preserves

Welcome! You have just entered the unofficial Forest Preserves Web Page of Palos Township. Forest Preserves are really marvelous things. They are more than just trees with animals. They can hold swamps and marshes, nature centers, toboggan slides and even horses and stables. These are just some of the great things in forest preserves, but there are many more great things about them. In our opinion, Palos Township is the best town in the whole world.

High Alkaline Wetlands

     If you know about chemistry, you may know that the opposite of acid is alkaline. Even though lakes and marshes are normally acid, there are some in Moraine that have a ph level of 8.0, which means that they are alkaline. It’s a very unique lake and marsh, and it’s in Moraine.
     Most of the marshes evolved after the Ice Age, some of them were made by
road building. Even though marshes are normally acid, alkaline is one of the properties of Moraine. There are even different animals due to the alkalinity.
     The study of the alkalinity first started around 1939 by geologist J. Harlan Bretz. He was from Flossmoor, but he studied here in the Palos Area. I wonder how much help he had? If he found out himself, I am personally very impressed. He must have really enjoyed the subject.
     I didn’t know any of this before my interview with Professor Finley, a professor at Moraine Valley Community College. He told me all of my information. He was so nice; he even told me more than I asked. Like, I didn’t ask what a Fen was, but he told me that it was the late stage of a marsh with no open water. I just used that information without noticing it!
     That is why it is so very unique that the marshes in Moraine have an unusually high alkaline level. I learned very much about the marshes and those who studied, or study, them. This alone would be enough to make the Palos Area special, but it’s just one of many things.

By: Shane

The Little Red Schoolhouse

The Little Red Schoolhouse is circled in purple.

The Little Red Schoolhouse was built in 1886 to replace a one-room log cabin school which was the only school in the Palos area at the time. The schoolhouse was originally located on 99th Street where it joins Black Oak Trail. In 1932, the school was moved by one mule and log rollers to a location a little east of where Boy Scout Kiwanis now stands on the east side of Willow Springs Road. Classes continued in the building until 1948. Classes ended because there were no children in the district living close enough to attend the school. In 1952, the school was moved to its present site on the west side of Willow Springs Road just south of 95th Street on the shore of Long John Slough. The doors reopened as the Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center in 1955.
Fifty years ago, Long John Slough was merely a wet prairie where farmers cut wild hay. The land on which the schoolhouse now stands was a fruit orchard planted in 1906. Visitors in the spring still enjoy pear, apple, and plum blossoms. Today, you can go on pleasent nature walks to see deer and other wildlife as well as see animals such as birds, bees and snakes in the old schoolhouse.

By: Mary and Ben

Swallow Cliff Woods

     Swallow Cliff Woods is an 800 acre forest preserve located at Illinois Route 83 just west of 104th Ave. in the Cook County Forest Preserves. Its landscape was created by fire and ice thousands of years ago. The glaciers retreated back north about 12,000 years ago. This left behind a landscape of hills, lakes, and marshes. Then, the fires took over. Some of the fires were started by lightning, and some were started by the Native Americans. The Native Americans started the fires to drive the animals out of their hiding spots. This was the perfect time to hunt.
     At Swallow Cliff Woods you can hike, bike ride, ride a horse, fish and much more. Swallow Cliff’s biggest attraction is the toboggan slides (pictured above). Of course, it wasn’t always a toboggan slide chute. In the 1930s it was used to train Olympic ski-jump contenders. In the 1940s it was converted to a toboggan slide.
                                                     Before The Fun…
     Of course, the whole tobogganing experience isn’t fun and joy. First, you have to ascend the 126 narrow, steep, stone steps. By the time you finally make it up the steps, you’re out of breath. Then you put your toboggan in the wooden chute. This is where the fun begins. The gates open and you descend the 2,000 foot chute and a drop roughly 100 feet going about 70 miles per hour! The ride is over, you survived. It only took 20 seconds, but it was worth it!

By: Tim

Palos Stables

     There are many stables in the Palos Area. Some Palos stables are: Fitzjoy Farm located at 12211 South LaGrange Road Palos Park IL 60464, and, Palos Hills Riding Stable located at 10100 South Kean Ave. Palos Hills, IL 60465.
     These stables have a lot of history. The front of Fitzjoy was built in 1979. The back half was added several years later. Fitzjoy had other names such as Palos Trails, Tracia Farms, Palos Riding Club and now is called Fitzjoy Farm. Before the land was filled, the barn was at the bottom of the hill as you pulled in the driveway where the fence is now. The barn was added to and made much larger to fill in the lowlands. The owners when it was first built were Lou Fioretti and Swede (Kathy can’t recall his last name). They built the current facility. The owners now are Kathy Fitzpatrick and the other owner wishes to remain anonymous. When it was first built, the barn housed about 50 horses. It now can hold 115 horses. There are 15 lesson horses and the other 100 are privately owned. Fitzjoy offers a lot of riding lessons and the perfect horses for lessons. The owner, Kathy Fitzpatrick has pictures of her mother riding at Fitzjoy in 1940. Fitzjoy is built on the remains of the Cross-town Expressway.
     Palos Hills Stables has lotsof history too. Before it was built at the location it is now it was at 2153 N Clark Street. The name was New Parkway Riding Stables and the owner then was Chuck Thompson and his wife. They stayed there until 1967, and then moved to the now known Palos Hills location. There was also a horse that Chuck loved, Morocco. Morocco starred in the Broadway show, The Music Man and had the job of driving Forest Tucker across the stage.
     The owner of Palos Hills Stable now is Martha Thompson. There is also a picture of Chuck and Martha in 1962 on their website (www.phrsinc.com). The stable now boards nearly 150 horses. About 30 of those are school horses. Palos Hills Stables also has lots of lesson programs and very good lesson horses.

By: Catie