinois, closed. The wooden roller coaster at Hillcrest Park was called a "Junior Bobs" and was manufactured by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company. The Little Dipper was so unusual that there was only one other in the U.S.; its sister park was  Kiddieland in Melrose Park. They had no idea how old it was when it was purchased for Hillcrest Park, but over the years, they rebuilt it... twice.

Entrance to the Little Dipper Wooden Roller Coaster.

Exit from the Little Dipper Wooden Roller Coaster.

The Little Dipper Wooden Roller Coaster.

The Little Dipper Wooden Roller Coaster.

Hillcrest Park closed on September 1, 2003, after a decline in corporate picnics and increased the value of the land it sat upon.  After the closure, the rides, roller coaster and park equipment were auctioned off, and the land was sold to a developer. 

The Little Dipper wooden coaster was bought and moved to a small amusement park in Wisconsin called Little Amerricka Amusement Park (formerly Little A-Merrick-A) in Marshall, Wisconsin (owned by a family named Merrick). The Little Amerricka Amusement Park is still open. The "Little Dipper" was renamed the "Meteor" and operational for the 2007 season.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

---

VIDEO

Take a ride on the "Little Dipper" roller coaster, now named the "Meteor" Little Amerricka Amusement Park in Marshall, Wisconsin.

Ride the "Meteor" from the first-person point of view.

The "Little Dipper" Roller Coaster at Hillcrest Park.

The "Little Dipper" Roller Coaster at Hillcrest Park.

The "Little Dipper" Roller Coaster at Hillcrest Park.

The "Little Dipper" Roller Coaster at Hillcrest Park.

The "Little Dipper" Roller Coaster at Hillcrest Park.

The "Little Dipper" Roller Coaster at Hillcrest Park.

The Death of Sadie Hamill in Homer, Illinois. 1925

Sunday night between 6 and 7 o’clock one of the most serious accidents ever happening in Homer occurred north of town on the park road near the home of Claude Towner.

Edna Hamill standing next to a sign erected after the death of her mother near
Homer Park while walking to the movies in the park in Homer, Illinois. 1925

That evening Mrs. L. L. Hamill in company with her daughter, Miss Edna, and Miss Ada Morrison, chief operator of the local telephone exchange left the Hamill home on North Main street, to walk to the park, expecting to enjoy the movies. It is said they left town locked-arms.

Clarence Davis, a young man of 19 summers, and a son of Charles Davis of near Allerton, was driving a Dodge [automobile] going north. Another car, said to have been a large Buick was coming south and just behind it was Mr. and Mrs. Lonnie McCarty of Homer in a Ford sedan. It is said the Davis car driver had dimmed his lights but that the Buick failed to do so, thus blinding Davis, who was unable to see the three ladies until right on them. By swerving to the left he apparently did not swing far enough to miss them. By striking the pedestrians the impact caused the car to skid into the McCarty car, turning it over, smashing it up considerably. The Buick passed on.

This road is much of a speedway and traffic is very heavy on Sunday. Therefore after the crash occupants of cars passing halted and soon a very large and excited crowd had gathered.

Mrs. Hamill and daughter were found in the ditch to the right while Miss Morrison was some 30 feet or more in front of the wrecked machine. Mr. McCarty escaped any injury but his wife was badly bruised and cut, one artery in the left arm having been severed, but quick work on the part of U. G. Martin, a passing motorist, kept her from bleeding to death until physicians were on the scene. Mr. Martin tied a tourniquet. The Davis boy escaped any injury. 

Homer Enterprise, Homer, Illinois

Front Page - Friday, September 18, 1925 

KiddyTown Amusement Park, Norridge, Illinois. (1953-1964)

KiddyTown opened in the summer of 1953 and was located on the north side of the future Harlem Irving Shopping Center (opened in 1955) in Norridge, Illinois.

An aerial view of KiddyTown looking north. Harlem Avenue is on the right, with part of the Harlem Irving Plaza (The HIP) at the bottom. Long gone Howard Johnson's is shown at the bottom right. At the top right is the 35-foot electric Kiddy Town sign at the intersection of Cullom and Harlem Avenues. The sign had a clown pointing towards the 450 parking space area with his other arm-waving patrons in by way of flashing neon lights. This photo was taken in the off-season sometime in the late 1950s.

Some of the rides were the Tilt-a-Whirl, an Allan Herschell Co. Merry-Go-Round, 
Philadelphia Toboggan Co. Little Dipper (purchased for $6,000 and installed in 1956), Mangels Co. Whip, Boats, and Sky Fighter, Herschell Kiddie Tanks, Eyerly Co. Midge-O-Racer, Handcars, Gasoline-powered Cars, a Tractor ride, a 5 car Ferris Wheel, and a Miniature Train with twin diesel engines. Pony rides were also available at the 5-acre park.

The kiddie train had a 150-foot curved tunnel, bridge, and elaborate depot for the 2,000-foot miniature railroad. The Ferris Wheel was "kiddie-sized," with the riders locked into cages for the duration of the ride. The Handcars were self-propelled cars on little train tracks; a rider would sit on the car with their leg stretched forwards and hand-crank the car around the track.

This is an ad for Bowman Dairy Company for customers to save 4 Bowman bottle caps or carton tops, which entitles you to a 4-ride ticket for 25¢, except Sundays and holidays at the following parks; Fun Fair in Skokie; Kiddytown 95th & Stony Island, Chicago; Fairyland in Lyons; Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago; Kiddytown, Harlem and Irving Park Road, Chicago; and Sauzer's Kiddyland in Dyer, Indiana. —Chicago Tribune May 15, 1956.

On the weekends, sometimes a small red fire engine with "KiddyTown" written on its side would sound its loud siren telling all the children in the neighborhood that some lucky kid is having a birthday party and they're all going to KiddyTown. Their first ride, of course, would be in the fire truck. 

Like many other Chicagoland "Kiddie Parks," KiddyTown had a fire truck to pick up birthday party guests at their homes and deliver them to the amusement park. When the truck wasn't picking up partygoers, it was used as a ride in the park.

In early 1964, KiddyTown closed down and sold all the rides. The unofficial reason was diminishing revenues and offers to buy the property to develop a retail strip mall.

KiddyTown was replaced by the Unity Saving Bank and its parking lot. The location is a Panera, Chipotle, Forever Yogurt, Red Robin Sports Authority, X-sport Fitness, and Mattress Firm.

Hillcrest (Amusement) Park in Lemont, Illinois, purchased the "Little Dipper" wooden roller coaster for $6,000.00, but it cost them $66,000.00 to move it. It reopened in 1967 in Hillcrest Park, where it thrilled youngsters until that park closed in 2003.

The "Little Dipper" was bought and moved to a small amusement park in Marshall, Wisconsin called Little Amerricka Amusement Park (formerly Little A-Merrick-A; owned by a family named Merrick when Hillcrest Park was closed in 2003. The Little Amerricka Amusement Park is still open. The "Little Dipper" was renamed the "Meteor" and was operational for their 2007 season.

VIDEO

Take a ride on the "Little Dipper" roller coaster, now named the "Meteor," at Little Amerricka Amusement Park in Marshall, Wisconsin.

Ride the "Meteor" in the first-person point of view.

---

Each year in September, the Bakers Club of Chicago organization would rent the whole park and treat as many as 500 orphaned children to a day at the park. Besides the rides and hot dogs, the children would receive specially baked cakes and cookies. Photo from September 7, 1957.

April 2021; D.B. emails me the following with photographs:

Dear Neil,

"In a barn in the Upper Michigan Peninsula in December 2019, I found the original Santa Fe train from Kiddy Town in Norridge. A lot of money, lighter and two trailers of train cars later, I brought them home to Greenville, IL, to the American Farm Heritage Museum, where the train is now undergoing restoration. I am desperately seeking photographs of the train, and I only know of the one in your history blog."

April 2021 Photograph

April 2021 Photograph

Photo by Carol Houfek.

Photo by Walter Rieger.

Photo by Carol Houfek.

The Little Dipper Roller Coaster. Photo by Walter Rieger.

This photo was taken after KiddyTown's final season from the roof of the Wieboldt's Department Store in the Harlem Irving Plaza (The HIP). The last ride to be moved was the Little Dipper roller coaster, and the Little Dipper was a mirror image of the Little Dipper at Kiddieland in Melrose Park, Illinois. Across Harlem Avenue, at the top of the picture, you can see Stark's Warehouse (open 7 days a week). Stark's had a warehouse of army surplus stuff to sell.

The last ride to be taken down and moved was the Little Dipper roller coaster in 1966. Hillcrest (Amusement) Park in Lemont, Illinois, purchased it for $6,000.00, but it cost them $66,000.00 to move it.

VISIT OUR ILLINOIS AMUSEMENT PARK SOUVENIR SHOP

By Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.