Chicago
By DAN LOGAN

Developers were about to invade The Grove until citizens acted together to save it

ONE MORNING in April of 1973, Dee Stowe looked out her kitchen window and was horrified to see a builder's stake in the ground. It meant developers had come to The Grove. Of the many groves that once broke the flat monotony of the prairie in the Chicago area, with names like Morton Grove and Fox River Grove, only The Grove remains. It's still resplendent with towering bur oaks, bright golden alexanders and smiling stars, amid ponds and swamps and a lake.

The Grove's first resident was Dr. John Kennicott, a physician and horticulturist who was the first president of the American Pomological Society, a president of the Illinois State Horticultural Society, and horticultural editor of The Prairie Farmer. His son Robert was a gifted naturalist whose cataloging of Alaska's natural riches convinced the federal government to buy the territory. Naturalist Donald Culross Peattie, pioneering anthropologist Robert Redfield, and Chicago Tribune Managing Editor E.S. Beck had all lived in The Grove. The Kennicott House, built by Dr. John in 1856, and the Redfield-Peattie house are still standing.

Cooperation and organization
How would Dee Stowe save The Grove? Her first act was to call the Village of Glenview to ask what an individual could do to prevent its development. The Village told her it would take a lot of individuals to dissuade its Plan Commission from rezoning the property for multi-storeyed condominiums.

Dee Stowe went to work. She and seven friends — other residents of The Grove — Gloria Buzard, a school board member, Isabel Ernst, who had written about Glenview history for the League of Women Voters, and other League members interested in land use — formed the Save The Grove Committee. They collected 3,000 signatures on petitions and presented them to the Plan Commission, asking it to delay rezoning. and the Park District, asking it to buy the property.

Then Dee Stowe hosted a meeting of the Committee and several conservation groups. Open Lands Project, a non-profit environmental organization, agreed to take the Committee under its wing, providing services and accepting contributions, making the contributions tax-deductible.

In researching a brochure and a slide presentation, the Committee uncovered more information about The Grove and its inhabitants. Robert Kennicott had helped found the Chicago Academy of Sciences, the Midwest's first museum, and started Northwestern University's natural science collection. An owl had been named after him. Peattie had written a book, A Prairie Grove, about The Grove. His writings and others made The Grove one of the most documented square miles of land in the country.

Legislature takes action
The Grove was clearly a historical and environmental landmark. Everybody but the landowners wanted to save it. The Committee got it listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Resolutions introduced in the legislature by Sen. Bradley M. Glass (R.. Northfield) and Rep. John Edward Porter (R., Evanston) passed easily.

But there was still one obstacle to salvation — money. The Village couldn't afford the estimated $6 million to buy The Grove from more than 40 owners.

Porter came to the rescue. He introduced a bill to buy The Grove for a state park. It passed the House with only eight opposing votes and the Senate unanimously. Seventy organizations supported it. Governor Walker vetoed the bill But, he said, "My veto does not mean we are relinquishing The Grove to developers. 1 want to see several governmental entities sharing the support of The Grove."

So the small group of people — it never had more than 10 working members at one time - set out in search of some big money the Glenview Park District was one of two groups awarded $350,000, the maximum grant under Illinois' 0pen Space Acquisition Act. Zenith Corporation donated a $250,000 parcel of land and the Kennicott and Redfield-Peattie houses.

Referendum favorable
The turning point came when Glenview citizens committed their tax money. For the referendum, the Park District got $5,000 of revenue sharing money to commission a tax-impact study. The study showed that, even with more taxpayers, the tax burden would increase more if The Grove were developed. The Grove referendum, in which Glenview was asked to commit1 $875,000 — 39 per cent of the total purchase price — won 88 per cent of the vote last October 15. Although $766,000 of U.S. Bureau of Outdoor Recreation money still needed to be ap- proved. The Grove had been saved.

The Save The Grove Committee is keeping busy forming a non-profit Grove Heritage Association and advising several preservation group around the state.

The moral of this story with a happy ending is that government acts in the public interest when the public takes the. initiative. Or. as Gloria Buzar chairperson of the Save The Grove Committee, puts it, "When the people speak up, they get results."

Amen.

62/Illinois Issues/February 1975