Original Riverwalk drawings discovered
By Amy Boerema, Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Friday, September 29, 2006

An unexpected piece of history popped up at just the right time.

While cleaning out a basement storage room, Naperville police discovered about 20 original architectural drawings of the Riverwalk.

The designs had been missing for more than 15 years. But their discovery this week was timely — the Riverwalk Foundation held its annual Fall Community Breakfast Thursday, and the drawings were on display.

Two of the path’s earliest supporters, Hal Dickson, construction project manager, and architect Charles George, whose firm did the drawings, also shared stories of the walk’s history at the breakfast.

The Riverwalk is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

Foundation board member Jo Lundeen said she got a call from police Chief David Dial Wednesday about the pictures.

“Nobody knows where they had gone,” Lundeen said. “It’s so exciting to find something like this.”

Lundeen says they could have been moved when city hall, or the new police department, was built about 16 years ago, but no one’s sure how they ended up in the department’s basement.

She picked them up Wednesday afternoon.

The drawings tell the story of the Riverwalk’s original plans — though it’s not exactly how the path turned out.

The five-mile riverfront walk originally was intended to be only a two-block project. But the community’s overwhelming support and enthusiasm encouraged leaders to continue.

The popular Dandelion Fountain, at Jackson Avenue and Webster Street, was originally supposed to be located on Jackson and Eagle Street. The red Landforms sculpture has since been installed there.

Another shows a road and parking spots extending north all the way to the entrance of the Riverwalk Eatery, where Rotary Hill stands.

And designers had planned for a bus stop on the corner of Jackson Avenue and Main Street, where the parking lot is now. Leaders deemed the area too congested for a bus stop.

“Everyone loved hearing what once was,” Lundeen said. “Things like that were just so fun to see.”

NCTV has taken the drawings and will digitize them. They will be preserved, either with the city or at Naper Settlement.

“The details still need to be worked out,” Lundeen said.