A Piece of Dixon History: The colorful history of Dixon’s Island Park

DIXON – Throughout history, Dixonites have used various names for the island just above the Dixon dam, such as Van Arnam’s Island, Island Park and City Island. Those who daily drive by this massive natural landmark may have wondered, “Has anything ever happened over there?”

A lot, actually.

The first recorded story of the island hails back to when Father John Dixon began operating his ferry and trading post in 1830. As the story goes, two wayward Indians retreated to the island for a three-day binge of drinking whiskey, which caused them to lose trading rights at Dixon’s trading post.

The story illustrates the role of the island as a getaway, although its recreational use would be rather innocent for the next 100 years.

Van Arnam’s Island

A key event in the island’s history happened on May 1, 1843. That’s when President John Tyler and the U.S. government granted a “patent” for the 63-acre island to one of Dixon’s new residents.

John Van Arnam arrived from Canada with his family in 1839. They built a home near the south bank of the river, and sought to own the island. For the next several decades, Dixonites called it “Van Arnam’s Island.”

John died in 1859, and apparently left the island to his son, James (1827-1886). In April 1861, James Van Arnam devised a novel way to repair the Dixon dam, which had suffered a breach. He tied a long rope to a tree on the lower point of his island and then lowered a boat loaded with stone to the breach point.

His strategy somehow worked, but this incident also illustrated the symbiotic relationship between the island and the dam. The fate of one could affect the other.

‘Birthplace’ of St. Patrick’s Church

In 1871, Dixon-area Catholics held a picnic on the island to raise funds to build St. Patrick’s Catholic Church. The event featured a 14-member band, various races, target shooting and a 200-pound greased pig won by the person who could catch and hold it. They repeated the island fundraiser in 1872, which enabled them to lay the cornerstone of the present church at Seventh Street and Highland Avenue on June 23, 1872.

From the 1870s to the 1920s, the island was the scene of Sunday school picnics (1889, 1897), a trotting track for horse races (1892), pasture for livestock (1893-1896), sleighing around the island (1897), summer dances (1894, 1897), baseball games (1894), goose hunting (1897), ice skating on its ponds (1899) and more.

Fat-men races and high-wire bicycling

In 1899 the island’s Labor Day festivities featured several community competitions, such as a hammer throw, pole vault, high jump, greased pole climbing, and a “100-yard race for fat men.” The next year’s Labor Day events included a high-wire bicycle rider who performed his stunt on a cable stretched 80 feet above the river from Assembly Park to the island.

To accommodate the variety of activities, facilities were placed on the island, such as a well for drinking water, tables, benches, lights, a covered platform (all in 1894), a wire fence (1899), swings and a slide (1920), an old hook-and-ladder firetruck as play equipment (1920), a refreshment stand (1924) and a warming shelter (1924).

Navigating the waters

After the Dixon dam was built in 1850, the island flooded occasionally. In 1881, it was covered with several feet of water, which presented “the view of a beautiful forest set in a crystal lake.”

To get to the island, people often took a ferry, but steamboats also provided service there, as well as to Assembly Park and Lowell Park. The launch point was often at the foot of Assembly Place, where a boat ramp still exists today.

Natural resources and a residence

In 1896 Samuel Boyer, then co-owner of the island, erected a “pretty cottage” there as a summer residence for his family. The cottage was occupied during the summer of 1901 by the Samuel and Margaret (Wadsworth) Gantz family, my great-great granduncle and aunt. (I didn’t know this!)

The island’s owners occasionally harvested some of the island’s natural resources, selling firewood (1838) and black dirt (1894). But the most valuable natural product of the island was its black walnut and butternut (white walnut) trees, which were harvested as recently as 1970.

The 99-year lease

In 1920, Illinois Northern Utilities owned the island, the power plant and the dam. But INU then leased the island to the city for $1 a year for 99 years.

To take advantage of this gift, the park board organized a clean-up day, several improvements and a variety of community events. In July 1925, the park board held “Visiting Day” at the island with free ferry service from Assembly Place landing. Over the next four Sundays, almost 3,000 people enjoyed the day at “City Island.”

A bridge to the island?

On July 30, 1925, at the peak of the island’s popularity, the Telegraph proposed a bridge to Island Park, saying that “it could and should be the most attractive and popular public amusement resort in northern Illinois.”

Their proposal said, “In Island Park we have a spot which larger cities would spend millions to own.” A little expenditure of money, said the editor, could safeguard the island from flooding and develop swimming beaches, canoe houses, playgrounds and a drive around its shoreline. In spite of support from local Kiwanians, the project never got off the ground.

Sinking the island

During the Depression of the 1930s, use of the island began to decline in spite of a 1933 Civil Works Administration project to trim brush and trees, level land and control erosion on its banks.

The doom of the island was assured when flashboards were placed at the top of the dam, reportedly in 1934. While a higher dam increased the power generated by the hydropower plant, the higher water level also swamped Island Park.

Consequently, all community activities on the island ended about 90 years ago as it eventually became a wildlife refuge that is off limits to the public. In 2001 and 2002, Greg Nagy of Dixon received approval to conduct an Eagle Scout project on the island, identifying its trees and animals and erecting nature preserve signage. But besides cleaning up some trash items, he reported seeing no remnants of any Island Park facilities of a century earlier.

Today, the Dixon Park District owns the island and leases it to STS Hydropower, which owns the dam and hydro plant. However, that lease expired in 2024, and talks about its future are ongoing.

• Dixon native Tom Wadsworth is a writer, speaker and occasional historian. He holds a Ph.D. in New Testament.