From Coal Valley to Valley Park to Baker Park

Legend has it that as the Central Military Tract Railroad completed its route through what became Kewanee, coal miner Thomas Galloway convinced the CMTR to burn coal instead of wood, spurring the development of the coal mining industry in Kewanee. 

Whether true or not, coal had been found along the “south slough” (later renamed “Coal Valley”), running from west of the corner of today’s Sixth and Madison Streets to the northwest. Soon “the chutes” were built along the northside of the tracks into which the mined coal was dumped for loading onto the trains. 

From the southeast end of the valley to the northwest, the undulating terrain at times dropped some 80 feet. At the edge of Big Barren Grove, the higher ground was wooded while the lower levels were marshy and wet.

Mining likely ended along Coal Valley by the end of the 1860s as more productive mines were found to the north and east of Kewanee. 

In the first decade of the 20th century, new mining techniques led a number of miners to reopen some of the mines along Coal Valley. However, the mining did not last long, and soon the character of the land reverted to what it had been before.

At some point in time, Kewaneeans had discovered the beauty of Coal Valley, and it had become a popular picnicking area very close to the burgeoning manufacturing city. Coal Valley remained just that until events which began on July 2, 1919, unfolded.

Kewanee already had a number of parks but, except for one, they were all privately operated. That, however, was about to change.

At a Kewanee Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Emerit E. Baker offered a $50,000 gift for purchasing and improving parks and playgrounds, the largest gift of its kind in the city’s history. The gift was conditioned on the organization of a park district, the election of a board of commissioners, raising a like amount by bond issue, and levying a sufficient tax to retire the bonds and maintain the parks. 

The conditions were met and the Kewanee Park District came into being. That fall, the Park District began planning its park system.

The first park, called Northeast Park, would have a swimming pool, a wading pool, a playground, a ballfield, tennis courts, and gardens. The second would be Liberty Park, located on a triangular piece of land bordered by the railroad tracks, Rose Street, and Franklin Street. The already-established Chautauqua Park would be purchased from the West End Business Men’s Association and would be improved to become the third park in the system. 

Finally, the fourth park, Valley Park, would be carved out of Coal Valley. Tentative plans included roads, walks, dams, a lake, a golf course, a field house, a number of shelters, a playground, a large picnic ground, and a possible campground.

Subsequently, the June 24, 1921, Kewanee Daily Star Courier proclaimed that “[t]his proposed park promises to be the largest and most spectacular of all the parks contemplated by the Park Board. . . . [The] natural forces existing [on] the tract present wonderful possibilities for scenic drives around the high ground and along the bottom of the ravine near the waterway. . . . [T]here is an opportunity to have a dam and waterfall and at one spot, a beautiful lake . . . . Part of the park is heavily wooded and part is rolling ground, making many beautiful views which present something unusual for this part of Illinois which generally lies so flat.”

By 1923, Northeast, Liberty, and Chautauqua Parks were in full operation. 

However, the Park District, because of Valley Park’s  proposed size of about 100 acres, was still in the process of acquiring land. But the planning for Kewanee’s soon-to-be largest park proceeded.

In June 1924, while President Baker of the Park Board was out of town, the Board voted to name the new park “Baker Park.” The June 18, 1924, Kewanee Daily Star Courier reported that “[t]he park board felt that since Kewanee’s parks which are rapidly becoming widely known are due in a large part to the munificence of Mr. Baker who has so unselfishly devoted time, money and energy to the park system, it was only fitting that one of the parks should bear his name.” 

In August, the $70,000 contract for the park work was let, and Baker donated $35,000 and an annual amount of $5,000 for park maintenance.

Then in March 1925, while Baker, his wife, and friends were on a trip to Hawaii, it was announced that he had created a $400,000 non-profit corporation, and its income would be used for Kewanee’s parks, for crippled children (a favorite Baker cause), and for young boys to acquire an education. On the Bakers’ return home in April, they were greeted by an estimated 10,000 appreciative Kewaneeans as they climbed down the train steps at the depot. 

By May, visitors could drive the two miles of gravel roads over hills and down valleys through the park. Along the way, they would find two lagoons, crushed stone walking paths with rustic bridges over waterways, 22,000 planted shrubs among the stands of large shade trees, a picnic ground, a gun club, and numerous benches on which to take in the scenery. On July 4, the golf course was opened to the public.

South Slough, Coal Valley, Valley Park, Baker Park – the use of the land from which Kewanee’s first industry arose changed, as did its name, with the passage of time, from an economic engine to a provider of recreational opportunities. The “natural forces existing on the tract” served Kewanee well in the past and, hopefully, will continue to do so in the future.