Mile 86: Riverside
First visit: Dec. 30, 2022 Public trail? Mostly Private land? No Distance walked: 4.5 miles
Riverside is the most unique of all Des Plaines River towns and may be the most unique river town in the world. I say that because Riverside was designed specifically with the Des Plaines River in mind, from its public spaces to the placement of some of its finest and most famed houses, which makes it one of the best places to see the river on foot, and my personal favorite. This is definitely a planned community, some say the first, designed in 1869 by Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmstead, who also designed New York’s Central Park. The Riverside Landscape Architecture District was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970, and you’re almost always within sight of the river while walking it.
As much as any trail system I walked – and there is an actual trail here too, though it’s technically across the river in Lyons – Riverside offers some of the most compelling and beautiful views of the river as it snakes through town. Which I will get to in a moment. But because I’m journaling my river walks north to south, I should start with the afternoon I trespassed at the Riverside Golf Club (actually in North Riverside), off Cermak Rd. and Des Plaines Ave., and bisected by the river.
I didn’t trespass on purpose, which sounds absurd even to me. Maybe what I mean is that it wasn’t premeditated, and it didn’t feel willful. The clubhouse was undergoing some serious offseason remodeling when I showed up, and several loops in and around the building produced nobody besides the contractors. I probably should have left and returned later, but it was a sunny and surprisingly warm February day, and before I knew what was happening, I was walking towards the river.
I walked back and forth over three pedestrian bridges wide enough for golf carts and upset hundreds of geese who’d gotten used to having the place to themselves, and descended to water level only at the northernmost bridge, near a train trestle and Cermak Rd. It was the first golf course I’d walked, not counting the disc course in Libertyville, and like Forest Hill Cemetery in neighboring Forest Park the course is split by the river. The setting and the effect are remarkably like a cemetery, I thought, though the river is much more visible on the golf course. Most interesting to me were the handful of club homes built right on the riverbank (see earlier discussion about living in a riparian zone) and the pump house needed for the course’s inevitable flooding.
With respect to the houses, they are in a private cul-de-sac and protected from erosion by retaining walls, which may help with flooding as well. These houses, along with a block of Maplewood Dr. as you enter Riverside, are among the closest to the water I saw during any of my walks. As for the pumphouse I saw, on the course’s south end, it doesn’t appear to discharge into the river, despite there being pipes behind it on the riverbank. Two of them looked sealed to me, suggesting they’ve been taken out of service. The other one didn’t look big enough to handle the kind of overflow I’m sure the course experiences. Instead, I’d assume this golf course is connected to the interceptor sewer system built over the years by the MWRD, whose labyrinth of storm drains is currently being expanded just north of the course on 1st Ave.
Where the Des Plaines River enters Riverside
The Des Plaines River enters the Village of Riverside at 31st St. near Des Plaines Ave., and besides some informal paths in Zoo Woods, the only other way to see it there is at McCormick Woods, on the north side of 31st St. But, ahem, that’s technically North Riverside. So I went off trail in Zoo Woods, and was able to see the back sides of the houses on Maplewood Rd., one of many extraordinary streets in Riverside, and one the tourists don’t bother with. The ancient retaining walls there are tall, and some have steps that look to still be usable. But this doesn’t look like the kind of neighborhood where the kids keep a kayak handy for a spontaneous dunk in the river, as I saw elsewhere. A yacht wouldn’t look out of place, I thought, if the river was a little deeper and wider there. I did make my way across and walk Maplewood, but the public sidewalk doesn’t offer a view of the river, and I drew the line at trespassing on residential property.
So on to Forest Ave. and points south, and southeast, along the river’s s-curve. This amazing neighborhood is made for postcard photographers and coffee table books, and I won’t be able to find enough superlatives to describe how beautiful I think it is, even on the overcast winter day I first walked it. There may be only two or three straight roads in the whole village, a design quirk that some say was meant to complement the river and others say was meant to discourage the rabble from cruising through town. Whatever the reason, it suits the area south of Forest Ave., where there actually are a few straight streets, and where the river merges with Salt Creek and does a pretzel twist on itself as it flows alongside Fairbank and Riverside Roads. This area is home to the Coonley House, one of two Frank Lloyd Wright houses I found on the river. (The other one is the Lloyd Lewis House in Mettawa.)
One of the most remarkable aspects of this river town is how artfully it blends the urban and the natural, so that walkers can be immersed in both. There’s cool public space on the river, including an old Scout Cabin and the West Indian Gardens Park, where you can see Salt Creek merge from unofficial trails that Riverside warns you take at your own risk. Hofmann Tower, which is actually in Lyons, is right across the bridge from Fairbank and Millbridge, so-called because it was the bridge for the mill that operated here starting in the 1820s. A natural dam at the site was originally augmented by a curved manmade dam that provided power for the Riverside Milling Co. This dam and surrounding property were bought by brewer George Hofmann Jr. in 1907, who developed an amusement complex called Niagara Park featuring an updated horseshoe-shaped dam, boat slips, trails and of course the Hofmann Tower. But the dual curses of Prohibition and rampant water pollution killed the amusement park, and the dam was replaced in 1950, and then removed altogether in 2012 – a long overdue remedy to restore the river’s health that was championed by the late John Mach (1947 – 2022), who was called the Des Plaines River’s best friend. He collapsed while doing volunteer clean-up on the river here. In 1978 the Hofmann Tower was listed on both the State Register of Historic Places and in the National Register of Historic Places.
The Riverside Public Library
The riverside walk that heads north from Millbridge towards Swan Pond and the Riverside Public Library is one of my favorite stretches anywhere along the Des Plaines River. The sharp bend below the library creates a natural pool that I’ve seen in numerous fishing videos on YouTube, and the hill on Burling Rd. offers a commanding view of this most picturesque neighborhood. During my first visit I inquired at the library about references to the river and was steered to a section with books that of course focused more on the town. It didn’t matter, because it turns out the highlight for me was not a book at all, but a 1931 reproduction of a map showing how the area looked around the time of the town’s founding. Hanging in the library’s front lounge, the map is bordered by native art and portraits of both the library and the 1931 Chicago city skyline and shows the original tributaries and trails that powered Chicago’s growth. You can see how the Des Plaines River looked before it was moved and straightened to make way for the I&M and Sanitary and Ship Canals, along with a seasonal creek called Mud Lake that was basically the Chicago Portage. Native Americans may be surprised to learn that Le Portage de Chicagou was “discovered” in 1673 by Joliet and Marquette.
The uniqueness of the town makes it a bit of a tourist attraction, though it no doubt lags behind the nearby Brookfield Zoo and even behind Oak Park. Walkers in my demographic will appreciate the Catrina Tequila Bar and the Quincy Street Distillery, both situated limping distance from Burling and Riverside Roads. The town has also been known to flood, a situation that’s been relieved to some degree by the TARP or “deep tunnel” project (read more about that here) as well as the removal of the Hofmann Dam. Still, Groveland Ave., which runs parallel to the river just north of Forest Ave., (and is the location of this website’s cover shot) remains subject to bouts of flooding, and a more elaborate berm structure is planned to begin construction in 2025, to be completed in 2028.
Riverside by itself is the subject of numerous books, articles, and urban planning curriculum, and is the best example of a community designed around the river, rather than beside it. Seeing the river here is unlike just about anywhere else, and from here it’s a short trip to the Chicago Portage site, which may be the only spot with greater historical significance. Everyone should make a trip here, combining a visit to the nearby Chicago Portage site and timing your finish with the opening of the tequila bar and the distillery. I love many of the places I walked along the river, but this is a singularly special place.