Radburn History Trivia Scavenger Hunt ~ For obvious reasons, many of us have been walking the streets, lanes and paths of Radburn more than ever. If you’d like a challenge while you stroll, here’s a sort of Radburn History Trivia Scavenger Hunt. See if you can find:
1. A sidewalk to nowhere leading to a park that never was. Hint: It’s in A Park.
2. An oak tree so big and old it’s visible in aerial photos of early Radburn. Hint: it’s between B Park and Plaza Road.
3. An original Radburn lamppost, probably the last standing in place. Hint: It’s on South Side.
4. A sign that Marjorie Sewell Cautley, Radburn’s original landscape architect, cared more about shade trees than straight paths. Hint: It’s between Owen Avenue and B Park.
5. A rare free-standing garage from early Radburn.
6. The first house in Radburn to be occupied. Hint: It’s on an “A” cul de sac.
7. Houses on this thoroughfare have unusually deep backyards – so deep that deer have been known to sleep in at least one.
8. The only cul de sac to have, on one side of the street, houses with a path to the park and no sidewalk on the street side and, on the other side of the cul de sac, a sidewalk on the street side but no path to the park.
9. The site of a planned second Radburn elementary school that was never built. Hint: It’s in/near R Park.
10. Two neighboring cul de sacs with islands. Hint: one is named for a famous Chicago architect.
11. A structure that used to be called (when Radburn’s trees were younger) “The Lookout.’’ Hint: It’s in A Park.
12. Mysterious metal trap doors in the middle of one of the three main parks.
Extra credit: How many houses can you find with their “street” address number on the path or park side?
Answers:
1. Path near Suicide Hill (running parallel to Howard Ave. and High Street). It was to have extended through a tunnel under Radburn Road to another park (“G Park”?) and superblock.
2. On Brighton/Burnham path.
3. On Townley/Reading path.
4. On Bristol/Bedford path.
5. End of Bolton Place.
6. 2 Allen Place, into which James and Emma Wright moved on April 25, 1929.
7. Owen Avenue’s unusually deep backyards are a vestige of a plan, never realized, for a park/superblock between Owen and Plaza Road North. (It would have been accessed from B Mall via a tunnel under Owen.) In 1950 Owen homeowners were allowed to purchase the excess strips of land adjacent to their yards.
8. Addison Place, which reflects the transitional period in Radburn development between the early 1930s and World War II.
9. On the high ground near R Pool and R Gazebo.
10. Burnham (named for Daniel) Place and Bolton Place.
11. What Cautley called The Lookout is the rustic wooden hut with seats on a small rise in A Park. It once offered a view of the long downward slope toward the Saddle River.
12. The trapdoors are in A Park, between the El Dorado Village apartments and the nearest path across the park.
