M.A. Kleen

In 1860, Methodists began holding tent meetings along the Des Plaines River, and over the next few years that small spiritual community grew into a 35-acre campground with a large tabernacle, roughly 100 cottages, and a 30-room hotel. Over time, severe flooding has made many of the cabins unlivable.

The Methodist Campground pool opened in 1928 after a group of men raised $30,000 for its construction by setting up a piano and asking passersby for donations. My family spent countless days there throughout the 1990s. After 90 years, the pool was demolished in 2018.

For two summers in the early ’90s, I went to ‘Jolly Fun’ summer day camp here. When I visited more than 20 years later, it felt like nothing had changed. The green picnic benches in the photo above are the same ones where we ate lunch, swatting away bees. I’ll never forget those bologna-and-cheese sandwiches, packed neatly into bread bags.

I remember playing dodgeball in the building off in the distance, then waiting on the porch of the main building for my parents to pick me up. We’d draw, write, or just hang out and watch Batman: The Animated Series.

Truth be told, I was miserable at that summer camp. But I have much fonder memories of the Methodist Campground itself, where my dad and I would go to fairs and Civil War days, or just stop at the snack shop after a long bike ride for a cold can of soda.