Above / Celebrate community spirit in Fredenhagen Park, the site where a popular ice cream enterprise got its start, attracting folks to Washington Street for a taste of creamy, frozen refreshment for nearly 70 years.
Update Dec. 11, 2015 / The second edition of the “One in a Million” Cock Robin t-shirt is available on the spot at Anderson’s Two Door East, 111 W. Jefferson in downtown Naperville; and also at Oswald’s Pharmacy in Naperville Plaza. To order online, click here.
Above / Find holiday stocking stuffers in the shape of Cock Robin t-shirts, suitable for wearing, now on display at Anderson’s Two Doors East in sizes M-XXL.
Posted July 19, 2015 / Since 1974, the third Sunday in July has been designated as “National Ice Cream Day.”
What better day to revisit Fredenhagen Park and get the scoop about a local ice cream enterprise that goes beyond “One in a Million,” a cool love story worth telling again and again.
Whether it’s the history of a popular ice cream business or the heritage of a prominent Naperville family, Fredenhagen Park represents a passion for community spirit, family and friends.
Above / Since Summer 2004, Exchange Club Memories Fountain has attracted all ages to enjoy a sampling of community spirit in Fredenhagen Park, the gateway to downtown Naperville and North Central College along the Riverwalk.
What’s more, the focal point of the Riverwalk’s eastern extension with its Exchange Club Memories Fountain represents the love for free enterprise and the place where Grace and Walter Fredenhagen started a dairy business in the mid-1920s, selling milk door to door from a horse-drawn wagon.
In time, they added ice cream to the mix of products in the creamery when one of Walter’s high school buddies, Earl Prince, approached him about a unique partnership. They began opening ice cream shops in 1931, each with the same name, Prince Castles, but as two separate independent companies.
Back then, Naperville’s population was about 6,000.
Prince Castles, with stores built to look like small limestone castles, grew to become one of Naperville’s largest employers and the city’s social center.
By the mid-1950s, Prince Castles had become Cock Robin Ice Cream stores.
Everybody seemed to stop for a square dip of vanilla ice cream and the day’s news. Longtime residents remember the signature One-in-a-Million Milkshakes and rainbow sherbet cones. In time, the company grew to a chain of 50 locations throughout the region.
The creamery with the tall smoke stack stood about where the pavilion in Fredenhagen Park now stands.
Family Connections
The property where the creamery and Prince Castles found a home belonged to Grace and Walter Fredenhagen. They were married in 1920 and had four children— Jimmy, Jeanne, Ted and Rita.
The Fredenhagens were passionate about their Naperville community, too. Walter became a founding member of the Rotary Club of Naperville where he served as the international service organization’s second president in 1942.
Grace served as a board member of Edward Sanitarium, a tuberculosis hospital that predated Edward. She also helped furnish the Martin Mitchell Mansion with antiques from her family’s personal collection when Caroline Mitchell bequeathed the property to the city for a museum in the late 1930s.
Prince Castles became Cock Robin
After Walter Fredenhagen’s business partner died unexpectedly in the early 1950s, the family ice cream business took a new direction. Fredenhagen started changing the names of his 25 locations. By 1967, all of his ice cream parlors were called Cock Robin.
The slogan became, “Cock Robin: where memories are made.”
Rita Fredenhagen Harvard often shared her fond memories of growing up in a household with hard-working parents, who devoted time to their business and their community.
She also recalled that volunteerism has been a way of life for many families and businesses in this community.
“I think we’ve been fortunate in that we have enough people who really care about keeping our community a cohesive one—people working together. And that really has been our saving grace,” Harvard said at the time Fredenhagen Park was being developed.
In the mid-1980s, the Fredenhagens sold their interest in Cock Robin, but did not relinquish their Naperville property on the banks of the DuPage River. An independent owner ran the restaurant and continued to call it Cock Robin.
After first wrestling with ideas to sell the property to developers in the mid-1990s, Rita and her brother Ted changed their focus in 1996, announcing monumental plans to transfer their stock and prime property to the City of Naperville for Fredenhagen Park.
Cock Robin closed its doors in September 2000.
The gateway park at the entrance to North Central College and downtown Naperville opened on November 27, 2003. Its official dedication was May 22, 2004.
As one of the city’s most visible community endeavors, the tribute to Grace and Walter Fredenhagen represents generous gifts from hundreds of local residents, businesses and service organizations. You’ll see their names and commemorative messages on the arbors, gardens, plazas, bricks and granite stones throughout the park.
With the Exchange Club Memories Fountain as its centerpiece and a Century Walk sculpture of Grace and Walter Fredenhagen titled “Two in a Million” near the Clock Tower, Fredenhagen Park adorns the Riverwalk in peaceful splendor for all to experience with reflection and joy.
Above / “Two in a Million,” a Century Walk sculpture designed by artist Jeff Adams, depicts likenesses of Grace and Walter Fredenhagen and their community spirit, looking toward a future of good things for Naperville and beyond. Find the sculpture near Rotary Plaza along the Riverwalk at Washington Street in Fredenhagen Park.
Celebrate ice cream today!
Since today, July 19, 2015, is National Ice Cream Day, celebrate the observance created in 1974 by President Ronald Reagan. A variety of popular ice cream stores find their home in Naperville.
Downtown Naperville offers both independent and nationally-known stores that sell delicious ice cream and gelato (Italian ice cream) by the cone or cup.
For starters, visitors will find ice cream along Jefferson Ave. at Naper Nuts & Sweets, Haagen Daz Ice Cream, Cold Stone Creamery, Gelati Italian Ice Cream Cafe; along Van Buren at Frost Gelato; and along Chicago Ave. at Cookie Dough Creations.
In addition, Settlement Sundays this week falls on National Ice Cream Day. Each Sunday through Aug. 30, admission to the museum includes free sundaes from Culver’s with do-it-yourself toppings, hands-on family activities and tours of historic buildings. Ice cream is served from 2-3:30PM and limited to the first 250 guests. Admission is $12 adult, $10 senior (62+), $8 youth (4-12), Naperville residents and members are free. For more info, visit www.napersettlement.org. Naper Settlement is located at 523 S. Webster Street.
Oberweis Ice Cream and Dairy Store is located at 2879 95th Street, Suite 155.
Or if you just want to wear your delight for local ice cream nostalgia, stop by Anderson’s Two Doors East in downtown Naperville or Oswald’s Pharmacy in Naperville Plaza to purchase a commemorative Cock Robin t-shirt that boasts “One in a Million.”
The latest shipment and design of Cock Robin t-shirts also are available online in adult sizes S, M, L, XL, XXL and XXXL.
Thanks to encouragement by Rita Harvard (1929-2012), Positively Naperville offers the t-shirts printed by ColorBurst to help raise awareness for the fine enterprise run by Little Friends, Inc., in Naperville, IL, in support of programs for children and adults with autism and development disabilities.
One more thing… Considering today’s dew point and to avoid drips down your forearm, you’ll want to lick quickly! Enjoy!
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