History of Green Trails - Part 1

The Village of Lisle annexed Green Trails on January 21, 1975. Green Trails, as we know it today, evolved as it developed, and that evolution did not always follow the original plans.

In 1980, Ralph Kristensen, one of the developers, wrote a 5-page history of Green Trails. It is clear that evolution was going on even before Green Trails was formalized into a Planned Unit Development, and continued thereafter. The following are excerpts from his history with subtitles added and inserts providing updates to current times.

From a grand plan...

In the late 1960's, four land owners in an unincorporated area of DuPage County joined together to plan a "new community" called Green Trails. The four: St. Procopius Abbey and College [now Benedictine University]; Four Lakes Village Apartments; Elmhurst-Chicago Stone Company; and Huntington Development Company controlled the ownership of 2,050 Acres of land, generally bounded by Illinois Route 53, Maple Avenue, [Oleson] Lane, and Hobson Road.

The plan these owners created, providing for 8,000 dwelling units [contrast with Green Trails' actual 2500 units] and future population of 21,000 people, was approved by the DuPage County Board of Supervisors on August 25, 1970. In 1973, a development team led by Advance Construction Company of Hinsdale, was created to purchase, refine and actually build a portion of the Green Trails plan. Operating under the name GT, Ltd., the team acquired control of 645 acres of land owned by St. Procopius Abbey and two other small farms totaling 100 acres (not included in the original plan).

The name Green Trails was kept but now represented, generally, only the Abbey's portion of the original plan. Four Lakes remains Four Lakes; Elmhurst-Chicago Stone's holding [became Seven Bridges]; and Huntington's land has been, for the most part, developed residentially in the City of Naperville.

...emerged the Green Trails subdivision 

The 745 acres we know as Green Trails today, were the prettiest of the 2,050. Rolling terrain, trees, pastured horses, cultivated fields and five families were all that was there.

The original plan was broad in scope and sparse in detail. Much more finite site data including soil, topography, and tree surveys were required for serious planning to begin. After many months of re-planning, GT, Ltd. presented to DuPage County, for their approval, the "mini" Green Trails which scaled-down proportionally, the land use plan they had approved earlier.

The County approved the new Green Trails plan on June 18, 1974 and final planning and engineering efforts began in earnest. With that final planning, it became increasingly apparent to GT, Ltd. that development of such a large project in an unincorporated area was unwise. For many complex reasons, not the least of which was Green Trails' impact on the Village of Lisle's services, the decision was made to annex to Lisle. That process was completed on January 21, 1975 with, for all intents and purposes, the County approved plan. Annexation also [was completed] into Lisle Park District and Lisle Fire Protection (now Lisle-Woodridge Fire] District. The land was already in Naperville School District 203 [except the northeast corner, which was later added to 203] and remains so.

Construction begins 

Physical construction of improvements began in the summer of 1975. The first work was to bring water (from Maple Avenue) and sanitary sewer (from the DuPage River) to the site. College Road, as the main access to the property, was realigned. Subdivision work began in late 1975 and Columbia Homes opened their Woodglenn models on January 22, 1976. Collegewood, Surrey Ridge 2, The Promenades, Surrey Ridge 1, and Woodglenn Village followed to complete the balance of the only single family lots originally planned for Green Trails. All the rest of the land was planned for varying types of multi-family housing. [Prior to 1980, The Oaks and one of the three Abbeywood Condos were the only multi-family developments. High Point followed soon thereafter.]

Evolution continued

The Green Trails plan we see [in 1980] is different from the one approved in 1975. While its major road system, trail system, school sites, and lake system remain the same, land use and projected population has been significantly decreased.

The original single family lots were quickly spoken for in the active real estate market period from 1976 to 1978. The multi-family market in that same period remained "soft." The demand for more single family lots and the Village's eagerness to rid itself of an "over-abundance" of multi-family land (Village-wide) led to the first of several "downzonings." The areas known as Lakewood I & 2, Surrey Ridge 3, 4, & 5, Bloomfield, Tanahill, The Gardens and Heritage Farms 1-5 were downzoned from 2,447 multifamily units to 644 single family lots. [After 1980, other multi-family areas were also downzoned to single family lots, notably, Tall Oaks in 1987, and Tyrnbury in 1988. Also, a commercial site was split into College Square Shopping Center and Lakewood South single family homes in 1986.]

[Areas along Benedictine Parkway] were originally planned for "office/research." [Today this area is built out with the Green Trails Shopping Center, 440 rental units in Green Trails Apartments, and 144 High Point condos.] During the downzonings some land was simply too expensive for conversion to single family, yet office/research was another original land use that, in hindsight, was unwise.

An important historical fact is that Green Trails was not originally planned to be the high priced, prestigious development that it has become. [Aren't we glad it did! -B, Long]

Green Trails History Part 2