New Book Honors the History of Palos Park

Extraordinary, vintage images illustrate the stories of the area
 
Nov. 20, 2013 - PRLog -- The newest addition to Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series is Palos Parkby Jeannine Kacmar, the Palos Park Public Library and the Village of Palos Park. The book boasts more than 200 vintage images and captions.

Wooded ravines, natural springs and fertile farmland attracted the first settlers to Palos Park in the mid-1800s. With the Wabash Railroad expansion in the 1890s, Chicagoans seeking relief from crowded urban conditions traveled 20 miles for the great outdoors.

The Sharpshooter’s Club opened in 1894 as the first recreational development in the area. Soon after, the village of Palos Park incorporated in 1914 and the forest preserves were formed, attracting weekend Prairie Club hikers and outdoor enthusiasts to the trails and the Swallow Cliff toboggan slides. Artists such as Claude Buck, Felix Russmann, sculptor Lorado Taft and author Sherwood Anderson, along with his young protégé Ernest Hemingway, retreated from Chicago to summer cottages in Palos Park seeking the beautiful, serene setting for their work. Many historic homes and buildings still exist, including the McCord House and the Plush Horse ice cream parlor. Images of America: Palos Park showcases this rich history through vintage images of days gone past.

Highlights of Palos Park include:

•The Swallow Cliff Ski Jump and the Toboggan Slides, which proved generations of winter entertainment and thrills.
•The Prairie Club hikers, who were the first to blaze trails in the forests, ravines and prairies of Palos Park in the early 1900s.
•Argonne National Laboratory, the site of the nation’s first nuclear research center.
•Local landmarks from the early 1900s such as the McCord Gallery and Cultural Center, the Plush Horse Ice Cream Parlor, Palos Park Presbyterian Community Church and Hackney’s Restaurant.

Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at (888)-313-2665 or online.

Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States.  Our mission is to make history accessible and meaningful through the publication of books on the heritage of America’s people and places.  Have we done a book on your town?  Visit www.arcadiapublishing.com/.
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