Little Red School House Nature Center, Willow Springs, IL

The Little Red Schoolhouse Nature center is located at 9800 Willow Springs Road in Willow Springs, IL. It is notable that this land was inhabited by Native Americans during the early 1800s. Indeed, nearby Archer Avenue was originally a game trail used by both Native Americans and Pioneers. One can even find the remnants of arrowheads as well as flint chips all about this area of Illinois.

The schoolhouse building (after which the nature center is named) was originally constructed in 1886 on the Black Oak Trail at old 99th Street. It was made to replace the log cabin that formerly functioned as the school there. Using a single mule and log rollers, the 1886-made schoolhouse was moved to the Camp Kiwanis area in 1932. It served as a school there until 1948.

In 1952, the schoolhouse was moved to its present site at the Little Red School House Nature Center. It then opened as a nature center proper in 1955. Still promoting education, the schoolhouse, through use of museum exhibits and live animals, brought an understanding of much of the local Illinois flora and fauna to visitors.

In addition to the schoolhouse component of the facility, there are some very nice trails through the forested area of the reserve. In addition, Longjohn Slough holds a great deal of aquatic life, including especially snapping turtles, other turtle species, and crawdads. Water-associated bird life, such as the redwing blackbird, is common here during the warmer months as well.

While many folks lament the loss of the quaint, old schoolhouse as a facility in which to maintain live animals, please be advised that the new facility is a great improvement over the old schoolhouse and the animals are undoubtedly much better off there. This new facility was opened in 2010 and has, among other things, an excellent snapping turtle exhibit where fish can be fed to the turtles. In addition, numerous aquariums and other wildlife-oriented exhibits display the local Illinois fauna very well.

This video should help you recapture some of the amazement that we all experienced when visiting the Little Red School House Nature Center when the old schoolhouse (still standing and maintained there) was the mainstay of a visit to this Chicago-area reserve.

The address of the Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center is as follows:

9800 Willow Springs Rd., Willow Springs, IL 60480
West side of Willow Springs Rd. (104th Ave.), 1/2 mile south of 95th St., Willow Springs

Contact: (708) 839-6897

Hours of operation:

March 1 through the last Saturday in October
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily

Last Sunday in October through February 28
8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily

Exhibit Buildings open at 9 a.m. daily (it is closed on Fridays), and can also close up to 1/2 hour before grounds

Category:

Education

Tags:

• The Little Red Schoolhouse
• Nature Center
• Willow Springs
• snapping turtle
• Chicago
• Illinois

[MrSoldierperson]

caw caw!!!