Update, Aug. 16, 2020 / Fredenhagen Park continues to be a popular place to pause and reflect along the Naperville Riverwalk. Hundreds of commemorative bricks in the plaza around Exchange Club Memories Fountain connect the community with stories of friends and family as well as can-do spirit and service to the United States military.
On July 21, 2020, 45 new bricks were added from Fredenhagen Park and along the Riverwalk Extension, providing funds to benefit the Riverwalk Foundation for education and enhancement of the community’s natural treasure. Since 1997, folks have been buying commemorative bricks and granite stones with special messages. Today, 23 years later, thousands of bricks from the Washington Street Bridge to the Hillside Road Bridge help tell stories for generations to come!
For more information or to purchase a brick in support of the Riverwalk, visit www.napervilleriverwalkfoundation.org.
Original Post, June 6, 2012 / Fredenhagen Park provides a natural setting to listen to the sounds of the city at the gateway to downtown Naperville and North Central College. Thanks to a generous gift from the children of Grace and Walter Fredenhagen— Rita Harvard and Ted Fredenhagen—the park is dedicated to their parents, owners of Naperville’s ice cream enterprise that existed at that location along with The Creamery from 1931 to 2000. First Prince Castle and then the Cock Robin Ice Cream Restaurant have given residents many reasons to reminisce about the popular community gathering spot where ice cream scoops were square atop sugar cones.
Every year since Fredenhagen Park was dedicated in May 2004, a variety of colorful flowers has attracted visitors to the elegant landscaping, complemented by the gentle sound of bubbling water as it flows upward in the Exchange Club Memories Fountain. This year red roses are plentiful in the planters along the brick path that leads to the fountain and its spacious plaza where memories continue to be made.
Simply read the messages to discover that Fredenhagen Park provides the perfect place to become engaged, to recognize moms and dads, and/or to leave a mark for a special event, past, present or future.
Commemorative bricks ($250) and granite stones ($2,500) are available for purchase to benefit the Riverwalk Foundation and for placement in the plaza by the Naperville Park District twice a year.
This spring, commemorative bricks were placed to recognize the founding of a partnership between The Exchange Club of Naperville and the Riverwalk Foundation as well the charter of the Rotary Club of Naperville/Downtown in 2007. The plaza around the fountain is a great place to remember family, friends, special events, businesses and more with a message that will fit on six lines, each with 12 characters.
Every visit to Fredenhagen Park, located near the Washington Street Bridge along Washington Street between Aurora and Chicago Ave., is an opportunity to appreciate and celebrate community spirit. The plazas, gardens, pillars, benches, trees and the Jaycees Gazebo along the Riverwalk showcase generosity and a unique private/public partnership with the City of Naperville and the Naperville Park District.
This month, development of the North Central College Gateway Park is scheduled to begin. The groundbreaking for the park was Cornerstone Day, May 18, with officials from North Central College, the City of Naperville, Riverwalk Commission and Riverwalk Foundation. Weather permitting, the new park will be complete by the time the college begins in the fall of 2012.
For information about the award-winning Naperville Riverwalk and Fredenhagen Park, visit dedicated pages on the City of Naperville Web site.
The Exchange Club of Naperville is now in the throws of planning its 25th annual Ribfest in Knoch Park, June 29-July 3, 2012.
Going forward, the Riverwalk Foundation will host its annual Class Act II Big Band Concert under the direction of Ted Fredenhagen at 4:30PM, Sat., Sept. 15, 2012. Save the date!
Click on any photo to enlarge. Use the arrow to navigate from one photo to the next.
Note: Except for the first two recent photos of commemorative bricks, PN photos were shot on the evening of June 4 and the morning of June 5, 2012.
